usconcentrationcamps

this whole set of photos made me nostalgic for how america used to be, and how the country banded together during WWII and then blam! knocked me down a peg.

love the hair.

Why does it look like they have white make-up on?

Really great that they were still optimistic, considering what they were going through. -- Seen in your 1930s-40s in Color set. (?)

personally madkt I´m glad the US is not the way it used to be placing it´s citizens in made up prisons and calling them camps under the pretext of war. I found yr comment extremely disturbing and really out of place

Thanks so much for sharing this photo. Our treatment of Japanese-Americans at this point in time was shameful. Those who don't remember history are condemned to repeat it.

I am really bothered by the the heading, "war emergency evacuation," as if Japanese Americans were rounded up and shipped off to the camps for their "own good." It shows that the U.S. government can say or do anything and justify it as a "war emergency."

They're preserving the titles of the photos as they were titled when they were taken. It's the Library of Congress historically documenting (and sharing with us) pieces of history. While that time period, and the subject matter is certainly sad and distasteful, I think it would be terrible if the LOC cleaned up the titles and other information to appeal to our modern sensibilities. It's much more important to get an accurate representation of history, imho. But I certainly understand where you're coming from- it was a terrible situation for the government to even conceive of internment camps, let alone put them into practice.

I agree with Jade. I appreciate the photo more because it has the original caption.

I agree with JadeEJF too. Doesn't change the fact that this is a shameful event in our history. -- Seen on your photo stream. (?)

Amazing that they were still smiling. :) -- Seen in your 1930s-40s in Color set. (?)

I am wondering/pondering the same thing. Why?

I love that they always kept their morale up even though they were being held in camps like prisoners. They managed to continue living as if they would outside of those camp walls.

Smiling politely at the camera, with a dignity all their own. What happened to the Japanese internees was really shameful.

If you see lots of internment photos and films, as I have, the incarcerees usually look happy. These were their family photos, not conscious documentation of the injustice they were living under. muI think the daily life they built in the camps, which was filled with a lot of pretty "normal" activities like employment and pastimes, didn't leave much time for sitting around and looking miserable over the hardships and fundamental betrayal dealt them by the U.S. government. Also, photography by incarcerees was officially banned in the camps though the restriction was eventually relaxed. This undoubtedly caused a lot of negative sights to be hidden from cameras. I've read that Dorothea Lange took a lot of photos that revealed the harsh realities of the internment camps, but I haven't found them online yet -- hopefully they'll be available soon.