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Manzanar - Portraits
All
Manzanar photographs are from the National Archives Registry
unless otherwise noted. Copies of these pictures can be obtained
directly from the National Archives.
These images are some of my favorite. There nearly 500 Manzanar
internment images in the National Archives files. I encourage
you to visit the archives and peruse the many photographs. Once
you click on the icon above and are taken to the archives, type
in "Manzanar" and then press "Display Results"
and the images will be displayed in sets of nine.
You might observe, as I did, that the internees appear rather
unnaturally joyous in these pictures. I don't think that having
been dislocated from their homes and businesses, forced to live
in a harsh desert environment and confined to barracks with no
insulation would have made them this happy. But as Jeanne Wakatsuki
points out in her book, Farewell to Manzanar, Japanese
Americans told each other very quietly to "Shikata ga
nai" ("It must be done", or, as my Japanese
friend says, "Suck it up [and get on with life]." Perhaps
this is what encouraged them to put a smile on their face.
Text excerpts followed
by a "JWH" are from Jeanne
Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston's book "Farewell
to Manzanar" |
Harumi Ogawa and Tadashi Fujihara
by Wendy Fujihara Anderson
Chiyomi Ogawa and Kaz Ogawa
(Photograph by Toyo Miyatake)
Six Weddings and "The Wedding Dress"
Chiyomi Ogawa first wore her wedding dress in the shadow of Manzanar, a Japanese American concentration camp.
The dress was then worn by five other women. This is their story.
by Steve Nagano
Six Weddings and a Dress - The 8 Minute Documentary
by Steve Nagano
L/R: Nancy Kawashima, Emiko Hino - 1942 |
L/R: Florence Yamaguchi, Kinu Hirashima - 1942 |
L/R: Nancy Kawashima, Emiko Hino - 1942 |
Unknown - 1943 |
L/R: Toshiko Mikami, Kazuko Sakai - 1942
At the picnic grounds on the banks of Shepards Creek |
11/23
A group of block leaders drawing up the constitution
for this WRA center - 1942
L/R (Back): Bill Kito, Ted Akahosihi, Tom Yamazaki, Harry Nakamura
L/R (front): Karl Yoneda, H. Inouye |
Lucy Yonemitshu - 1943 |
L/R: Mrs. Chlde Zimmerman, Fumi Ido - 1943 |
L/R: Toshiko Mikami, Kazuko Sakai - 1943 |
L/R: Takeshi Shindo, Toshiko Mikami - 1943 |
11/23
Youngsters playing in the field of a nursery school - 1942 |
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