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Japanese immigrants first came to Bainbridge Island, Washington in the 1880’s, working in the community, becoming an integral part of the island’s community. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, residents from Bainbridge Island were the first in the country to be incarcerated, largely because of the island’s proximity to naval bases. With only 6 days’ notice, 227 Japanese Americans were ordered to leave the island1. They were initially sent to Manzanar in California. Manzanar, at that time, was run by the Wartime Civil Control Administration, created by the Western Defense Command as a temporary detention facility before it was converted to a “war relocation center” in June of 19422. Residents from Bainbridge Island requested transfer to Minidoka to be closer to family. There is a memorial called the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial that is a unit of the Minidoka National Historic Site and managed through partnerships with the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community, and the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum. For more information, visit our page on Bainbridge Island.
1Joseph Conard (American Friends Service Committee), Japanese Evacuation Report #5, 2 Apr 1942, "Bainbridge Island," Camp Harmony Exhibit, University of Washington Libraries, (Washington: 20 Dec 1999). 2Brian Niiya, ed., Encyclopedia of Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present, Updated Edition (New York: Facts on File, 2001), 266-267. |
Last updated: August 29, 2019