Age Group:
All AgesProgram Description
Event Details
Author Bradford Pearson joins the Library Shop and the San Diego Public Library Foundation virtually to discuss his book The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration and Resistance in World War II America.
The discussion will be moderated by Kristen Hayashi, Director of Collections Management & Access and Curator at Japanese American National Museum. Afterwards there will be a live audience Q&A.
THIS EVENT WILL BE STREAMED LIVE ON THE SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION'S CROWDCAST CHANNEL. PLEASE REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT IN ADVANCE VIA CROWDCAST BY CLICKING HERE. This event is free, but you must register through Crowdcast to attend.
This event is presented by The San Diego Public Library Foundation in support of the program series The Rebellious Miss Breed: San Diego Public Library and the Japanese American Incarceration. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the NEH. Visit calhum.org.
To purchase a copy of The Eagles of Heart Mountain visit here. All proceeds from your purchase of the book will support programming at the San Diego Public Library.
About the Book: The year 2020 has brought to the forefront a long-awaited discussion of the systemic racism that is prevalent in our nation’s fabric. Conversations about the lack of opportunity on many fronts, including employment, housing, medical care, and more, permeate our political landscape. In 1942, during the early days of World War II, the US government took official action against Japanese Americans that tragically exemplifies just this kind of pervasive racism. The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America is an impeccably researched, deeply moving, never-before-told tale about a World War II incarceration camp in Wyoming and its extraordinary high school football team, which highlights this ongoing struggle for equality.
In the spring of 1942, the United States government forced 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona and sent them to incarceration camps across the West. Nearly 14,000 of them landed on the outskirts of Cody, Wyoming, at the base of Heart Mountain. Behind barbed wire fences, they faced racism, cruelty, and frozen winters. Trying to recreate comforts from home, many established Buddhist temples and sumo wrestling pits. Kabuki performances drew hundreds of spectators—yet there was little hope.
That is, until the fall of 1943, when the camp’s high school football team, the Eagles, started its first season and finished it undefeated, crushing the competition from nearby, predominantly white high schools. Amid all this excitement, American politics continued to disrupt their lives as the federal government drafted men from the camps for the front lines—including some of the Eagles. As the team’s second season kicked off, the young men faced a choice to either join the Army or resist the draft. Teammates were divided, and some were jailed for their decisions.
The Eagles of Heart Mountain honors the resilience of extraordinary heroes and the power of sports in a sweeping and inspirational portrait of one of the darkest moments in American history.
About the Author: Bradford Pearson is the former features editor of Southwest: The Magazine. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire, Time, and Salon, among many other publications. He grew up in Hyde Park, New York, and now lives in Philadelphia. The Eagles of Heart Mountain is his first book.