Hallowell Literary Lecture

Courtesy of Bradford Pearson

On April 10 and 11, award-winning journalist Bradford Pearson visited The Haverford School community to deliver the Edward R. Hallowell Literary Lecture. 

In an evening lecture, he presented on "Football and Japanese American Incarceration: A True Story of Resistance and Resilience in World War II America." He began with a moving excerpt from his book, The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America. The book describes the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the unlikely success of one internment camp high school’s football team, the Eagles of Heart Mountain. Pearson, who attended Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in New York, uncovered the true cost of FDR’s Executive Order 9066, which forced 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes. From an extensive and carefully curated selection of sources—first hand accounts, photographs, school projects, and more—Pearson learned about life in the internment camps. He reflected on the kind welcome he received from the Japanese American community, opening their doors and sharing their stories. He also remarked on the times he has been asked, “could this happen again?” As he explained, preventing the repetition of this dark episode of our history is up to us. 

The next morning, Pearson spoke to the Upper School community. In that lecture, he discussed his path to becoming a journalist. “To be successful at anything requires that you first take an interest,” he said. He remembers his childhood curiosity fading when he realized he could perform well enough in school without trying. He “skated by” in school, from adolescence into college, until a torn tendon gave him back all the time he had been spending rowing. Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, his college newspaper, and a near death experience being kidnapped all eventually led him to pursue journalism. He encouraged the students to embrace their curiosity, “the one thing you can’t learn on the job.” As he shared, “Intelligence will only take you so far. Curiosity will take you the rest of the way.”