The Internment: Links to More Information
The WWII internment of some 120,000 Japanese-Americans is documented in a growing number of websites, videos, and books. We provide here a small selection worth exploring. These sources are not associated with Willow Valley Press. These sources are provided as a service to readers interested in learning more about the historical background and social impact of events encompassed in Kiyo Sato’s Dandelion Through the Crack.
Websites
- Map of Japanese-American Internment Camps
- A map of the Japanese-American internment camps in the United States.
- Library of Congress: Japanese-American Internment
- Selection of photographs, and links to many more, including photos of Manzanar by Ansel Adams.
- Executive Order No. 9066
- Issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, this document ordered the creation of internment camps and the relocation of Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants.
- Library of Congress: Executive Order 9066: Evacuation and Segregation
- Resources for teachers. Also see related links at this site.
- National Park Service: Confinement and Ethnicity
- An online book, An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites.
- Evacuation and Internment of San Francisco Japanese, 1942
- Large selection of San Francisco newspaper articles.
- Annotated Directory of Resources
- Includes links to many resources for further research, including photo archives.
Videos
Kiyo appears in both of these compelling videos that each show, in a unique and sensitive way, the painful results of Executive Order 9066.
- Passing Poston
- Passing Poston tells the story of four former internees of the Poston Relocation Center and how that terrible time has affected their lives and still lingers with them today.
- Forsaken Fields
- The Sato family members were some of the thousands of Japanese-American farmers in California that suffered as a result of the war. This video examines their lives and the effects on those families of the internment and the war.
- Only the Brave
- A searing portrait of war and prejudice, 'Only the Brave' takes you on a haunting journey into the hearts and minds of the forgotten heroes of WWII - the Japanese-American 100th/442nd.
Books
Farming the Home Place: A Japanese American Community in California, 1919-1982ISBN: 978-0801481154
Documents the experience of the Cortez colony, the last Japanese agricultural community formed by Kyutaro Abiko in 1919.
ISBN: 978-0877229452
Documents the problems and discrimination the Japanese faced in America long before the start of the war.
ISBN: 978-0295974842
Mike Mansfield, former US Ambassador to Japan said this is ""A conscience-wrenching book of major significance."
ISBN: 978-0801481154
Another excellent memoir of life in an internment camp and after.
ISBN: 978-1403962300
A collection of essays by former internees, other, non-Asian residents, and descendants of internees that explore this shameful episode in American history.
ISBN: 978-1893343054
One of America's pre-eminent photographers has documented life in the internment camp at Manzanar in both photos and text.
ISBN: 978-1887694247
Four photographers: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Clem Albers, and Toyo Miyatake photographed Manzanar and its residents at various times throughout its three year existence.
ISBN: 978-1580086899
Booklist says: "Gaman is a Japanese word for endurance with grace and dignity in the face of what seems unbearable. Hirasuna presents a searing and soaring tribute to this human attribute in a volume of color photographs of artworks rendered from everyday objects by the 112,700 Japanese American internees held in World War II detention camps."
ISBN: 978-0393060737
The US government contracted Dorothea Lange to photograph Japanese-Americans at Manzanar, but then censored almost all of her photos. Here is a collection of many of them.
ISBN: 978-0934609098
Interned at Poston, Jack drew these cartoons about life at the camp.
ISBN: 978-1890771300
A very diverse collection of poetry, stories, biographies, news accounts, cartoons, and other documentats that reflect the tragedy of the internment.
ISBN: 978-0618216208
The most well-known Japanese-American memoir, it describes vividly the life in the camp and the humiliations suffered by the people.
ISBN: 978-0618067787
An excellent book written by an accomplished author that examines life in Manzanar. Written for a grade school audience.
ISBN: 978-0295961903
Another moving memoir by a Japanese-American uprooted with her family and forced to move to an internment camp.