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Landing

■ banner image | Amache barracks grounds — Photograph shows aerial view of barracks at the internment camp used during forced removal of Japanese Americans during World War II: Panorama of Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. Photograph by Joe McClelland for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information Collection, LC-USZ62-133631.

■ California almond grove in flower — In Two Faces, Gordon’s family had almond and peach tree orchards on their farm. Photo by Jane Doan on Unsplash.

■ authors’ portraits — Photos courtesy of the authors. Copyright © Nina Wolpe. Copyright © Gordon Hideaki Nagai. All rights reserved.


Authors

■ authors’ portraits — Photos courtesy of the authors. Copyright © Nina Wolpe. Copyright © Gordon Hideaki Nagai. All rights reserved.

Excerpt

■ authors’ childhood portraits — Photos courtesy of the authors. Copyright © Nina Wolpe. Copyright © Gordon Hideaki Nagai. All rights reserved.

News & Events

■ reviews | lunch hour with friends — San Francisco, California, April 1942. A lunch hour scene at the Weill public school in the so-called international section. Many children of Japanese ancestry like the boy shown here with his Caucasian chum, were evacuated with their parents from this neighborhood, to go to the War Relocation Authority Centers for the duration of the war. Photograph by Dorothea Lange for U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information Collection, LC-USZ62-17134.

■ news & interviews | Yosemite Valley — Yosemite, California, June 2013. Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. Yosemite National Park spans eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in California. Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith. Courtesy of Library of Congress, the Jon B. Lovelace Collection of California Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-25629.

■ events | Amache Agriculture Fair — Granada Relocation Center, Camp Amache, Colorado, September 11–12, 1943. Amache Elementary School victory garden exhibit, Amache Agricultural Fair. Photograph by Joe McClelland for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537350.

Related Resources

■ photographs | guard tower — Manzanar War Relocation Center, California, 2012, one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II. Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, the Jon B. Lovelace Collection of California Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-23296.

■ photographs | newspaper photographers at a relocation center — July 26, 1943. Cameramen from the San Francisco newspaper picture life at a Relocation Center. Photograph by Francis Leroy Stewart. Department of the Interior. War Relocation Authority. 2/16/1944–6/30/1946: Stewart, Francis Leroy, 1909–1992. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537148.

■ videos | filming evacuee family — Los Angeles, California, April 1942. Japanese-American evacuation from West Coast areas under U.S. Army war emergency order. Photographers at the train in Los Angeles, California, filming and taking photos of Japanese Americans being sent to Manzanar War Relocation Center in Owens Valley. Photography by Russell Lee. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration—Office of War Information Photograph Collection, LC-USF3301-013293-M4.

■ educational materials | internment camp school building — Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, California, November 3, 1942. One of the barracks at this center which is used for a high school. As yet the students haven't decided on a name for the school. Photograph by Francis Leroy Stewart for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 536385.

■ educational materials | students studying in shade of barracks — Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California, July 1, 1941. An elementary school with voluntary attendance has been established with volunteer evacuee teachers, most of whom are college graduates. No school equipment is as yet obtainable and available tables and benches are used. However, classes are often held in the shade of the barrack building at this War Relocation Authority center. Photograph by Dorothea Lange for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537962.

Videos

■ Camp Amache WWII Japanese Internment — Interview series with Gordon Nagai detailing his experiences at Camp Amache. May–September 2017. Videography and editing by Diana Nagai and Paul Nagai. Copyright © Gordon Hideaki Nagai. All rights reserved.

Historical Photos

■ Pearl Harbor and U.S.S. Shaw ablaze — December 7, 1941, 8:00 A.M. Hawaii time | Sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor naval base and U.S.S. Shaw ablaze after the Japanese attack. Photograph by U.S. Navy. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-16555.

■ U.S.S. Arizona burning in Pearl Harbor — December 7, 1941, 8:00 A.M. Hawaii time | Sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona (BB-39) burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Photograph by U.S. Navy. Courtesy of the National Archives, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, NAID: 195617.

■ Aurora Sunday Beacon-News — Newspaper, Aurora Sunday Beacon-News, Aurora, IL, December 7, 1941. Headline: “U.S. – JAPAN AT WAR!” Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service.

■ Executive Order 9066 — During the spring of 1942—acting under authority granted to the Secretary of War by Executive Order 9066—the military began posting “evacuation” notices in government-designated districts throughout the West Coast. They were attached to telephone poles, store windows, billboards, schools, and other public buildings. See MO 2006.180.4 for a Japanese language version of the poster. Photograph courtesy of National Archives and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, MO 2006.180.1.

■ posting Executive Order 9066 — Civilian Exclusion Order No. 5, posted at First and Front Streets, directing removal by April 7 of persons of Japanese ancestry. The photograph is from the first San Francisco section to be affected by evacuation. Notices were posted in Washington, Oregon, and California. Photograph by Dorothea Lange for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-34565.

■ military police in watch-tower — Arcadia, California, April 6, 1942. Military police on duty in watch-tower at Santa Anita park assembly center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. Evacuees are transferred later to War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. Photograph by Clem Albers for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537019.

■ aerial view of Granada — Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado, November 30, 1943. A view of the Granada Center looking west from the water tower. Photograph by Joe McClelland for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 536559.

■ armed military police patrolling grounds — Arcadia, California, April 6, 1942. Military police patrol fence around Santa Anita Park Assembly Center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. Evacuees are transferred later to War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. Photograph by Clem Albers for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537022.

■ wash day at Granada — Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado, December 9, 1942. Every day is wash day in a relocation center, the impromptu lines generally erected in the area to the rear of each pair of barracks buildings, find constant use. Photograph by Tom Parker for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 539119.

■ internment camp school — Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, California, November 3, 1942. One of the barracks at this center which is used for a high school. As yet the students haven't decided on a name for the school. Photograph by Francis Leroy Stewart for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 536385.

■ family in their one-room barracks apartment — Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado, December 9, 1942. The Ninomiya family in their barracks room at the Amache Center. The mother's handiwork in preparing drapes, fashioning furniture out of scrap material, plus the boys' ingenuity in preparing double deck bunks have made this bare brick floored barracks room a fairly comfortable duration home. Tosh Ninomiya left, is charged with the responsibility of documenting the history of the Amache Center. Photograph by Tom Parker for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 538998.

■ military-style barrack home — Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas, November 17, 1942. A typical interior of a barracks home. Photograph by Tom Parker for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 538882.

■ serving dinner in a mess hall — Food at the beginning was a problem being meat and potatoes American-style meals. Much of the food was thrown out because it was very different particularly to the older Japanese. Once Japanese foods were included in the meals complaints from the internees ended. Courtesy of the National Archives.

■ mealtime in a mess hall — Arcadia, California, April 6, 1942. Lunch time cafeteria style, at the Santa Anita Assembly center where many thousands of evacuees of Japanese ancestry are temporarily housed pending transfer to War Relocation Authority centers where they will spend the duration. Photograph by Clem Albers for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537404.

■ guard tower and barbed wire — Tule Lake Relocation Center, 1942. (detail) Like Camp Amache, Tule Lake was under armed guard. Every evacuee leaving the colony behind the eight-foot fence was required to show a pass to the administrative area. Guard towers were first manned by the Army, later by Border Patrolmen under Department of Justice. Photograph by Jack Iwata. Department of the Interior. War Relocation Authority. 2/16/1944-6/30/1946: Iwata, Jack.

■ shower room without privacy dividers — Independence, California. Rows of exposed showers in the bathrooms of Manzanar Internment Camp, shows no personal privacy. Photography copyright © melissamn / Shutterstock.

■ rows of exposed toilets — Independence, California. Rows of exposed toilets in the bathrooms of Manzanar Internment Camp. Photography copyright © melissamn / Shutterstock.

■ The 442nd Regimental Combat Team — The Color Guard of the Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team stands at attention while their citations for bravery are read following the fierce fighting in the Vosges area of France near Bruyères, November 12, 1944. Photography by Musser, U. S. Army Signal Corps. Courtesy of the National Archives.

■ letter — Formal letter of apology to all surviving internees on White House stationery over the signature of President George H.W. Bush sent out beginning in 1990. Photo courtesy of the author. Copyright © Gordon Hideaki Nagai. All rights reserved.

Family Photographs

■ family photograph collection — All photos in the collection courtesy of the authors. Copyright © Nina Wolpe. Copyright © Gordon Hideaki Nagai. All rights reserved.

Map of WWII Sites

■ map — NPS map displaying the different kinds of places Americans of Japanese descent were incarcerated during WWII. For additional information on specific War Relocation Centers, visit the National Park Services site. Courtesy of the National Park System.

Ask a Question

■ grandfather waiting — Hayward, California, May 8, 1942. Grandfather of Japanese ancestry waiting at local park for the arrival of evacuation bus which will take him and other evacuees to the Tanforan Assembly center. He was engaged in the cleaning and dyeing business in Hayward for many years. Photograph by Dorothea Lange for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537511.

Contact

■ printing newsletter — (detail) Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas, November 18, 1942. Rolling the presses as the Jerome Communique, project mimeographed newspaper, prepares to hit the streets. Left to right: Eunice Yakota, Stencil Cutter; Kiyomi Nakamura, Mimeoscope operator; Tsugio Makagama, Mimeo Chief; Ray Kawamoto, Communique Artist & Mimeo Chief. Photograph by Tom Parker for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 538856.

Privacy

■ two-year-old evacuee waiting with luggage — A young evacuee of Japanese ancestry waits with the family baggage before leaving by bus for an assembly center in the spring of 1942. The subject is two-year-old Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa, photographed at Union Station in Los Angeles, waiting for the train taking her and her mother to Manzanar. California, April 1942. Photograph by Dorothea Lange for the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 539959.

Credits

■ store window sign — Oakland, California, May 1943. A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 401–403 Eighth and Franklin Streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war. Photograph by Dorothea Lange for U.S. War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives, NAID: 537833.