War, Race, and the Constitution

In her history course at the University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Susan engages her students in applying the lessons of the Japanese American wartime incarceration to social and political issues today.

She takes her students to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, where they can stand inside a barrack from the Heart Mountain camp.

Throughout the semester, the class talks with individuals who bridge the past with the present. Speakers have included Alan Miyatake, third-generation photographer, sharing the legacy of his grandfather, Toyo Miyatake, founder of Toyo Miyatake Studios; Robert Asahina, author of Just Americans: The Story of the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II; redress leaders John Tateishi, Ron Ikejiri, and Grant Ujifusa; Korematsu coram nobis attorney Donald Tamaki; Brian Niiya, content director for Densho and editor of the online Densho Encyclopedia; Black reparations experts William A. Darity Jr. and Kirsten Mullen, and community activists Kathy Masaoka and traci kato-kiriyama.

Susan is teaching this course in the USC Fall 2023 semester.

She holds the appointment of Adjunct Professor (Teaching) of History and also is Affiliated Faculty with the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Cultures.

From a Spring 2022 student course evaluation: “Great professor with a passion for teaching unparalleled by other professors.”

Susan has directed research by students in her course and in the USC Van Hunnick History Department who have:

written USC History honors theses: “A Leader for All but One: Confronting the Complex Dichotomy of Earl Warren’s Legacy” (Eve Junn, April 2023); “We Pledge Allegiance to the Flag: Demographics and Reasons for Service Within the 442nd RCT” (Matthew Weisbly, May 2019)
published an article in Discover Nikkei, the online community for the Japanese American National Museum: “Freedom Springs From the Mountains of Utah: An Environmental History of Camp Antelope Springs and the Agency of Japanese American Incarcerees” (Sean Silvia)
produced a special issue of Scroll, the USC History Department undergraduate research journal, on the role of USC President Rufus B. von Kleinsmid in refusing the issue transcripts to Nisei students who had to leave USC under Executive Order 9066 (co-editors Tommy Nguyen and Sean Silvia).

[L-R] John Tateishi and Ron Ikejiri, March 11, 2020