Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey

Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey was a Japanese American (Nisei) whose family was forced to Japanese American internment camps during World War II. Her family first was sent to Santa Anita Assembly Center in Pasadena, California, and then to Amache Relocation Center (Granada Relocation Center). She was 10 years old when her family was sent to the camps. She created and illustrated a memoir called: Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp. The memoir is about her family's experience through her narrative and artwork. The book focuses on her confusion and frustration resulting from her American identity and her Japanese ethnic background. “Why were we still pledging our allegiance to the United States? The government had classified us as evil Japanese and herded us in to this camp. Maybe we ought to be singing the Japanese anthem instead...Yes, I knew that anthem. My mother had taught it to me because, she claimed, “You are Japanese, Yuriko.” “Japanese? No, I ‘m American,” I insisted.” She emphasized that camp experience was traumatic and affected her for the rest of her life.