Dr. Larry Gragg and Debra Griffith gave a presentation titled “Japanese-American Student Success at the Missouri School of Mines in World War II.” The program is available free on demand from the State Historical Society of Missouri. Watch the program.

Gragg is a Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor emeritus of history and political science. Griffith is Missouri S&T’s archivist. Their talk was a collaboration between SHSMO-Rolla Center and the Missouri S&T Archives.

After the signing of Executive Order 9066, authorizing the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to relocation centers further inland, Japanese-American college students were at a loss. The National Japanese American Student Relocation Council managed to move over 4,000 students from the internment camps back into colleges in the Midwest and East Coast. Thirteen of those students came to the Missouri School of Mines.

During their talk, Gragg discussed the 13 students and their success at MSM, and Griffith discussed her research to identify the students.