Tag Archives: Youth

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

Photograph of Poston Toy Loan Library taken by teacher Mary Burford Courage, [ca. 1943-1945]. To address the lack of toys within Poston, teacher Mary Burford Courage assisted the Junior Red Cross in decorating an empty barracks with wrapping paper to create a makeshift toy loan library. This communal collection allowed children to share and play with donated toys. Mary Burford Courage Papers Related to the Poston Relocation Center (WA MSS S-2651), Box 1, Folder 15. WA, BRBL.

Photograph by Poston teacher Mary Burford Courage

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

Campus Echoes Yearbook, Parker Valley High School, Poston, 1944-1945. Despite the circumstances, yearbooks from internment resemble any other American yearbook. Yet, the Campus Echoes editors still featured a photograph of rows of barracks as their yearbook lining. A few pages later, its editors begin a photographic vignette by "looking back over our two years in a relocation center," reminiscing about the "many things" that "will remain outstanding in our memories." United States War Relocation Authority Collection (MS 803), Box 1. MSSA.

Parker Valley High School, Poston, 1944-1945

Cartoon strips by Keichi Imamura, [c. 1942] While interned at Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, 11-year-old Keichi Imamura produced a number of cartoons, which his parents occasionally mailed to their friend Walter Millsap. Impressed by the cartoons, Millsap encouraged Keichi to pursue drawing and a potential career as a cartoonist for Disney. Walter Millsap / Keikichi Akana Imamura Family Papers, Box 2, Folder 28. WA, BRBL.

Drawn by 11-year-old Keichi Imamura