Voices of Portland Presents: Finding Her Voice in Portland: Ann Hibino

An Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Month Event

Waverly Senior Center, 7 Waverly Ave, Portland CT 

Space is limited: Register Now!

The Voices of Portland committee is thrilled to announce their first Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month event.

This unique presentation will focus on the life and legacy of Ann Hibino. Ann was a resident of Portland from 1952 until her death in 1998. In 1991, she was interviewed by the American Friends Service Committee about her life before, during and after World War II when she and 120,000 other innocent Japanese American citizens and legal residents who lived on the West Coast, were forcibly removed from their homes and communities and incarcerated by the American government. Ann's daughter, Diane Hibino, will read excerpts from Ann's interview and discuss her life in California, Utah (at Topaz War Relocation Center), and in Portland CT.  Due in large part to the racism and injustice she and her Japanese American community experienced, Ann was a fierce advocate for civil rights. She was involved in many local organizations and causes, including affordable housing and voter education. As her obituary noted, she was a member of the Greater Middletown League of Women Voters for 43 years and held local and state offices with the organization. At the time of her death, she was a league representative to the Community Decommissioning Advisory Committee, an organization studying the decommissioning of the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Plant.

In addition to the interview, you will hear from Diane about her time growing up in Portland, and see photos and artifacts from the Hibino family and the Topaz War Relocation Center. Diane has carried on her mother's legacy, volunteering and holding leadership roles with the Montgomery County League of Women Voters for many years. 

This Voices of Portland project is made possible through the work of Archives of the American Friends Service Committee, the Portland Library, Portland's Committee on Solidarity, Portland Historical Society, Middlesex County Historical Society, Waverly Senior Center, ConnValley School of Music & Dance, and the Hibino Family.