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Mary Jenkins describes growing up in the Jim Crow era and frequently being told, “You can’t”—both by a mother terrified of what might happen to her daughter if she stepped out of her expected place, and by a system that had institutionalized segregation as a way of life.

“Tosh Yasutake’s father was arrested by the FBI after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and held in internment camps administered by the Department of Justice. The rest of the family was incarcerated in the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Tosh volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team while still in camp. In this clip, he talks about making that decision.”

“Masao Watanabe grew up in Seattle, Washington, and during the war was initially sent to the 'assembly center' at the fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. In this video clip, he talks about his initial reactions upon arrival.”

“Akiko Kurose grew up in Seattle, Washington. In this clip, she talks about how she felt when she heard that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor.”

This video clip addresses reactions from Japanese Americans to the 8 p.m. curfew, forced imprisonment in internment camps, and creation of the 422nd Regimental Combat Team.

“While in the Mindoka concentration camp, Idaho, during World War II, Frank Yamasaki refused his draft order. As a result, he was imprisoned at the McNeil Island Penitentiary, Washington.”

This excerpt from Barracoon, which provides a first-person account from the last living man transported from Africa to America as an enslaved person. The excerpt shows Zora Neal Hurston arriving at Cudjo Lewis’ house to speak with him about his past in only the way he can.

Line dance leader Kit Cheung teaches her class of Chinese-American women in an unlikely place: the parking lot of a local library. No other public location offers both the outdoor space and sun cover the group requires for their twist on the traditional Chinese exercise of tai chi. The relationship that forms between the initially reluctant library and Kit’s dance group has created some unexpected opportunities.

“English Avenue, an historic African-American neighborhood with an illustrious past, sits at the bottom of Atlanta’s water runoff. Blighted by regular flooding, mass vacancies, unemployment, and impoverishment, English Avenue finds hope in a home-grown response from its youth. Longtime resident MacKenzie Bass — along with fellow members of Street Smart — helped construct a park that curbs the excess water, creates a gathering place, and seeks to reclaim English Avenue’s identity.”

“Esperanza is an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Compton, California. She suffers from fears and anxieties caused by her four previous deportations and her high-stress role as her family’s caregiver. Esperanza doesn’t see depression as a health problem. When she shares her struggles with a local priest, she discovers a network of support that ranges from her compadres to a free clinic.”