Lone Pine, CA: After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Roosevelt ordered all peoples of Japanese ancestry to be placed in internment camps. Subsequently, tens of thousands of Americans of Japanese descent were rounded up and imprisoned in camps across the country. Manzanar was a relocation camp located in California’s Owens Valley, which eventually became the nation’s first permanent camp. Housing more than 10,000 detainees, the camp was functional until 1945, after which most of the buildings and barracks were dissembled and sold. Manzanar, like most of the former camps, is managed by the National Park Service. Former detainees, family and friends make an annual pilgrimage to Manzanar’s cemetery. An interpretive center and wide array of exhibits educate visitors as to the trauma of detainment but also attest to the creativity and will of the detainees.
