Cover Page

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Essay

Brief History

Gila River

Granada

Heart Mountain

Jerome

Manzanar

Minidoka

Poston

Rohwer

Topaz

Tule Lake

Isolation Centers

Add'l Facilities

Assembly Centers

DoJ and US Army Facilities

Prisons

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord

Chapter 1 (continued)
Sites of Shame: An Introduction

Remnants of Architecture and Archeology

Beyond the monuments, many of the facilities associated with the relocation are intact, from an archeological standpoint. That is, although most buildings have been removed or destroyed, there remains a wide range of artifacts and features which evoke the distinct aspects of confinement and ethnicity. Other remaining features, such as hospitals, schools, and sewage treatment plants, reflect the requirements of a large concentration of people in previously sparsely populated areas (Figure 1.10).

The most abundant archeological remains were noted at the relocation centers and other sites used by the WRA. Continued use of many of the other facilities has erased most evidence of their former use. The best examples of these are those that were abandoned soon after World War II. These include the Department of Justice camps at Crystal City and Fort Missoula, and the U.S. Army internment camp at Lordsburg (Figure 1.11).

Figure 1.10. Hospital smokestack at the Jerome Relocation Center.

Figure 1.11. Remains at the site of the Lordsburg Internment Center.

Figure 1.12. Rock and concrete steps in the staff housing area at the Catalina Federal Housing Camp.

Of the assembly centers the most significant archeological remains discovered were those of an eroding dump at Marysville. Of the three Federal prisons, two are still in use and retain much of their original character. Numerous foundations and other features remain at the abandoned Catalina Federal Honor Camp (Figure 1.12).

Remnants of watchtowers and fences are visible at several of the relocation center sites. At Manzanar five of eight watchtower foundations are still in place, and recent archaeological work (Burton n.d.) has revealed evidence of the remaining three. All the watchtower foundations at Granada and Topaz are still visible in their original locations (Figure 1.13); at Tule Lake some are in place and some have been pulled out of the ground and left nearby. At Jerome, watchtower foundation remnants can be seen discarded in a ditch.

At the other camps, watchtower foundations have been removed or possibly buried by sediments. At one of the former Department of Justice facilities (Fort Missoula) portions of two guard towers have been preserved and are on display.

Stone sentry posts are still standing at the entrances to Manzanar and Minidoka (Figure 1.14); the less-substantial sentry posts at the other camps have not survived. Perimeter fences at Manzanar and Granada are still mostly intact, with many of the original fence posts of the 5-foot high, five-strand barbed wire fences still in place. At Manzanar, the top and bottom strands of barbed wire have been removed for its current role as a range fence. Heart Mountain, Minidoka, Rohwer, and Topaz retain some sections of perimeter fence; of these Heart Mountain's is the most substantial, with an added top section. Portions of the 6-foot-high chain link and barbed wire fence that was constructed when the Tule Lake Relocation Center was converted to a Segregation Center are still intact. None of the other sites investigated had evidence of their former security fences.

Figure 1.13. Watch tower founation blocks at the Granada Relocation Center.

Figure 1.14. Sentry post and waiting room a the entrance to the Minidoka Relocation Center.

The effectiveness of the perimeter fences at the relocation centers can be seen in the artifact distribution: all trash at most of the relocation centers was disposed of in centralized trash dumps. The only exception was the unfenced Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona, where small trash scatters outside the central area of the relocation center are as abundant as at any contemporary town.

Figure 1.15. Jail at the Tule Lake Relocation Center.

One of the most conspicuous symbols of the internment still remaining is the jail constructed for the Tule Lake Segregation Center (Figure 1.15). Of durable concrete, the jail stands abandoned within a highway maintenance yard, a visible reminder of the heightened security at Tule Lake. Tule Lake also has evidence of the largest and most substantial military police compound, with many of its buildings still standing. Six other relocation centers have foundations and other features remaining from their associated military police compounds, with the Gila River and Granada relocation centers retaining the most features and suffering the least disturbance.

Confinement was not, however, absolute. Evacuees at most of the relocation centers were allowed to leave the fenced areas to work in the center farms, to collect landscaping materials, or even to recreate. Evidence of some of these outlying facilities remains. For example, some of the relocation center farm buildings at Topaz and Granada are still standing; features remain at a CCC camp used by evacuees at the Topaz relocation center (Antelope Springs); and some picnic features are located outside the fenced central area at Manzanar. Evacuees at Tule Lake (probably before it was converted to a segregation center) visited a nearby prehistoric rock art site at Lava Beds National Monument, and chiseled their names into the cliff faces and neighboring boulders.

Figure 1.16. Cemetery monument at the Manzanar Relocation Center.

The WRA and even some within the Japanese American community hoped the evacuation, removal, detention, and eventual relocation would further acculturation with white America (e.g. Masaoka 1944). However, confinement may have had the opposite effect. Although the Japanese language was banned or proscribed in the centers, Japanese writing can be seen both in concrete features in outlying areas and in more public areas. At Manzanar, Japanese writing in concrete is most common outside the fenced central area. Possibly it was harder to circumvent the ban on Japanese writing under the closer scrutiny of camp confines. The ban did not apply to the dead: memorials at the cemeteries at Manzanar, Rowher, and Granada contain Japanese writing, as did headstones at Tule Lake and Heart Mountain (Figure 1.16).

Even though the Japanese Americans were imprisoned because of their ethnic background, they did not hide their Japanese heritage: ceramics include numerous rice bowls, tea cups, and other "Made In Japan" objects in the trash dumps at most of the facilities where such deposits were found. At Manzanar, fragments of saki bottles and "Go" gaming pieces were found during archaeological testing, and faint traces of Japanese baths were noted at a few latrine slabs (Burton 1993).

Evacuee-constructed features, such as landscaping, gardens, ponds, and irrigation systems, also reflect the Japanese heritage (Figure 1.17). Remnants of these features are most evident at the Manzanar and Gila River relocations centers, but historical photographs indicate they were common at the other relocation centers as well. The Judo house at Manzanar and the Sumo wrestling arena at Gila River also indicate the maintenance of traditional Japanese culture. As mentioned above, at Granada, Heart Mountain, Manzanar, Rohwer, and Tule Lake, the cemetery monuments and grave stones have prominent Japanese inscriptions. Even the evacuee-constructed sentry buildings at Manzanar and Minidoka show a distinct Japanese influence. However, evacuees also constructed facilities that could be considered typically "American:" at Gila River, Manzanar, and Topaz there is still evidence of the baseball fields that played an important role in evacuee life.

Figure 1.17. Small concrete pond at the Gila River Relocation Center.

Interestingly, there are fewer archaeological correlates of ethnicity at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, the isolation centers, and internment camps where the supposedly "more Japanese" Japanese Americans were held. This probably reflects the tighter security and control at these camps: perceived troublemakers were not allowed to bring their dishes or other comforts of home and were not likely to be allowed outside the camps to collect landscaping materials.

Comparing the remaining features of the relocation centers raises questions. For example, why do landscaping features such as ponds and walkways seem more substantial at Gila River and Manzanar than the other relocation centers? Did the evacuees who built ponds at these centers feel a relatively greater sense of permanence that encouraged their efforts to beautify their bleak surroundings with landscaping? Was Japanese landscaping a symbolic form of resistence?

Even between Manzanar and Gila River there are suggestive differences in landscaping. At Manzanar, there are large gardens associated with most of the communal mess halls. At Gila River, most ponds and landscaping appears to be associated with single barracks, rather than whole blocks. Do the large gardens at Manzanar reflect an usually high degree of cohesiveness? Many of the evacuees at Manzanar came from geographically restricted areas such as Terminal Island or other Los Angeles neighborhoods, where they had been neighbors before the relocation.

Many of the relocation centers have substantial archaeological remains and the potential for buried features. Overall, the physical remains at all the sites are evocative of this very significant, if shameful, episode in U.S. history. Each appears to have intrinsic historic value, meriting National Register or National Landmark status.

Continued

Last Modified: Fri, Sep 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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