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Shigeru 'Shig' Yabu Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award After 'Hello Maggie!' Screening
Shigeru 'Shig' Yabu Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award After 'Hello Maggie!' Screening
Shigeru "Shig" Yabu, a 94-year-old author and advocate for Japanese American history, was honored with the Douglas W. Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 24. The recognition from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation followed a screening of an animated film adapted from his book "Hello Maggie!", which chronicles his childhood experiences during World War II incarceration.
Shigeru "Shig" Yabu, a 94-year-old author and lifelong advocate for Japanese American history, received the Douglas W. Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 24. The honor was presented by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation following a special screening of an animated film adapted from his book, "Hello Maggie!"
Yabu’s decades of service on the foundation’s board and his persistent efforts to teach the history of Japanese American incarceration were cited as key reasons for the award. A native of San Francisco, Yabu was forced from his home with his family during World War II and incarcerated at the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming.
After the war, Yabu served in the U.S. Navy and later became the first director of the Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo. His collaboration on "Hello Maggie!" involved longtime friend Willie Ito, an animator with a career spanning more than 50 years at Disney, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. The book was adapted into a film produced by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and directed by animator and educator Tony Tarantini.
Both the book and the film depict Yabu’s experience of being forced to leave his pets behind when sent to the camp. At Heart Mountain, he raised a magpie named Maggie, who became a companion and lifted the spirits of his family and neighbors.
The film was screened at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center. Following the screening, Ito joined Janm President and CEO Ann Burroughs, Heart Mountain Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin, and Shirley Ann Higuchi, the foundation’s board chair, for a discussion regarding the film and the long-term effects of the Japanese American incarceration.
Ito signed copies of "Hello Maggie!" alongside a new book titled "The Story of Lucy, Mascot of the 442nd RCT Medics." A newly revised and expanded edition of "Hello Maggie!" is now available for purchase.
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a Smithsonian affiliate, preserves the site where approximately 14,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated in Wyoming from 1942 through 1945. The foundation’s museum, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, and its affiliated Mineta-Simpson Institute located between Cody and Powell share these stories.
For more information on the film, visit www.hellomaggiefilm.com.
G. Santana--JDB
