Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We, the People”?

Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We the People”? traces the real-life stories of seven young men and women whose lives were forever changed by the events of World War II.  Denied their fundamental rights, each of them, in his or her own way, chose to fight for equality, freedom and justice overseas and at home.

Aimed at middle and high school students, Fighting for Democracy is an experiential exhibit based on the lives, actions, and decisions of a diverse group of individuals who sought equal rights for their families and communities during World War II. It focuses on individuals throughout the pre-war, war and post-war periods as examples of the millions of Americans whose lives were affected by the war. Through these stories students can better understand the conditions facing Americans before, during and after World War II.

The exhibit will be on display at The National World War II Museum February 9 – May 17, 2009. To book a tour of the exhibit for a school group, call 504-527-6012 x 222.  For more information on Fighting for Democracy, call 504-527-6012 x 377.

Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We the People”? is presented in New Orleans by Chevron with additional support from the Eugenie & Joseph Jones Family Foundation and the U.S. Army Center for Military History.  The traveling exhibition, on loan from the Japanese American National Museum, has been made possible through the generous support of The Boeing Company.

Fighting for Democracy Cast of Characters

Héctor García was four years old when his family immigrated to the U.S. to escape the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution. Despite discrimination in the public school system, Garcia would go on to medical school and to serve his country as a medic. He would return to the U.S. to fight for the civil rights of Mexican-American veterans, students and citizens until his death in 1996.
Frances Slanger received regular updates from family in Poland about growing Nazi persecution, a fate the family escaped when they immigrated to the U.S. years before. It was these updates that encouraged her to join the Army Nurse Corps. Inspired by the courage of the men she treated, Slanger penned a tribute that would be later printed in Stars and Stripes Magazine. Hours later, she would be dead, the first American nurse to die in Europe.
Bill Terry excelled in athletics in high school and college. However, when he applied to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps, he was told he weighed too much to be a pilot. The only difference between Terry and the other students who were accepted is that Terry was African-American. He received a second chance to fly for his country when he was accepted into the Tuskegee Airmen program. But Terry never made it to the air. Imprisoned for protesting unfair conditions on his base and labeled as a felon, he would not be allowed to pursue his dream of a law degree or even vote until he was pardoned in 1995.
George Saito grew up playing football and serving as a boy scout, an all-American childhood for the son of a Japanese immigrant.  When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, life would change for Saito and his family. Even though he and two of his brothers were serving in the Army, the family was sent to an internment camp after being forced to give up their home and business because of their Japanese ancestry. Both George and his brother Calvin would give their lives for their country, yet a memorial service for the brothers would be interrupted by the police after neighbors reported the gathering as “suspicious activity.”
Hazel Ying Lee spent her childhood swimming, playing cards and learning to drive, activities not common to young women of the time. After high school, she got a pilot’s license and flying became an escape from the discrimination of daily life. American by birth, Lee was living in China when Japan invaded Manchuria but was rejected by the Chinese Air Force because of gender. Not one to give up, Lee was accepted in the U.S. Women Airforce Service Pilots. She died in 1944 from injuries sustained in a crash. Hazel and her brother, who died in combat, were not allowed to be buried at the local cemetery, until their family petitioned President Roosevelt to allow it.
Carl Gorman was regularly beaten and punished by his teachers for speaking his native Navajo language as a child. But in the Marine Corps, the Navajo language he loved was used to save the lives of his fellow Americans. As an original Navajo code talker, Gorman helped to develop a top-secret military code that allowed the U.S. to order artillery strikes, locate units in need of replacements and communicate orders for attacks undetected by the enemy. Gorman would go on to become an artist and work to preserve the art and culture of his people.
Domingo Los Baños followed the example of his older brothers and enlisted at the age of 18. He was assigned to the first Filipino Infantry regiment where the harshness of war inspired him to teach future generations that there was another way. He would go on to dedicate his life to public education teaching in Thailand and then Hawaii. He would spend his career teaching children to revere their own cultures while respecting the culture of others.