46 Photos Of Life At A Japanese Internment Camp, Taken By Ansel Adams
At the outset of World War II, the American government feared subversive actions by the Japanese American citizens and began moving them to relocation camps.
Manzanar was one of 10 sites where about 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced to live.
Source: National Park Service.
It was an abandoned agricultural settlement that was repurposed as relocation center.
Adams noted that at least the landscape surrounding Manzanar was "magnificent."
10,000 people would be housed at Manzanar.
Adams' works showed the humanity of people living at the camps. Here, Ryie Yoshizawa, center, teaches a class on dressmaking.
Here, from left to right: Louise Tami Nakamura, holding the hand of Mrs. Naguchi, and Joyce Yuki Nakamura.
In many instances, Adams took portraits of the people whose daily lives he photographed, like this one of the same little girl, Joyce Yuki Nakamura.
This one is labeled only in the collection as "Mrs. Kay Kageyama."
Richard Kobayashi was a farmer.
Images of the fields at Manzanar are beautiful.
There's a sense of community in the midst of hardship.
Here, Tsutomu Fuhunago lifts a produce crate.
Here, a mechanic repairs a broken down tractor while the driver looks on.
The camp was largely self-sufficient, keeping livestock too.
Here, Mori Nakashima scatters chicken feed in front of a chicken coop.
Adams also captured the recreational time at the camp, like in this image of Dennis Shimizu lying on his bed reading.
Or these women playing volleyball.
Here, a group of girls perform morning calisthenics.
Men play American football on a dusty field.
Baton practice.
This picture of women playing cards shows the different backgrounds and roles of the camp's inhabitants.
They were nurses, like Catherine Natsuko Yamaguchi.
Mechanics, like Henry Hanawa.
Sunday school teachers, like May Ichide.
Photographers, like Toyo Miyatake.
Soldiers, like Corporal Jimmy Shohara.
It's remarkable to think that people could serve in the military and still be interned.
But it was apparently a common occurrence.
As with Miss Kay Fukuda, a U.S. Naval cadet nurse.
Adams' images capture the social order to life at the camp. Here, Manzanar resident Roy Takeno, right, sits next to the mayor.
There were town hall meetings.
Residents could in some cases be let off the camp to go find work.
Yonehisa Yamagami worked as an electrician.
Sam Bozono was a policeman. He was reportedly housed separately from the camp's other inhabitants.
Frank Hirosawa was a rubber chemist.
Adams also photographed him at work in his laboratory.
Kenji Sano was a farmer.
Teruko Kiyomura, a bookkeeper.
Akio Matsumoto was a commercial artist.
Manzanar even had its own newspaper. Here, editor Roy Takeno reads outside of his office.
Michael Yonemetsu worked as an x-ray technician
They lived at the camp from 1942 through 1945, when the war ended and they were allowed to return home.
But the people of Manzanar, like painter C.T. Hibino, likely never forgot the life they lived there.
For some, it had been the only life they ever knew.
The inscription reads "Monument for the Pacification of Spirits."
Now see the 1940s in a whole other light.
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