Ellen Eisenberg, professor of American history at Willamette College, will share research she has conducted for her upcoming book, “To Be the First to Cry Down Injustice? Western Jews and the Problem of Japanese Removal.”

“Many people assume that Jews protested the racially based policies of removing Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast and imprisoning them in camps during World War II. In actuality, the organized Jewish communities of the West Coast were largely silent in the face of these policies,” Eisenberg said.

“In my presentation, I will discuss the tension over Japanese-American evacuation and incarceration in the San Francisco, Portland and Seattle Jewish communities, explore the reasons for community silence, and analyze the cases of individuals who broke the silence,” she said.

The lecture is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Whitsett Room of Sierra Hall, on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Reservations are required as seating is limited.

To R.S.V.P. for this event, call (818) 677-3007. For further information, or for a map of the location, visit the Jewish Studies Web site at www.csun.edu/jewish.studies.

Cal State Northridge offers both a major and a minor in Jewish Studies. The program explores the rich heritage of the Jewish people. Using the methodology of different academic disciplines, it examines the experience of Jews in the many lands in which they have lived over the past 4,000 years, as well as contemporary Jewish life in Israel, Europe, Asia and the Americas.