Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 37 minutes ago
Mary Blocher Smeltzer was one of more than 200 teachers honored by the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California. Mary and her husband Ralph Smeltzer, now deceased, taught students at the Manzanar Internment Camp in California, in 1943. She was honored for extraordinary actions that touched and transformed a generation of Japanese Americans.
Manzanar Camp was one of 10 camps, where 110,000 Japanese Americans were held during World War ll. It was estimated that 30,000 children attended school at these camps.
Mary states that from the very beginning of being a teacher at Manzanar, she worked to help relocate and resettle 1,000 Japanese Americans in Chicago and New York, through the assistance of the Church of the Brethren.
Brethren Voices met with Mary Blocher Smeltzer at her Hillcrest retirement home, when she was 95 years old, in 2010. Mary was a very "spirited lady" who shared her story of working for peace, during times of war.
TAGS: Japanese American Internment, Manzanar Camp, Resettlement of Japanese Americans, A Spirited Woman Working for Peace, School Children of Manzanar Internment Camp,
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Mary Blocher Smeltzer was one of more than 200 teachers honored by the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California. Mary and her husband Ralph Smeltzer, now deceased, taught students at the Manzanar Internment Camp in California, in 1943. She was honored for extraordinary actions that touched and transformed a generation of Japanese Americans.
Manzanar Camp was one of 10 camps, where 110,000 Japanese Americans were held during World War ll. It was estimated that 30,000 children attended school at these camps.
Mary states that from the very beginning of being a teacher at Manzanar, she worked to help relocate and resettle 1,000 Japanese Americans in Chicago and New York, through the assistance of the Church of the Brethren.
Brethren Voices met with Mary Blocher Smeltzer at her Hillcrest retirement home, when she was 95 years old, in 2010. Mary was a very "spirited lady" who shared her story of working for peace, during times of war.
TAGS: Japanese American Internment, Manzanar Camp, Resettlement of Japanese Americans, A Spirited Woman Working for Peace, School Children of Manzanar Internment Camp,
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