Dorothea Lange, View of the Manzanar Relocation Center in California during a dust storm, July 3, 1942
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum will open a new photographic exhibition titled “Images of Internment: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.” The collection of more than 200 photographs includes the work of Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams. The exhibit opens on February 19 and will be on display in the Library’s William J. vanden Heuvel Gallery through December 31. Regular hours and admission apply.
“Images of Internment” begins with a small document-focused display that briefly introduces the context behind FDR’s decision to issue Executive Order 9066. It includes the role of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who disagreed with FDR’s decision. Visitors then enter the exhibition’s main gallery, where they will encounter over 200 photographs (including some reproduced in dramatically large formats) that provide a visual record of the forced removal of Japanese Americans and their lives inside the restricted world of the remote government camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA).
For additional information, visit www.fdrlibrary.org or call (800) 337-8474. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum is located at 4079 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park.
Risa and Yasubei Hirano pose with son George and a framed photograph of their son Shigera. The Hirano family lived in Watsonville, California before being incarcerated at the Colorado River Relocation Center in Poston, Arizona. Shigera Hirano served in the U.S. Army in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team while his family was confined at the Colorado River camp. In October 1944, George Hirano joined his brother in the army.
Clem Albers, “Evacuees” arrive under guard at the Santa Anita Assembly Center, April 5, 1942
Ansel Adams’ 1943 photo depicts editor Roy Takeno of the Manzanar Free Press (left) outside the paper’s office. Newspapers published by the “evacuees” were an important source of community information. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum)
Clem Albers, A child sits amid family baggage while waiting for the bus to a government “assembly center,” spring 1942
Dorothea Lange, The Japanese American owner of this Oakland, California grocery placed this sign on his storefront on December 8, 1941
This history is entirely unknown to many Americans but ought to be known. For those who think that oppression from bigotry of ethnic groups were on the way out in the 20th century, this is a wake-up call.