Tag Archives: students

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

The Japanese Evacuation and the Minority Problem, Samuel Nagata, [n.d.] While confined at Heart Mountain, Samuel Nagata published this seven-page pamphlet describing the "mass evacuation of Japanese from the Pacific Coast States" as a "vital issue." He describes its negative impact on issei, or first-generation immigrants who traveled to "America, the Promised Land" and also details the thousands of students, "loyal American citizens" who were forced to stop their schooling. Its closing pages contain a plea for "understanding, justice and sympathy." The pamphlet features cover art by artist Miné Okubo, renowned for her book Citizen 13660. Walter Millsap / Keikichi Akana Imamura Family Papers, WA MSS S-1590, BRBL.

Pamphlet by Samuel Nagata, illustration by Miné Okubo

Junior Red Cross Scrapbook, Poston I Elementary School, 1944 On page ten of this Junior Red Cross scrapbook is a drawing of the fourth-grade citizenship program, in which a blonde student sits among her Japanese American classmates. This student was most likely the daughter of a Poston administrator or teacher. Some teachers worked in the camps as conscientious objectors and lived and worked alongside internees, albeit in higher-quality accommodations. United States War Relocation Authority Collection (MS 803), Box 2. MSSA.

Poston I Elementary School, 1944

Today We Follow, Tomorrow We Lead, Senior Edition yearbook, Tri-State High School, Tule Lake Relocation Center, 1943. Tule Lake was designated for “dissidents,” 5,000 of whom renounced their U.S. citizenship. Living conditions were poor and following protests, the center was placed under martial law. This yearbook chronicles the difficulties of life at Tule Lake where on “critical, discouraging days…our thoughts were filled with pessimistic ideas and doubts as to our future position in this world.” Zc73.943to. WA, BRBL.

1943 Senior edition yearbook, Tri-State High School, Tule Lake