9th, prior to the official nagasaki ceremony, we go to a private ceremony at the Elementary School. And all the children who now attend the Elementary School come there and have a special peace commemoration ceremony. Its a very, very moving ceremony with this school filled with Elementary School students. And you realize that that is who the victims of the atomic bomb were. After the war, congregants of the Unitarian Church here in washington, d. C. Send art supplies to students at hunkowa Elementary School in hiroshima. And the students there use the art supplies at a time when there were very little supplies of any sort in hiroshima or nagasaki after the bombing. You see so many reports of the students visiting street urchins, basically. They were or fans. They didnt have shelter, had to put up these makeshift shelters that they lived in. So the fact of just getting art supplies was a huge thing for these kids. And so in gratitudes, they sent back drawings and paintings to the congregation and also the church. I understand these were lost for a long time and rediscovered. And now the members of the church, some of them went back to hiroshima recently and met with some of the kids. It was a very nice book and documentary by my friend about this. [ speaking Foreign Language ]. I thought it would add a nice touch to the exhibit, you know, more of a human side in a different way of americans who reached out to the people in hiroshima and of the gratitude on the part of the children who received those gifts. The marukis were famous japanese art aists who came into the city of hiroshima three days after the atomic bombing and saw the horrors and decided to do a series of panels that would depict the horrors of hiroshima. The first one was called ghost and what it shows is the image of hiroshima afterwards. People who experienced it said that they felt as if they were walking through hell. With fires everywhere, people naked, walking usually with their arms held in front of them to lessen the pain a little bit. Often their skin hanging down. Peoples clothes were blown off by the blast and the fire and people were mostly walking in this procession of naked people. Some said you couldnt tell men from women as they were walking. And you see this image here, the shock, the horror, the suffering in hiroshima after the bombings. The second panel we have here is called fire. It shows the reality is that the fire was everywhere and spreading rapidly and people tried to escape the fire. But escaping the fire meant this is the reality for so many of the survivors, it meant that they would have to leave others behind. They would have to ignore the cry, the help, the pleas from people who were trapped in their houses, people who were trapped under beams, people who were injured in order to escape. There were so many tragic stories about how children leaving their parents behind or parents leaving their children behind in order to escape when the flames were encroaching and many stories we know about people staying with relatives and friends rather than leave. And the folks at the gallery told me i could choose any six of the 15 panels that i wanted. And i decided i wanted to complicate the narrative. Not just portray the japanese as victims of the atomic bomb, but to put it in a different context and show that it was possible for the japanese to be victims of the atomic bombs, but victimizers at the same time. So i wanted two panels that were going to show that. And the first one here is called crows. This one, you have to realize that in hiroshima that day, august 6th, there were 3 let you know,000 citizens, 43,000 japanese soldiers and 45,000 korean slave laborers. And the koreans were badly treated by the japanese and had been for decades. And they were discriminated against in japan and they were also discriminate against after the atomic bombing. They got almost no medical treatment, no aid at all, and many of them just died in the streets. And what this shows is the crows. This one is called crows. And it shows the crows coming down and plucking out the eyeballs of the dead korean victims here. Its very controversial inside japan right now. Shinzo abe and his administration is doing everything they can to cover up the japanese atrocities towards the citizens of korea, the citizens of china, the other victims across asia of japanese oppression, so i want to show that part of it, too. And i also wanted this one to complicate it further. This was about the inherent p. O. W. S. There were p. O. W. S in a camp in hiroshima. 23 of them were at least in the bombing. Many of them survived the atomic bombing only to be beaten to death by enraged japanese citizens. And this shows the americans who were beaten to death by the japanese after the bomb was dropped. Theres something and im not sure exactly why, but maruki has depicted several women among the american p. O. W. S. There were actually no women there. So this to me is somewhat baffling, why they chose to do so. But what were seeing here is the progression. In the beginning, they focus just on japanese victims in hiroshima. Then they begin expanding and they start to show the japanese as victimizers and they show the theyve got one panel on the ra pe of nanjing. They have one on auschwitz. Theyre trying to make this a broader human story. This was done in 1968. The title is floating lanterns. If you go to hiroshima, as i do with my students, we participate in the evening of august 6th. We participate every year in whats called the floating lantern ceremony in the river there. The river is very symbolically important because so many of the people jump in the river in order to try to escape the flames or to cool their bodies if theyve been badly burned and many of them died. All of these descriptions of it is river that night was that it was just a sea of floating corpses. And what the people did in hiroshima to commemorate is they hold the lantern ceremony every year and were now able to participate. Its no longer restricted to the families of the victims. So what you do is you make a paper lantern. You put a candle inside. On the lantern, you write a mess aenl of peace or anything youd like to write. Then you go down, you take the turn, you get the long line that runs around. And you put your floating lantern into the water there. Its very, very beautiful at night. One year when i went there, yoyo mott was playing. That made it even more special. This is a depiction of the lanterns as theyre floating in the river. The cspan cities tour, this weekend were joined by Charter Communications to learn more about the history and literary life of Grand Junction, colorado. The mining of a certain mineral had a longterm importance in this part of colorado. All over the colorado plateau, and especially here in mesa county, outside of Grand Junction, we are surrounded by morrison rock. And within the morrison, we find a lot of dinosaur bones, we find a lot of fossils. Thats intrigued scientists for a long time. But the other thing we also find in the morrison is a mineral, a rock called carnatite. It contains three different elements. It contains radium, which is radioactive and used by marie curry to help solve and fight cancer. It also contains venadium, which is used to strerchkten steal. So during the build up to world war ii and during world war ii, venadium was very valuable. It contains uranium. Uranium is one of the best sources for atomic power and atomic weapons. Colorado congressman wayne aspeno was largely responsible for this Land Development through its water legislation. He fought the battle to reserve water for western colorado by making sure that we got our fair share. How did he do that . Beginning in his state career and going on to his federal career, he climbed up the ladder of seniority and was able to a exercise, i think, more power than you might normally have. Certainly in the United States congress, where he was able to make sure colorado and western colorado would be treated fairley in any divisions of water. His first major success was the passage of the Colorado River storage project in 1956. See all of our programs from Grand Junction saturday at a 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2s book tv. And sunday afternoon at oclock on American History tv on cspa cspan3. Recently, American History tv was at the organization of american historians annual meeting in st. Louis, missouri. We spoke with professors, authors, and graduate students about their research. This interview is about 20 minutes. Naoko wake, an assistant professor at Michigan State university. Please tell us about your research with japanese americans who were in hiroshima and nagasaki in 1945. Sure. Yes, i am doing the historical investigation of japanese american and a handful of koreanamericans as well who were born in the states, but happen to be in either hiroshima or nagasaki in 1945 at the end of world war ii when the bomb was dropped on the cities of hiroshima and nagasaki. And their numbers are not huge, but substantial. There were somewhere between 20 to 30,000 asian americans, mostly japaneseamericans of the second generations, but Third Generations as well who were in japan. Actually, i should say in hiroshima. Because actually, hiroshima as a prefecture is the area in japan of the time who had sent the largest number of japanese emigrants to america before the war started. So the 19teens, 20s and 30s. Out of those 20,000 people, there were about 3,000 people, japaneseamericans who survived the bomb in hiroshima, and then later on decided to come to america, beginning in 1947. Because america is obviously where they were born and grew up in. Their history is very fascinating, although its being relatively little known. Fascinating in that it really changes our perception of survivors as japanese citizens, or people who are loyal to japan as an empire at that time. In that they were both victors and victims at the same time. The japanese americans who were in hiroshima and nagasaki, why were they there . So there are a few reasons why they are there. One thing i really like to emphasize is thats what many immigrants do, to go back and forth. They may be born and living in america, and yet their grandparents might still be back in japan. That was actually the case with most of the people i studied about. They might have been just visiting their grandparents because just they want to see them. Or maybe some of them were ill, so they wanted to see them before they passed away. So there are family reasons why they were there. Other reasons i can mention is that there are some concern about japanese american parents, first generation immigrants, who wanted to give their children the best education possible. And they realized given the race relation, especially in u. S. West coast in 1930s, america was not the best place to give them education. So they decided to bring their children back to japan so they could receive the best education, including education about japanese language and culture. Those things are really important for immigrants families to maintain. So educational purposes as a reason. Another reason i like to mention is that there was a fear among japanese and japaneseamerican residents toward end of the 30s in america that there may be some violence or mass incarceration once the war started between america and japan. So they decided to leaf america to avoid such a fate. Many of them happen to be in hiroshima and nagasaki, and thats how they became survivors. Is there a name for the japanese people use for those who survived the bombings . Yes. You were talking about hibakusha. Its literally people who are exposed or received radiations or the bomb. Yes. Its a commonly used term among japanese people, but also among american historians of the bomb, its frequently used. This term would apply to the japanese americans who were in hiroshima and nagasaki at the time. Correct. After the bombs were dropped, what happened to the japanese americans . What was their situation . Immediately after the explosion, i think their situation was very comparable to many other survivors, regardless of their nationality. Obviously, the devastation was just simply overwhelming. But as part of my work, i have been conducting oral history interviews with those u. S. Survivors. And one thing i am very fascinated by is how their National Belonging to both japan and america came out very strongly. Even as they tried to respond to the devastation in 1945. To give you an example, there are some japanese American Family members who lost each other. So they didnt know where they were. I mean, they really spent a lot of time looking for each other. One survivor, u. S. Survivor, i talked to, she was a young girl at the time. Unfortunately, her sister died of the bomb. Her family couldnt locate her body or even know whether or not she was still alive for three days in hiroshima. The family looked around and looked around. Finally, at the end of the third day, they were able to find her sister. The way they found out the sisters body was that, first of all, she was on the top of the corpses, so they were able to see her. Otherwise, it would have been rather difficult to identify the bodies of the sister. But also, more importantly, sisters body was still with the american underwear, which was made in america. The family was very much used to seeing. Because i think the immigrants life before the war, it was very common practice for japaneseamerican families to share the bedroom among the family members. Sometimes, among siblings. Other times between parents and children. It was sort of japanese style of sleeping that they transplanted in america. Because of those family lives and intimate contact, it brought to their daytoday experiences, they were able to recognize that. Thats because it was made in america. Thats because something the family members are exposed to in prewar family life in america. They were able to identify this persons body as her sisters. In many ways, it is unsettling stories. We tend to, again, think of bomb attacking japanese nationals. People of japan who at least had allegiance to japan as a nation. Yet, it really destabilized it, in that this person was not only had a cultural affinity and in many cases national sense of National Belonging to america at the same time as being from japan. The japanese americans who spoke english, were they able to have better access to assistance . Especially medical assistance afterwards . By the u. S. Army, you mean. I think in many ways, the immediate need for medical assistance was not met by anybody. Not only american medical assistance, but also japanese medical institutions and personnels were incapable of offering any support. I think at that level, their ability to be able to communicate in english was not really in any way the quality that benefitted them. I think after a while, they were able to work more for u. S. Occupational forces and their institutions, because of that not only the language ability but the ability to Cross Cultural boundaries. I can remember one survivor who was born in the u. S. And, of course, his english was good because of that. That was the primary language of communication for him. But he was bombed in hiroshima. Then he was looking for a job, obviously, after people started to pick up pieces and tried to reconstruct their lives. He was not actually interested in working for u. S. Occupational forces at the time. He was accompanying his japanese friend who was interested in having a job for, i think it was, i cant remember exactly which branch of the American Occupational forces that he was looking a job in. But this americanborn person was going with him. Then they just ran into an american officer in the hallway. The officer says Something Like, how are you . What are you guys up to . Something like that. Just to greet two people that he initially thought japanese, because they both look like japanese. If you dont start to converse with them. Just because of the cultural affinity, i guess, the japaneseamerican person responded in english. Then thats how he was recruited. Hey, you look like somebody who can, you know, work for us. Unfortunately, this japanese guy who was looking for a job originally didnt get the position, but the american person did. In that way, i think it did work in some cases, as a benefit for japaneseAmerican People. How long did it take for the japaneseamericans to make their way back to the United States . It varies quite a bit. Those with needs started to come back to the u. S. In 1947. Thats the year in which thats the year in which the first ship from japan back to america was operated. So beginning from that year to all the way to up to late 1950s. In some cases, early 1960s. There are people who just continue to come back. Thats the era when not only u. S. Born japaneseamerican, u. S. Citizens, but also some family members of those american citizens, whose citizenship was japanese. But because of the family connections and actual family members they already had in the states, decided to migrate from japan to america. Thats when the diversification of american Survivors Group started. It obviously started to include not only u. S. Born survivors of the bomb, but also japanborn but now u. S. Immigrant survivors of the bomb. Later on, they came together. It took them a long time to sort of come to america. It varied. There was a propensity of japaneseamericans who had been in the internment camps, not to talk about their experiences. Not even with their families, their children, later on. What about the people who the japaneseamericans who had been in hiroshima and nagasaki, when they came back to the United States, did they talk about what they experienced . I think the answer to that is largely no. Because actually, one practical reason why they remained silent about the experience is that if they come out as survivors, then their Health Insurance policy may be taken away from them. So radiation was considered to be one of the preexisting conditions in u. S. Health insurance system. So they were very afraid that they might lose the benefit of the Health