Please join the Portland Japanese American Citizens League, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and the Portland'5 Centers for the Arts Department of Culture and Community, on February 16, 2026 to commemorate the Day of Remembrance with a special 50th Anniversary film screening of Farewell to Manzanar and panel discussion with Gabrielle Houston Neville, Carole Hayashino, and Frank Abe, moderated by Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong. There will be two screenings: a matinee starting at 2 pm and an evening show at 6:30 pm.

Farewell to Manzanar holds profound importance for Japanese Americans as the first major film adaptation to portray the wartime incarceration camps. Based on Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's memoir, the film gave voice to over 120,000 Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes and detained during World War II. For many survivors and their descendants, this film represented the first time their families' experiences were validated and shared with mainstream America.

The film's widespread television broadcast educated millions of Americans about this constitutional violation, helping create the political and social climate that made the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 possible. This landmark legislation provided formal apologies and monetary reparations to surviving Japanese American incarcerees. The cultural impact of Farewell to Manzanar cannot be separated from the successful redress campaign that followed.