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 8 (continued)
Manzanar Relocation Center

Interpretation

Figure 8.118. Sign along U.S. Highway 395.

Manzanar is a registered State of California Historic Site, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark. In 1992 Congress designated Manzanar a National Historic Site, and the National Park Service maintains a temporary office in Independence. Plans call for the restoration of the relocation center auditorium as an interpretive center, and possibly the reconstruction of a barracks and a watch tower. Driving and walking tours will tell the story of the relocation center while directing visitors to various features.

Along U.S. Highway 395 a sign points out the relocation center and there are turning bays for entering the site at the original entrance (Figure 8.118). At the entrance a State of California Historic Site marker has been added on to front (east) facade of the military police sentry post (Figure 8.119 and 8.120). On the back side of the sentry post there is a National Park Service information display. To the north of the sentry post there is a large granite boulder with a brass National Historic Landmark plaque (Figure 8.121); to the south there is a free-standing Blue Star Memorial Highway marker (Figure 8.122).

Figure 8.120. Detail of the historical marker at the sentry post.

One mile west of the entrance, the relocation center cemetery with its large memorial tower is the focus of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage held the last Saturday of April (Figures 8.123 and 8.124). On the cemetery monument and graves visitors have placed assorted artifacts, most apparently from the nearby ceramic disposal pit, but the offerings also include historical artifacts from other areas, flowers, coins, and origami. There is a large graded parking lot adjacent to the cemetery. The current fence around the cemetery was put up by the Manzanar Committee in the 1980s. In 1994 an information board was placed at the cemetery by Derek Yemoto in honor of his interned grandparents as part of an eagle scout project (Figure 8.125)

The Eastern California Museum in Independence has an extensive display about the Manzanar Relocation Center, including artifacts and photographs (Figure 8.126). The museum maintains a comprehensive archive that includes World War II-era home movies taken at Manzanar. The museum also has the partial remains of a salvaged watch tower.

Photo Album

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