JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS' LEAGUE. TWIN CITIES CHAPTER:

The national Japanese American Citizens' League (JACL) was founded in 1929. The JACL is a civil and human rights organization, established to serve Americans of Japanese ancestry. The headquarters office is located in San Francisco. It is a 501(c)(3) organization.

In 1979 the JACL included eight districts and 105 local chapters. It published a weekly newspaper, Pacific Citizen, operated a travel program of charter flights to Japan, offered group health insurance, maintained national and local credit unions, and offered scholarships and educational grants to outstanding students.

The Twin Cities chapter organized in 1946, and in 1947 choose the name United Citizens League (UCL). In 1962 the UCL changed its name to Twin Cities Chapter, Japanese American Citizens' League.

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Correspondence, minutes, issues of the JA Journal newsletter, photographs, and a scrapbook. The materials relate to social and civic activities of the local chapter (and local Junior JACL) as well as to issues that occupied the league at all levels, such as equal opportunity in employment and immigration and naturalization legislation. Includes correspondence and minutes of the board of management of the Japanese American Community Center, Minneapolis.

Includes substantial material relating to national conventions of the JACL, and to meetings of its Midwest District Council and Eastern District Council, some of which were held jointly. The Twin Cities chapter belonged to the Midwest District Council. The scrapbook consists primarily of clippings from Twin Cities newspapers, Pacific citizens, and the JA Journal.

These records were accumulated by S. Bill Doi, an active member of the league and member of the Community Center's board of management. Materials are in English, although the JA Journal sometimes contains a Japanese-language section.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Japanese American Citizens' League. Twin Cities Chapter organizational records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,113; 17,444

Processing Information:

Addition by David B. Peterson, April 2022.

Catalog ID number: 990017127660104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Asian Americans --Minnesota.

Discrimination in employment -- United States.

Emigration and immigration law -- United States.

Japanese Americans -- Civil rights.

Japanese Americans -- Employment.

Japanese Americans -- Minnesota.

Pacific Islanders -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Doi, S. Bill, author.

Organizations:

Japanese American Citizens' League, author.

Japanese American Community Center (Minneapolis, Minn.), author.

United Citizens League (Minn.), author.

Twin Cities Jr. JACL.

Places:

Document Types:

Photographs.

Scrapbooks.

Titles:

JA Journal.

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