WJON — St. Cloud State University is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Once a month SCSU Archivist Tom Stemen comes on the News @ Noon Show to talk about the history of the campus. Tuesday he focused on minorities.
He says during World War II St. Cloud State admitted six Japanese-American students.
“There were five women and one gentleman who were here between 1942 and 1947. Four of them graduated. They were let out of internment camps in the western United States to complete their education here.”
Steman says the United States allowed students to leave the camps under certain conditions.
Read more: http://wjon.com/scsu-at-150-minority-students-have-interesting-past-on-campus/
There is a minor typographical error on the photograph: “Masako” is the correct spelling. Masako Miyake was born in Portland Oregon and lived in Sacramento CA when Executive Order 9066 forced all Japanese-Americans to be sent off to internment camps. The Miyake family was sent to Tule Lake Camp. I do not know the story behind Masako Miyake’s journey to St Cloud but somehow the family paid for her education. I am pleased to see her senior photograph in the 1944 Talahi yearbook. In 1955, Masako Miyake Ryugo gave birth to me.
Thank you for preserving your history online. With gratitude.