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Midway Assignment: Topic Selection & Annotated Bibliography

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliations

Course Number and Title

Professor’s Name

Due Date
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Part I: Topic Selection & Preliminary Sources

Step 1: Choose Two Movements (1877-2000)

The two movements selected are the Japanese American Redress Movement (1940s-

1988) and the Disability Rights Movement (1960s-1990).

Step 2: Preliminary sources

Movement 1: Japanese American Redress Movement

Primary sources

1. Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and

Internment of Civilians (December 1982) [Link]

Denied/PersonalJusticeDenied-Recommendations/page/n15/mode/2up

2. PUBLIC LAW 100-383-AUG. 10, 1988: Civil Liberties Act of 1988

[Link]

3. Poster informing the public about a program regarding the redress bill (National Coalition

for Redress/Reparations, c. 1990s), Densho Digital Repository (ddr-janm-4-10).

[Link]

Secondary sources

1. Hastings, Emiko. ““No longer a silent victim of history:” repurposing the documents of

Japanese American internment.” Archival Science 11, no. 1 (2011): 25-46.

2. Helen Yoshida, “Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration,” The

National WWII Museum, August 13, 2021.

[Link]

american-incarceration
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3. Cathleen K. Kozen, “Redress as American-Style Justice: Congressional Narratives of

Japanese American Redress at the End of the Cold War,” Time & Society 21, no. 1

(2012): 104-120, [Link]

Movement 2: Disability Rights Movement

Primary sources

1. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Original Text) [Link]

original-text

2. Poster, “Sign 504 Now” (carried during a 25-day sit-in to promote the passage of Section

504 of the Rehabilitation Act).

[Link]

3. Text for S.933 - 101st Congress (1989-1990): Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

[Link]

Secondary sources

1. Richard K. Scotch, “Politics and Policy in the History of the Disability Rights

Movement,” The Milbank Quarterly 67, no. S3 (1989): 380-400.

[Link]

[Link]

2. Susan Schweik, “Lomax’s Matrix: Disability, Solidarity, and the Black Power of 504,”

Disability Studies Quarterly 31, no. 1 (2011), [Link]

3. Edward D. Berkowitz, “A Historical Preface to the Americans with Disabilities Act,”

Journal of Policy History 6, Special Issue 1 (January 1994): 96-119,

[Link]
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Part II: Full Source Collection and Annotated Bibliography

Movement 1: Japanese American Redress Movement

Primary Sources

1. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, Personal Justice

Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982).

[Link]

Recommendations/page/n15/mode/2up.

This is a federal commission report created in 1982 after public hearings and research on

the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. The report helps explain how the federal

government documented injustice and built an official record that supported later demands for

redress. It supports my thesis by showing how Japanese American activists used government

investigation and evidence-based testimony to push legislative repair.

2. Civil Liberties Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-383, 102 Stat. 903 (August 10, 1988).

[Link]

This is the U.S. law passed in 1988 that issued a formal apology and provided monetary

reparations to eligible survivors of Japanese American incarceration. The law helps answer the

focus question because it shows the final form of redress and the federal government’s response

to the movement. It supports my thesis by demonstrating that this movement achieved

retrospective redress through national recognition and restitution.

3. National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, poster informing the public about a

program regarding the redress bill, ca. 1990s, Densho Digital Repository, ddr-janm-4-10.

[Link]
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This is a public-facing organizing poster created by a redress advocacy coalition in the

1990s to promote awareness and engagement around the redress effort. The poster helps explain

how activists educated communities and mobilized support beyond formal government settings.

It supports my thesis by showing that Japanese American redress depended on organized public

messaging that helped sustain political pressure for official repair.

Secondary Sources

1. Emiko Hastings, “No longer a silent victim of history: repurposing the documents of

Japanese American internment,” Archival Science 11, no. 1 (2011): 25-46.

This peer-reviewed journal article analyzes how records of incarceration were reused and

reframed over time, with attention to memory, archives, and public meaning. It helps explain

how documentary evidence can shape public understanding of injustice and strengthen claims for

redress. It supports my thesis by showing that control of narrative and documentation was part of

the strategy that made legislative reparations more achievable.

2. Helen Yoshida, “Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration,” The

National WWII Museum, August 13, 2021.

[Link]

american-incarceration.

This is a museum interpretation article written by Helen Yoshida in 2021 that explains

the history of the redress movement and the Civil Liberties Act. It helps clarify major turning

points, strategies, and outcomes in a way that connects easily to a public-facing video project. It

supports my thesis by summarizing how Japanese Americans pursued retrospective redress

through public education, political advocacy, and eventual federal apology and reparations.
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3. Cathleen K. Kozen, “Redress as American-Style Justice: Congressional Narratives of

Japanese American Redress at the End of the Cold War,” Time & Society 21, no. 1

(2012): 104-120, [Link]

This peer-reviewed article examines how members of Congress framed Japanese

American redress and what those narratives reveal about American political culture. It assists in

explaining how persuasion within the government affected the direction towards reparations and

why certain arguments were popular at that time. It helps me to prove my thesis as it

demonstrates that Japanese American redress has worked due to its legislative approach and

political frames, rather than the presence of moral claims.

Movement 2: Disability Rights Movement

Primary Sources

7. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Pub. L. No. 93-112, 87 Stat. 355 (September 26, 1973).

This is a federal, Congress-enacted law that comprised of Section 504 in 1973 and

formed a base on which disability civil rights protections would be built. It assists in

understanding how disability activists attained a legal instrument to confront discrimination in

federally funded programs. This confirms my thesis by demonstrating that disability rights

redress focused on enforceable anti-discrimination policy instead of compensation over a single

past incident.

8. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 327 (July 26,

1990).

This is the historic federal civil rights legislation that forbids disability discrimination in

key spheres of communal existence. It shows the significant product of the movement and how

disability rights organizing contributed to widespread structural change. This helps me to support
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my thesis by showing that disability activists sought future equality by providing broad legal

protection.

9. Tusler, Anthony. “504 sit-in.” Photograph. 1977. Google Arts & Culture. Accessed

January 6, 2026.

This is a 1977 photograph related to the Section 504 protests, where disabled activism is

seen as direct action rather than congressional work. The image can be used to demonstrate the

strategies of the movement and how the activists created the urgency in politics and brought

people to the focus. This helps confirm my thesis as it shows that the redress of disability rights

usually depended on confrontation and visibility in order to advance government enforcement

and reform.

Secondary Sources

10. Fleischer, Doris Zames, and Frieda Zames. The Disability Rights Movement: From

Charity to Confrontation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011.

This book follows the rise of disability rights activism as the movement to transform

charity treatment into civil rights claims, based on years of research and experience by the

activists. It assists in clarifying key campaigns, plans and internal movement arguments through

time. This justifies my thesis because it demonstrates why direct action and coalition-building

became the focus of securing national disability protections.

11. Scotch, Richard K. From Good Will to Civil Rights: Transforming Federal Disability

Policy. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.

The book is dedicated to the transformation of federal disability policy, particularly, to

Section 504 and the emergence of the disability rights movement. It describes the ways in which

activists compelled government agencies to adopt and actually enforce protections, as opposed to
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passing laws. This helps me prove my thesis by demonstrating that disability redress was greatly

reliant on enforcement struggles and administrative politics.

12. Nielsen, Kim E. A Disability History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012.

This is a general historical account of disability in the United States with this book

emphasizing how discrimination was institutionalized and embedded in ordinary life. It aids in

relating disability rights activism to bigger concepts concerning citizenship, access, and equality.

This helps my thesis as it supports the idea that disability redress needs to be at structural

inclusion as opposed to a single restitution.

Part III: Reflective Questions

1. Why did you choose these two movements?

I selected the Japanese American Redress Movement because it demonstrates how an

organization compelled the U.S. government to acknowledge the misdeed and compensate a

historical injustice. I selected the Disability Rights Movement as it demonstrates how individuals

struggled to obtain equal opportunities and legal safeguards in their daily life. They are

complementary since both movements demanded accountability on the part of the government,

yet they sought redress through means that are structurally different and easy to compare.

2. What have you discovered thus far?

Japanese American redress depended significantly on the establishment of a historical

record, the exchange of testimonies, and the utilization of Congress to enact a law that contained

an apology and restitution. Disability activism was based more on protests, social pressure and

compelling government to enact and strengthen anti-discrimination regulations. Both movements

experienced postponement and opposition, though the disability movement was more geared
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towards shaping systems into the future, whereas the Japanese American redress was more

geared towards the repairing past injustice.

3. What is your preliminary thesis for the final project?

Between 1877 and 2000, the minority groups would in turn demand redress by coercing

the federal government to acknowledge injustice and adopt a policy change, but their methods

varied depending on the objectives. Along with disability rights activist groups, Japanese

Americans sought reparations and a formal apology to war incarceration, and broad civil rights

legislation that enforced equal access and an end to discrimination.

Bibliography

Berkowitz, Edward D. “A Historical Preface to the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Journal of

Policy History 6, special issue 1 (1994): 96-119.

[Link]

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Personal Justice Denied:

Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.

Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982.

[Link]. “Text for S. 933 (101st Congress, 1989-1990): Americans with Disabilities Act of

1990.” Accessed January 6, 2026. [Link]

bill/933/text.

Hastings, Emiko. “‘No Longer a Silent Victim of History’: Repurposing the Documents of

Japanese American Internment.” Archival Science 11, no. 1 (2011): 25-46.

Kozen, Cathleen K. “Redress as American-Style Justice: Congressional Narratives of Japanese

American Redress at the End of the Cold War.” Time & Society 21, no. 1 (2012): 104-

120. [Link]

National Coalition for Redress and Reparations. Poster informing the public about a program

regarding the redress bill. ca. 1990s. Densho Digital Repository.

[Link]

Scotch, Richard K. “Politics and Policy in the History of the Disability Rights Movement.” The

Milbank Quarterly 67, no. S3 (1989): 380-400.

[Link]

[Link].
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Schweik, Susan. “Lomax’s Matrix: Disability, Solidarity, and the Black Power of 504.”

Disability Studies Quarterly 31, no. 1 (2011). [Link]

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History. “Sign 504 Now.” Poster.

Accessed January 6, 2026.

[Link]

United States. Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Pub. L. No. 100-383, 102 Stat. 903 (August 10, 1988).

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Original Text).”

Accessed January 6, 2026. [Link]

Yoshida, Helen. “Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration.” The National

WWII Museum, August 13, 2021.

[Link]

american-incarceration