Silver Like Dust

by Kimi Cunningham Grant

Overview

The poignant story of a Japanese-American woman’s journey through one of the most shameful chapters in American history.

Kimi’s Obaachan, her grandmother, had always been a silent presence throughout her youth.  Sipping tea by the fire, preparing sushi for the family, or indulgently listening to Ojichan’s (grandfather’s) stories for the thousandth time, Obaachan was a missing link to Kimi’s Japanese heritage, something she had had a mixed relationship with all her life.  Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, all Kimi ever wanted to do was fit in, spurning traditional Japanese culture and her grandfather’s attempts to teach her the language.           

But there was one part of Obaachan’s life that fascinated and haunted Kimi—her gentle yet proud Obaachan was once a prisoner, along with 112,000 Japanese Americans, for more than five years of her life.  Obaachan never spoke of those years, and Kimi’s own mother only spoke of it in whispers.  It was a source of haji, or shame.  But what really happened to Obaachan, then a young woman, and the thousands of other men, women, and children like her? 

From the turmoil, racism, and paranoia that sprang up after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to the terrifying train ride to Heart Mountain, Silver Like Dust captures a vital chapter the Japanese-American experience through the journey of one remarkable woman and the enduring bonds of family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681770260
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	03/13/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	296,987
File size:	384 KB

About the Author

Kimi Cunningham Grant is the 2009 recipient of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship in creative nonfiction.  She lives in central Pennsylvania with her family and is an instructor of English at Penn State University.

Editorial Reviews

For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, we apologize on behalf of the Nation.

President Ronald Regan