News Release

National Park Service Awards More than $3.1 Million in Grants to Preserve and Interpret World War II Japanese American Confinement Sites

Amache incarceration site in Colorado, December 12, 1942. Colorado Preservation, Inc., will develop interpretive elements at the site to provide visitors with a better understanding of Japanese American incarceree living conditions during World War II.

Photo courtesy of Tom Parker, National Archives and Records Administration.

News Release Date: April 27, 2020

Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service is pleased to announce more than $3.1 million in Japanese American Confinement Sites grants that will fund preservation, restoration and education projects throughout the country. The 22 projects funded will help tell the stories of the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan in 1941.

“These grants help to preserve an important piece of our nation’s history, educating generations of visitors about the injustice of the World War II confinement of Japanese Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.

“The National Park Service is dedicated to the preservation and protection of natural, cultural, and historical resources across the United States,” said David Vela, National Park Service Deputy Director. “Through these projects, we have the honor of educating our visitors about the strength and perseverance of the Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II.”

“The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula does an incredible job of telling the story of our nation and Montana’s history,” said Montana Senator Steve Daines. “I’m glad to have supported this project and look forward to seeing it complete.”

“Located in Granada, Colorado, Amache serves as a stark reminder of a dark moment in our country’s history,” said Colorado Senator Cory Gardner. “I’m grateful for the continued support from the National Park Service, and the Coloradans they partner with, which help ensure the site is preserved so we can remember the grave injustice committed against Japanese Americans during World War II and never repeat our mistakes from the past.”

“The internment of Japanese Americans was one of the most shameful times in American history. By funding preservation projects like these we can help ensure future generations will always remember in the hopes that we will never again treat Americans in this reprehensible way,” said California Congressman Jim Costa.

Japanese American Confinement Sites grants may be awarded to projects associated with the 10 War Relocation Authority centers established in 1942 and more than 40 additional confinement sites. The program’s mission is to teach future generations about the injustice of the World War II confinement of Japanese Americans and to inspire a commitment to equal justice under the law. Successful project proposals are chosen through a competitive process that requires applicants to match the grant award with $1 in non-federal funds or "in-kind" contributions for every $2 they receive in federal money.

Over the past 11 years, the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program has supported a wide range of successful projects, including a memorial and exhibit to tell the lesser-known stories of Japanese Americans who were forced to leave their homes in Juneau, and nearby Alaskan communities during the war; the restoration of headstones and monuments at the Rohwer cemetery in Arkansas; and the construction of visitors centers in Utah and Wyoming to tell the history of the Topaz and Heart Mountain incarceration sites and the larger, national story of Japanese American World War II incarceration.

Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program in 2006, authorizing a total of $38 million in funding for the life of the program. Today’s announcement brings the current award total to more than $32 million.

Examples of new projects receiving funds this year include:

• Fort Missoula Internment Camp Barracks Assessment: The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula will conduct an assessment of two original barracks moved back to the former World War II Department of Justice internment site, to help guide future restoration of the buildings, and interpretation of the site’s history.

• Digital Storytelling Workshops: California-based Story Boldly will host several workshops to engage former incarcerees and their descendants in recording short films about their personal experiences during World War II, and the impacts on their families. These films will be shared with educators, and across social media, to reach youth and others unfamiliar with this part of our nation’s history.

• Unsung Service: Preserving the Nisei Cadet Nurse Corps: The Go for Broke National Education Center will research the little-known history of Japanese American women who were recruited from Japanese American World War II incarceration sites to serve in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps to help fill the nation’s shortage of nurses.

A full list of the 22 new projects selected to receive funds in FY 2020 are identified in the table below. For more details about these projects, visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internment/index.htm.
 

Grantee	Project Title	Project Site	Amount
Alameda Free Library, California	The Impact of Japanese American Incarceration on Alameda, California—the First California Community Removed under Executive Order 9066	All War Relocation Authority Sites	$139,220
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles (Vigilant Love), California	Solidarity Arts Fellowship	Manzanar Incarceration Site, Inyo County, California	$47,518
Center for Independent Documentary, Massachusetts	Baseball Behind Barbed Wire	Multiple Sites	$208,945
City of Richmond, California	Roses and Thorns: Sustaining Stories of Japanese American Lives in Richmond’s Miraflores Development	Tanforan "Assembly Center", San Bruno, San Mateo County, California; Topaz Incarceration Site, Millard County, Utah	$97,500
Colorado Preservation, Inc., Colorado	Amache Barrack-Interior Interpretation	Amache Incarceration Site, Prowers County, Colorado	$64,000
Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, California	Relocation of a War Relocation Authority Staff Building Back to Manzanar National Historic Site	Manzanar Incarceration Site, Inyo County, California	$44,152
Fred T. Korematsu Institute, California	“Then They Came for Me” Traveling Exhibition	Multiple Sites	$247,540
Global Kids, Inc., New York	GRIT-Global Kids (G2K) Project	Manzanar Incarceration Site, Inyo County, California	$210,258
Go For Broke National Education Center, California	Unsung Service: Preserving the Nisei Cadet Nurse Corps	Multiple Sites	$28,481
Go For Broke National Education Center, California	Valor in Confinement: Perspectives of the Japanese American Veterans of World War II	Multiple Sites	$96,729
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Montana	Fort Missoula Internment Camp Barracks Assessment	Fort Missoula Internment Site (Department of Justice), Missoula County, Montana	$40,000
Japanese American National Museum, California	Japanese American National Museum Camp Digitization Project	Multiple Sites	$286,508
Japanese American National Museum, California	Sutra and Bible: Faith and Japanese American World War II Incarceration	Multiple Sites	$245,382
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, Hawaii	Remembering the Past to Change the Future	Honouliuli, Internment Site (US Army), Ewa, Honolulu County, Hawaii; Sand Island Detention Camp, (US Army), Honolulu County, Hawaii	$151,960
Michigan State University, Michigan	Internment Archaeology Digital Archive	Kooskia Internment Site (Department of Justice), Idaho County, Idaho; Minidoka Incarceration Site, Jerome County, Idaho	$379,017
National Japanese American Historical Society, California	War Relocation Authority Incarceree Farm Labor Teacher Education Project	Multiple Sites	$156,018
The National World War II Museum, Louisiana	Japanese American Experiences in World War II Electronic Field Trip	Heart Mountain Incarceration Site, Park County, Wyoming; Amache Incarceration Site, Prowers County, Colorado	$100,594
Poston Community Alliance, California	Poston Live: Its Lessons and Multicultural Legacy	Poston Incarceration Site, La Paz County, Arizona	$50,075
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, California	Tanforan Assembly Center Exhibit	Tanforan “Assembly Center,” San Bruno, San Mateo County, California	$62,100
Story Boldly, California	Digital Storytelling Workshops	Multiple Sites	$110,586
United Tribes Technical College, North Dakota	Fort Lincoln Memorial Courtyard	Fort Lincoln Internment Camp (Department of Justice), Burleigh County, North Dakota	$190,133
Visual Communications Media, California	They Answered No-No: Wayne Collins and the Renunciants	Tule Lake Segregation Center, Modoc County, California; Crystal City Internment Site (Department of Justice), Zavala County, Texas	$198,284
Total			$3,155,000

www.nps.gov

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.