It is well known that the U.S. government incarcerated some 120,000 Japanese Americans in isolated camps during World War II. Less well known: The residents of those camps continued to embrace American values and culture, including the American Pastime.
The Dr. BettyLou Koffel ’74 Film Series returns on April 15 with a screening of “Baseball Behind Barbed Wire,” an examination of life in the incarceration camps and the role baseball played in helping those interned maintain a sense of sanity and civility.
“Playing baseball was a chance to assert their citizenship and affirm their loyalty as Americans,” according to the Nichi Bei Foundation's collection on Japanese American incarceration, “even as camp guards in towers pointed their rifles inward and the barbed wire kept them confined.”
The film will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in the Hawkins Lounge on Wednesday, April 15, at the conclusion of Passport to Wellness Day. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with filmmaker Yuriko Gamo Romer.
The Film Series was launched in 2022 by Keuka College alumna Dr. BettyLou Koffel ’74 and her husband, Philip Moyer, to provide programming aimed at promoting engagement around issues of community and belonging on campus.
