Thursday, January 29, 2015

ADVANCE SCREENING Our American Family: The Furutas of Historic Wintersburg


   In an effort that began in January 2013, Historic Wintersburg is pleased to announce the PBS series, Our American Family, featuring the Furuta family of Historic Wintersburg, presents the worldwide advance screening on Saturday, February 21, at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California.

    Historic Wintersburg is proud to have provided background, research and assistance with the film production, featuring five-generations of oral histories, archival photographs and interviews with the Furuta family, beginning upon the arrival of Charles Furuta in America in 1900.

Left: A day of filming with the Our American Family producers in Orange County, California. Top row left to right - Norman Furuta, Ken Furuta, Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach author Mary Urashima, Dave Furuta.  Bottom row left to right - Our American Family writer Michael Nolan, Martha Furuta, Our American Family videographer Bradford Van Demark. (Photo courtesy of the Furuta family, Sepember 27, 2013) © All rights reserved.

    As featured on the Historic Wintersburg blog, http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2013/10/our-american-family-features-furuta.html,  the filming in Southern California was in September 2013 (see preview video at that link).

   In addition to the 1982 oral history of Yukiko Furuta, film makers utilized research, oral histories, and images provided by Historic Wintersburg, the California State University Fullerton Center for Oral and Public History, one-on-one interviews with Furuta family descendants, and personal photographs from the Furuta family.

Above: Grace Furuta at the Furuta Gold Fish Farm of Wintersburg (Warner) Avenue near Nichols Lane in Wintersburg Village, November 23, 1928.  Remnants of the neatly manicured hedge row that once fronted the Furuta bungalow (seen behind Grace) remain at Historic Wintersburg today. (Photo courtesy of the Furuta family) © All rights reserved.

Day of Remembrance
   Saturday, February 21, is the annual Day of Remembrance at the Japanese American National Museum of the anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066.  Historic Wintersburg will join a host of organizations at the Museum's Central Hall, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. that day, to continue the remembrance and share history of the presidential act that mandated the forced evacuation and confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II.

   Following the Day of Remembrance exhibits in Central Hall, the screening of Our American Family: The Furutas starts at 5 p.m. in the Takeuchi Democracy Forum, across the plaza from the Museum's main entrance.  This is a free advanced screening, open to the public.  Seating is limited.

   We thank PBS SoCal for assisting with the advance screening; they are the first PBS station in the country to air Our American Family: The Furutas, starting in late February 2015.  Later this year, PBS stations around the country will begin airing the program.

   We also thank the Japanese American National Museum for graciously hosting the screening on an important day to remember the history of Japanese Americans.



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