The Hannan Family 

Joan of Arc and Her Little Sister

 

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Summary

This chapter tells the story of the Hannan family, allies to incarcerated Japanese through political advocacy and friendship. Prior to WWII, Irish American Lawrence Hannan worked as  property lawyer living with his wife and three children in Chicago, Illinois. With the onset of war.
he was called to activite duty as an Army
reserve officer. In May 1945, after war in
Europe ended, instead of returning to his
civilian job, he signed on as a project lawyer
at Amache, a Colorado incarceration camp.
When it closed, he transferred to the Tule
Lake Segregation Center where "disloyals"
were sent. Living and working in the camps,
the Hannan family went out of their ways to
befriend the inmates, though "fraternization"

as discouraged by camp adminstrators. At night, Lawrence

Hannan tried to help Nisei who had renounced their

American their citizenship and were facing deportation to

Japan, a country they had never seen. Nell Hannan acted

as  a social worker, and teen-aged Mari and12-year-old

Helen fought civil injustices through friendship.
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Discussion Questions 

• Describe the power of creating community across difference.

• What does it mean to be a true ally or co-conspirator?
  Why is it necessary for white people to bear witness to racial injustice?

• How did the Hannans' family history influence their activism?

• How did they use their positions in the incarceration camps to combat institutional oppression? 

• How do photographs serve as vital historical records?

• What do friendship and community mean to you? 

• What are the possible impacts of proposed changes to birthright citizenship?

 

Key concepts

• "No-Nos" and the Loyalty Questionnaire

• Segregation camp

• ​Hoshidan and other protestors

• ​Deportation of non-citizens and those who renounce U.s. citizenship