On Thursday, March 12, at 4 p.m. the doors to the University Library Gallery were open to the public for an exhibit titled “On the Sidelines: Sports in the Internment Camps.”

The exhibit was put together by Professor Gregory Mark, the director of the Asian American Archives, to honor and work towards the mission of Wayne Maeda, a professor who passed away about two years ago.

According to Mark, Wayne Maeda was an advocate for ethnic studies and diversity. He wanted to provide his students and the public with as much knowledge as possible.

“On his deathbed he wished to have his books and artifacts be accessible to students and researchers,” Mark said.

Professor Maeda was one of the founding members of the Ethnic Studies Center and the Asian American Studies Program and taught the subject for 42 years at Sacramento State.

The Asian American library is based on books from his collection.

“This exhibit is the concrete spirit of the ethnic studies program,” said Boatamo Mosupyoe, chair of the department of ethnic studies and professor of Pan-African studies.

The exhibit is meant to tell the story of the Japanese-Americans who were forced into concentration camps during World War II.

“This exhibit blends two cultures, one being a painful past of American history,” said Orn Bodvarsson, professor and dean of social sciences and interdisciplinary studies.

At opposite ends of the gallery ran two videos: one a documentary titled “Pride and Shame,”which included footage, photographs and interviews of life in the concentration camps; and the second a documentary put together by Mark, interviewing two Japanese veterans who spent their time in the concentration camps as children.

“It was a really dark part of American history, the treatment of Japanese Americans and World War II,” Mark said. “Sports was a key part of the Japanese community before and after the war.”

Artifacts on display included posters of Uncle Sam warning Americans of the “Japs”, toys from Japanese children in the camps and various photographs of life for the Japanese during the war.

Mark also read a letter from a Japanese American thanking him and everyone who put together the program.

“We want people to look and see both the negatives and the positive today,” Mark said.

The exhibit also received contribution and help from Sac State students, the Full Circle Project and the Asian American Studies Club.

“It was very difficult,” said Christine Chen, one of the students who help put together the archive. “We learned how to plan, research and put together a project for the public to understand.

The Asian-American ethic studies focuses on four groups: Hmong Americans, Filipino Americans, Korean Americans and Japanese Americans.

Each semester creates a project that focuses on one of the four groups to help the public gain valuable knowledge and further professor Maeda’s mission.