“Baseball Behind Barbed Wire” talk at Tucson Desert Art Museum

“Beyond Barbed Wire: Celebrating the Legacy of Japanese American Baseball” January 22, 2017 at 1:30 pm, free event in Tucson Desert Art Museum auditorium, 7000 E. Tanque Verde Rd.

“Baseball was immensely important to the Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Bill Staples, author of “Kenichi Zenimura: Japanese American Baseball Pioneer”, will share how baseball helped raise the spirits of those in the camps and also helped with outside prejudice as the camps invited outside teams to play in matches. This event is free in the auditorium. Museum admission rates apply for entrance to the exhibit.”

Panelists:

Bill Staples – author of “Kenichi Zenimura: Japanese American Baseball Pioneer”

Kerry Yo Nakagawa – author and baseball historian, expert in Japanese American baseball

Tets Furukawa – former player/pitcher with the 1945 Gila River Eagles

Kenso Zenimura –  followed in his father’s footsteps as a talented player, coach, and mentor, as well as an ambassador for international baseball”

Photo: “The 1944 league baseball season got under way at the Tule Lake center on April 19. Nearly half of the 17,000 residents of the center were present for the opening game.”

photo courtesy of the Tucson Desert Art Museum.

Info: http://www.tucsondart.org/

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