 | Serving Our Country: Japanese American Women in the Military during World War II Subjects: United States. Army Women’s Army Corps -- History; World War 1939–1945 -- Participation Japanese American; Japanese-American women -- History; Women soldiers -- United States; United States -- Ethnic relations; Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and America's declaration of war on Japan, the U.S. War Department allowed up to five hundred second-generation, or "Nisei," Japanese American women to enlist in the Women's Army Corps and, in smaller numbers, in the Army Medical Corps. Through in-depth interviews with surviving Nisei women who served, Brenda L. Moore provides fascinating firsthand accounts of their experiences. Interested primarily in shedding light on the experiences of Nisei women during the war, the author argues for the relevance of these experiences to larger questions of American race relations and views on gender and their intersections, particularly in the country's highly charged wartime atmosphere. Uncovering a page in American history that has been obscured, Moore adds nuance to our understanding of the situation of Japanese Americans during the war. Brenda L. Moore is an associate professor of sociology at SUNY Buffalo, and is the author of To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African American WACS Stationed Overseas during World War II. |
