Category Archives: Manzanar

Ansel Adams at Manzanar, 1943-1944 Throughout the war, renowned landscape photographer Ansel Adams visited Manzanar four times to document life in camp. His photographs were collected in the book, "Born Free and Equal: Photographs of the Loyal Japanese Americans at Manzanar Relocation Center" (1944). In the foreword, Adams noted: “Moved by the human story unfolding in the encirclement of desert and mountains, and by the wish to identify my photography in some creative way with the tragic moment of the times, I came to Manzanar with my cameras in the fall of 1943.” Ansel Adams Manzanar Photos (MSSU), 2016.wa.0019. WA, BRBL.

Landscape photographer Ansel Adams visited Manzanar four times to document life at camp.

Our World Yearbook, Manzanar War Relocation Center High School, 1943–1944 Glanced through quickly, the yearbook of Manzanar High School looks like that of any American high school from the 1940s. And yet, its editors chose to frame their title page much as Ansel Adams did in his iconic photos of the camp, juxtaposing the snow-capped Sierra Nevadas against serial rows of barracks. The following page describes the journey “from a dusty wasteland to a lively community,” the text set against a photo of a white obelisk with the black calligraphy “I Rei To”: a tower to console the departed, the focal point of the camp cemetery. The various yearbooks made in the internment camps are a study of contrasts, a marker of normalcy amidst the most abnormal of living conditions. Zc72.+944ou. WA, BRBL.

Manzanar War Relocation Center High School, 1943-1944

“Army Revokes West Coast Exclusion Order,” Pacific Citizen vol. 19, no. 25, December 23, 1944. Founded in 1929, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) initially served as an umbrella organization for extant nisei, or second-generation, Japanese American organizations throughout the West Coast. The role of the JACL changed significantly after 1941 and the actions of the organization's leaders are not without controversy. This issue of the Pacific Citizen, the official publication of the JACL, announces the 1944 revocation of the West Coast Exclusion Order, two days before Christmas. Mary Burford Courage Papers Related to the Poston Relocation Center (WA MSS S-2651), Broadside folder. WA, BRBL.

Pacific Citizen – December 23, 1944

"Life in a Manzanar Block," Manzanar Free Press, April 25, 1942 WA MSS S-1590 Box 2 Folder 46, BRBL.

Manzanar Free Press, April 25, 1942

“Extra: Riot at Manzanar,” Daily News, Los Angeles, December 7, 1942 On December 6, 1942, military police fired into a protest, killing two and injuring ten. The Manzanar Riot ensued over the beating of JACL official Fred Tayama and the arrest of Harry Ueno for the alleged attack. Overlapping with the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, sensationalist headlines incited anti-Japanese sentiment outside, while revealing divisive factions within camp. Walter Millsap / Keikichi Akana Imamura Family Papers, Box 2, Folder 48. WA, BRBL.

News article on December 6, 1942 Manzanar riot

When You Leave the Relocation Center, United States War Relocation Authority (WRA) pamphlet, [c. 1943] The day of her release, artist Miné Okubo recalled that she was handed a train ticket, $3 a day for meals while in transit, and the War Relocation Authority’s booklet, "When You Leave the Relocation Center." This pamphlet offered guidelines for finding employment, enrolling in school, returning to a western state, and abiding by continued wartime regulations for those termed “aliens.” Mary Burford Courage Papers Related to the Poston Relocation Center, Arizona, Box 1, Folder 40. WA, BRBL.

WRA pamphlet regarding resettlement

American Baptist Home Mission Society, American Friends Service Committee, and Brethren Service Committee. “How to Relocate Through a Hostel.” Pamphlet, [n.d.] As they resettled across the country, Japanese Americans encountered discrimination that limited housing and employment prospects. Religious organizations established temporary hostels where former internees could live while searching for employment. Once they found jobs, these organizations then assisted internees in locating permanent housing. United States War Relocation Authority Collection (MS 803), Box 1, Folder 3. MSSA.

Pamphlet by American Baptist Home Mission Society, American Friends Service Committee, and Brethren Service Committee

“Outcasts! The Story of America’s Treatment of Her Japanese-American Minority.” Booklet, Caleb Foote and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1943 As a Quaker, Foote served a prison sentence for violating the Selective Service Act. Upon his release, he worked with the pacifist organization, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and actively protested internment. In 1943, he produced this booklet with renowned photographer Dorothea Lange. Walter Millsap / Keikichi Akana Imamura family papers (WA MSS S-1590), Box 2, Folder 40. WA, BRBL.

Booklet by Caleb Foote and the Fellowship of Reconciliation