The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation won a $776,775 federal grant from the National Park Service to share educational resources with teachers nationwide and the public.
Heart Mountain will work with four former Japanese-American incarceration sites, including Amanche Alliance of Colorado, Friends of Minidoka in Idaho, Montana’s Historical Museum at Fort Missoula and the Topaz Museum of Utah. They’ll train kindergarten through grade 12 teachers in about a dozen states, said Communications Director Ray Locker.
“ For example, if you're a teacher in Omaha, Nebraska, and you want to see how many people who were incarcerated ended up in Omaha, you can find out,” he said.
This forthcoming database tool, in collaboration with the non profit DENSHO, called Legacies of Incarcerated Nikkei Connect, will also be available on Heart Mountain’s website for people to search the names of those who were incarcerated during World War II.
The foundation will also hold a series of seminars for the public.
“ Involving lawyers, journalists, and businessmen on ethics, professional responsibility,” Locker said.
The Japanese American Confinement Education Grant program was founded in part to educate future generations about incarceration and equal justice.
Between 1942 and 1945, roughly 14,000 people were detained at the Heart Mountain site near Cody.
