Chicago Resettlers Committee/Japanese American Service Committee

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Chicago area social service organization with roots in the resettlement era. Formed in November 1945 as the Chicago Resettlers Committee (CRC) by Japanese American community leaders in anticipation of the closing of the Chicago office of the War Relocation Authority , the organization focused initially on the compelling problems of jobs and housing for the large influx of Japanese Americans into the city. Over time and as the community became more stable, the CRC came to focus more on recreational programs and on programs geared towards helping elderly Issei . In 1954, the CRC changed its name to the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC). The organization continues to exist as a non-profit social service agency that also documents the history of Japanese Americans in Chicago, offers cultural classes, and serves as a gathering place for Japanese Americans in the region.

Authored by Brian Niiya , Densho

For More Information

Albert, Michael Daniel. "Japanese American Communities in Chicago and the Twin Cities." Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1980.

Griffith, Chris. " 'Integration, not Segregation': Japanese Americans in Chicago and Cleveland, 1942–1952. " Department of History Honors Thesis, The Ohio State University, 2006.

Japanese American Service Committee website.

Nakama, Christian S. " The History of the Chicago Resettlers Committee. " M.A. Thesis, Loyola University Chicago, 1952.

Wu Ellen D. The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.

Last updated Dec. 14, 2023, 5:25 p.m..