On Monday, May 16, 2005, PBS will premiere Time of Fear as part of their Asian Pacific American Heritage month programming. This documentary tells the story of the 16,000 men, women and children who were sent to two camps in southeast Arkansas, one of the poorest and most racially segregated places in America. It also explores the reactions of the native Arkansans who watched in bewilderment as their tiny towns were overwhelmed by this influx of outsiders.

Check your local listings for exact time and date, but in most of the country the hour-long film is scheduled to run at 10:00pm ET. Encourage your friends and family to watch this important chapter of Japanese American and Arkansas history.

Time of Fear was commissioned for Life Interrupted. Life Interrupted is a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Public History program and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California with major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation whose mission is to research the experiences of Japanese Americans in World War II Arkansas, and educate the citizens of Arkansas and the nation about the two camps at Jerome and Rohwer.