Elizabeth & Catherine Humbargar:

A Sense of the Possible

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Summary

Follow Elizabeth and Catherine Humbargar’s story of educational activism in support of their Japanese students. The Humbargar sisters, having experienced oppression themselves as German Catholics unable to find teaching jobs in post WWI Kansas, devoted their careers to supporting Japanese American students. Elizabeth Humbargar was the faculty advisor of Stockton High’s 400-member Japanese American Student Club, with the support of her sister Catherine. The sisters' support of these students went beyond the classroom, often staying after school to teach language, speech, and instill leadership skills in their Japanese students; they even opened up their home to students who lived far from school pre-war, and to the formerly
interned as they moved back home post-war. When their
Japanese students were wrongfully interned, they organized
to create a makeshift school at the Stockton Assembly
Center, formerly the Fairgrounds, where students were
incarcerated. Having shaped strong leaders in the
community, they were able to encourage former students
such as Jimmie Doi and Grayce Kaneda to teach high
school courses in the temporary holding center. Because
of the advocacy of these Japanese teachers and the
Humbargar sisters, “ninety-two percent of the interned
students received academic credit for the semester
despite being interned.​​