Historian and author Bill Staples, Jr. joins us to mark the beginning of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the conclusion of the “Spotlight” series for Spring, 2023.  Executive Order 9066 was signed and issued during World War II by President Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. It authorized our military to force over 120,000 Japanese Americans into 10 prison camps across the United States.  Two of the largest prison camps were here in Poston and Gila River, Arizona – constructed on tribal land that now has restricted access.

Bill’s 2006 proposal to name Nozomi Park in Chandler was selected to honor Japanese Americans interned in Arizona during WWII and the role baseball played to create a sense of normalcy behind barbed wire. “Nozomi” is the Japanese word for “hope.”

Bill Staples, Jr. is an award-winning baseball historian and author living in Chandler, AZ. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), board member for both the Nisei Baseball Research Project and Japanese American Citizens League and research contributor to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

Monday, May 1 – 4:00-5:30 pm.  You can either register below or check in at the door, where a $10.00 donation will be collected.