Beyond the Gate

Japanese American incarcerees in Topaz created art and literature for publications such as TREK, All-Aboard, and the Topaz Times during WWII. Writers and artists reacted to their horrific circumstances with skill, beauty, and imagination.

Jane Beckwith is the president of the Topaz Museum Board. She began studying Topaz in 1982 with her journalism classes. Because of those classes, the Topaz Museum, in Delta, Utah, now tells the complex, contradictory, and compelling story of the history of Topaz.

Following her talk on the Feb. 7th, Salt Lake Community College’s Community Writing Center will host a two-part workshop on Feb. 19th and 26th where we’ll explore the strength of their voices under conditions replete with civil rights violations and prejudice and we’ll create our own small-scale, do-it-yourself publications. More info to come.