The Tule Lake National Monument
in
Modoc
Modoc may refer to:
Ethnic groups
*Modoc people, a Native American/First Nations people
** Modoc language
**Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe of Modoc
*Modoc War, the last armed resistance of the Modoc people in 1873
*The "Mo ...
and
Siskiyou counties in California, consists primarily of the site of the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, one of ten
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
s constructed in 1942 by the United States government to
incarcerate Japanese Americans forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast. They totaled nearly 120,000 people, more than two-thirds of whom were United States citizens.
After a period of use, this facility was renamed the Tule Lake Segregation Center in 1943, and used as a maximum security, segregation camp to separate and hold those prisoners considered disloyal or disruptive to the operations of other camps. Inmates from other camps were sent here to segregate them from the general population. Draft resisters and others who protested the injustices of the camps, including by their answers on the loyalty questionnaire, were sent here. At its peak, Tule Lake Segregation Center (with 18,700 inmates) was the largest of the ten camps and the most controversial.
29,840 people were held there over the four years it was open.
After the war it became a holding area for Japanese Americans slated for deportation or expatriation to Japan, including some who had renounced US citizenship under duress. Many joined a class action suit because of civil rights abuses; many gained the chance to stay in the United States through court hearings but did not regain their citizenship due to opposition by the Department of Justice. The camp was not closed until March 20, 1946, months after the end of the war. Twenty years later, members of the class action suit gained restoration of US citizenship through court rulings.
California later designated this Tule Lake camp site as a
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
and in 2006, it was named a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
.
In December 2008, the Tule Lake Unit was designated by President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
as one of nine sites—the only one in the contiguous 48 states—to be part of the new
World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument
The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument was a U.S. National Monument honoring events, people, and sites of the Pacific Theater engagement of the United States during World War II. The John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, ...
, marking areas of major events during the war.
In addition to remains of the concentration camp, this unit includes
Tulelake camp, also used during the war; as well as the rock formation known as the Peninsula/Castle Rock. The
, signed March 12, 2019, split up the three units of the monument, creating a new Tule Lake National Monument.
History
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
, issued by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
in early 1942 as a response to the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, authorized establishing an Exclusion Zone on the West Coast, from which local military authorities could remove certain populations under wartime exigency. Military commanders ordered the forced removal and incarceration of the nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States, two-thirds of whom were United States citizens. A late 20th-century study revealed that internal government studies of the time recommended against such mass exclusion and incarceration, and the study concluded this decision was based on racism, wartime hysteria and failed political leadership.
The
War Relocation Authority
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...
(WRA) built ten concentration camps, referred to euphemistically as "relocation centers," in remote rural areas in the interior of the country.
Tule Lake Relocation Center opened on May 27, 1942, and initially held approximately 11,800 Japanese Americans, who were primarily from Sacramento, King and Hood River counties in California, Washington and Oregon, respectively.
[Barbara Takei]
"Tule Lake,"
''Densho Encyclopedia'' (accessed 18 Mar 2014).
The ''Tulean Dispatch'' is a newsletter that was established in June 1942 and ended in October 1943, when Tule Lake became a segregation center. It was the shortest running newspaper of the ten concentration camps.
In late 1943, the WRA issued a questionnaire intended to assess the loyalty of imprisoned Japanese Americans. The "
loyalty questionnaire," as it came to be known, was originally a form circulated among draft-age men whom the military hoped to conscript into service—after assessing their loyalty and "Americanness." It soon was made mandatory for all adults in the ten camps.
[Cherstin M. Lyon]
"Loyalty questionnaire,"
''Densho Encyclopedia'' (accessed 18 Mar 2014). Two questions stirred up confusion and unrest among camp inmates. Question 27 asked, "Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?" The final question 28 asked, "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?"
The first question met resistance from young men who, while not opposed to military service outright, felt insulted that the government, having stripped them of their rights as citizens, would ask them to risk their lives in combat. Many responded with qualified statements such as, "I'll serve in the Army when my family is freed," or refused to answer the questions altogether.
Many interns had problems with the second question. Many were insulted that the question implied they ever had allegiance to a country they had either left behind decades before or, for most US citizens, never visited. Others, especially the non-citizen
Issei
is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...
, feared they would be deported to Japan no matter how they answered, and worried that an affirmative answer would cause them to be seen as
enemy aliens
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...
by the Japanese. Issei, and many
Nisei
is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
and
Kibei Kibei was a term often used in the 1940s to describe Japanese Americans born in the United States who returned to America after receiving their education in Japan. Some Japanese Americans sent their children, many of whom had dual citizenship, back ...
who held dual citizenship, worried they would lose their Japanese citizenship, leaving them
stateless if they were expatriated from the United States, which they feared was inevitable, given what had already occurred. In addition to these concerns, some inmates answered "no" to both questions in protest of their imprisonment and loss of civil rights.
Often Issei and Kibei, who spoke little or no English, simply did not understand the poorly phrased questions or their implications, and did not answer.
Tule Lake Segregation Center
In 1943 the center was renamed the Tule Lake Segregation Center. The War Relocation Authority proposed to use it to separate inmates suspected of being disloyal, or those who protested conditions and were disruptive in their camps. It was fortified as a maximum security facility and it quickly became the most repressive of the government's 10 concentration camps.
Interns who had responded with unqualified "yes" answers to the loyalty questionnaire were given the choice to transfer from Tule Lake to another WRA camp. Approximately 6,500 "loyal" Tule Lake inmates were transferred to six camps in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Arkansas.
The more than 12,000 imprisoned Japanese Americans classified as "disloyal" because of their responses to the poorly worded loyalty questions were gradually transferred to Tule Lake during the remainder of 1943.
[Tule Lake Committee]
, "History" (accessed 17 Mar 2014). Unsanitary, squalid living conditions, inadequate medical care, poor food, and unsafe or underpaid working conditions prompted prisoner protests at Tule Lake and several other camps. On November 14, after a series of meetings and demonstrations by prisoners over the poor living conditions at the overpopulated camp, the army imposed martial law in Tule Lake.
The Army had additional barracks constructed early in 1944 to accommodate a second influx of segregated inmates, pushing the already swollen population to 18,700.
The camp quickly became violent and unsafe. Martial law in Tule Lake ended January 15, 1944, but many prisoners were bitter after months of living with a curfew, unannounced barracks searches, and restrictions that put a stop to recreational activities and most employment in camp.
In the spring of 1944, Ernest Besig of the Northern California branch of the ACLU became aware of a hastily constructed stockade at Tule Lake, in which internees were routinely being brutalized and held for months without due process. Besig was forbidden by the national ACLU to intervene on behalf of the stockade prisoners or even to visit the Tule Lake camp without prior written approval from the ACLU's
Roger Baldwin.
[ Unable to help directly, Besig turned to civil rights attorney Wayne M. Collins for assistance. Collins, using the threat of habeas corpus suits, managed to have the stockade closed down. A year later, after learning that the stockade had been reestablished, he returned to the camp and had it closed down for good.]
On July 1, the Renunciation Act of 1944
The Renunciation Act of 1944 (Public Law 78-405, ) was an act of the 78th Congress regarding the renunciation of United States citizenship. Prior to the law's passage, it was not possible to lose U.S. citizenship while in U.S. territory except ...
, drafted by Attorney General Francis Biddle
Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...
, was passed into law; U.S. citizens could, during time of war, renounce their citizenship without first leaving the country—and once they did, the government could treat them as enemy aliens
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...
, and detain or deport them with impunity. Angry at the abuses of their U.S. citizenship and convinced there was nothing left for them in the country of their birth, or coerced either by WRA authorities and pro-Japan groups in camp, a total of 5,589 Nisei and Kibei Kibei was a term often used in the 1940s to describe Japanese Americans born in the United States who returned to America after receiving their education in Japan. Some Japanese Americans sent their children, many of whom had dual citizenship, back ...
internees chose to renounce their citizenship. Ninety-eight percent of those who renounced their citizenship were inmates at Tule Lake, where conditions had been so harsh.[Chersin M. Lyon]
"Segregation,"
''Densho Encyclopedia'' (accessed 18 Mar 2014).
During 1945 after the war's end, the other nine WRA camps were closed as Japanese Americans gradually returned to their home towns or settled elsewhere. Tule Lake was operated to hold those who had renounced their citizenship and Issei who had requested repatriation to Japan. Most no longer wished to leave the United States (and many had never truly wanted to leave in the first place). Those who wanted to stay in the United States and regain their citizenship (if they had it), were confined in Tule Lake until hearings at which their cases would be heard and fates determined. After the last cases were decided, the camp closed in March 1946. Although these Japanese Americans were released from camp and allowed to stay in the U.S., Nisei and Kibei who had renounced their citizenship were not able to have it restored. Wayne M. Collins filed a class action suit
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
on their behalf and the presiding judge voided the renunciations, finding they had been given under duress, but the ruling was overturned by the Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
.
After a 23-year legal battle, Collins finally succeeded in gaining restoration in the late 1960s of the citizenship of those covered by the class action suit. Collins also helped 3,000 of the 4,327 Japanese Americans originally slated for deportation remain in the United States as their choice.
Victory for Tule Lake draft resisters
Some of the Japanese-American draft resisters wanted to use their cases to challenge their incarceration and loss of rights as US citizens. ''United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara'', was the only World War II-era Japanese-American draft resistance case to be dismissed out of court based on a due process violation of the U.S. Constitution. It was a forerunner of the '' Korematsu'' and '' Endo'' cases argued before the US Supreme Court, later in December 1944.
Judge Louis E. Goodman went out of his way to help fellow native Californian and lead defendant Masaaki Kuwabara by hand-picking his defense attorney, Blaine McGowan, who entered a Motion to Quash Proceedings based on the government's abrogation of his client's due process rights, guaranteed to every American citizen by the U.S. Constitution. Without explicitly describing Kuwabara as a victim of federal anti-Japanese racism, Judge Goodman viewed the man's experience in this light. He ruled against the United States, which incarcerated the defendant in a U.S. concentration camp; categorized him as a Class 4-C Enemy Alien
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...
; and then drafted him into military service. Kuwabara refused to obey the draft until his rights as an American citizen were restored to him.
Events since the late 20th century
Japanese-American activists revisited the civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
issues of the forced relocation and incarceration of their people from the West Coast. They were the only ethnic group associated with the Axis Powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
who were incarcerated en masse in the United States. In Hawaii, where 150,000 Japanese Americans comprised one-third of the population, only a small number were interned during the war. Japanese-American groups began to organize to educate the public, build support for their case, and lobby the government for redress. Finally the Japanese American Citizens League
The is an Asian American civil rights charity, headquartered in San Francisco, with regional chapters across the United States.
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) describes itself as the oldest and largest Asian American civil right ...
joined this movement, although it had initially opposed it.
Pilgrimages
Starting in 1974, Tule Lake was the site of several pilgrimages by activists calling for an official apology from the U.S. government for the injustices to Japanese Americans, both citizens and non-citizens. The pilgrimages (every even year, around the 4th of July), serving educational purposes, continue to this day. This Redress Movement gradually gained widespread support and Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (, title I, August 10, 1988, , et seq.) is a United States federal law that granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been wrongly interned by the United States government during World War II. The act was ...
, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
. It included an official governmental apology for the injustices and payment of compensation to camp survivors. A similar law was passed in 1992 to provide for compensation to additional Japanese Americans.
Groups making the annual pilgrimage have organized them around specific themes, and used them as a basis for education, as in the following:
;Recent themes
*2000 – 'Honoring our Living Treasures, Forging New Links' (7/1-4)
*2002 – 'As We Revisit the Meaning of Patriotism and Loyalty' (7/4-7)
*2004 – 'Citizens Betrayed' (7/2-5)
*2006 – 'Dignity and Survival in a Divided Community'
*2009 – 'Shared Remembrances' (7/2-5)
*2010 – 'Untold Stories of Tule Lake' (7/2-5)
*2012 – 'Understanding No-No and Renunciation' (6/30-7/3)
Federal grant program
On December 21, 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
signed H.R. 1492 into law, creating the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program. This authorized the appropriation of $38,000,000 in federal grant money to preserve and interpret the system of Japanese-American incarceration sites, including the temporary WCCA sites, the ten WRA concentration camps and the Department of Justice internment camps.
Monument management
The Monument is jointly managed by the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
(NPS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with oth ...
(USFWS) with a total area of .
The national monument consists of three separate units: the Tule Lake Segregation Center near Newell, nearby Camp Tulelake
Camp Tulelake was a federal work facility and War Relocation Authority isolation center located in Siskiyou County, California, Siskiyou County, five miles west of Tulelake, California. It was established by the United States government in 1935 ...
, and a rock formation known as the Peninsula/Castle Rock near Newell. The Tule Lake Segregation Center is solely managed by the NPS. Camp Tulelake is jointly managed by the NPS and USFWS; the USFWS manages/owns the land, and the NPS maintains the buildings and provides interpretive programs. The Peninsula/Castle Rock is solely managed by the USFWS. Locally, USFWS responsibilities are handled by the administration of Lava Beds National Monument
Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range.
...
and the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge
The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in northern California near the Oregon border. It covers in the Tule Lake basin. It is part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and is ...
.
Notable inmates
* Violet Kazue de Cristoforo (1917–2007), poet. Also interned at Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
.
*Mitsuye Endo
Mitsuye Maureen Endo Tsutsumi (May 10, 1920 – April 14, 2006) was an American woman of Japanese descent who was placed in an internment camp during World War II. Endo filed a writ of habeas corpus that ultimately led to a United States Supre ...
(1920–2006), plaintiff of the Ex parte Endo
''Ex parte Mitsuye Endo'', 323 U.S. 283 (1944), was a United States Supreme Court ''ex parte'' decision handed down on December 18, 1944, in which the Justices unanimously ruled that the U.S. government could not continue to detain a citizen wh ...
Supreme Court case that led to Japanese Americans being allowed to return to the West Coast and to the closing of the war relocation camps. Also interned at Topaz
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...
.
*Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
Mary Matsuda Gruenewald ( Matsuda; January 23, 1925 – February 11, 2021) was an American writer. She is best known for her autobiographical novel ''Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps'', which ...
(1925–2021), memoirist. Also interned at Heart Mountain.
* Hiroshi Honda (1910–1970), an American painter.
*Yamato Ichihashi
Yamato Ichihashi (April 15, 1878 – April 5, 1963) was one of the first academics from East Asia in the United States. Ichihashi wrote a comprehensive account of his experiences as an internee at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, where he was ...
(1878–1963), one of the first academics of Asian ancestry in the United States.
*Emerick Ishikawa
Emerick K. Ishikawa (October 23, 1920 – November 26, 2006) was an American weightlifter from Hawaii. In 1944 he set a world record in the bantamweight class at the U.S. National Weightlifting Championships. He won Amateur Athletic Union ch ...
(1920–2006), a weightlifting champion.
*Harvey Itano
Harvey Akio Itano (November 3, 1920 – May 8, 2010) was an American biochemist best known for his work on the molecular basis of sickle cell anemia and other diseases. In collaboration with Linus Pauling, Itano used electrophoresis to demonstra ...
(1920–2010), became a biochemist best known for his work on the molecular basis of sickle cell anemia
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...
and other diseases.
* Shizue Iwatsuki (1897–1984), a Japanese American poet. Also interned at Minidoka.
*Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Hiroshi Kashiwagi (November 8, 1922 – October 29, 2019) was a ''Nisei'' (second-generation Japanese American) poet, playwright and actor. For his writing and performance work on stage he is considered an early pioneer of Asian American theatr ...
(1922–2019), became a poet, playwright and actor.
* Toshiyuki Seino (born 1938), an American competitive judo athlete.
*Taky Kimura
Takauki "Taky" Kimura (March 12, 1924January 7, 2021) was a Japanese American martial artist who was best known as being one of Bruce Lee's top students and closest friends - and a certified instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu, personally certified by ...
(1924–2021), martial arts practitioner and instructor. Also interned at Minidoka.
*Mary Koga
Mary Koga (née Mary Hisako Ishii, August 10, 1920 – June 8, 2001) was a Japanese-American photographer and social worker in Chicago.
Life
Koga was born in Sacramento, California, on August 10, 1920, and had been an avid photographer since she w ...
(née Mary Hisako Ishii, 1920–2001), a photographer and social worker.
*Tommy Kono
Tamio "Tommy" Kono (June 27, 1930 – April 24, 2016) was a Japanese American weightlifter in the 1950s and 1960s. Kono set world records in four different weight classes: lightweight (149 pounds or 67.5 kilograms), middleweight (165 lb or ...
(1930-2016), an Olympic gold medalist weightlifter and world record holder.
* Joseph Kurihara (1895–1965), a renunciant. Also interned at Manzanar
Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...
.
* Masaaki Kuwabara (1913–1993), lead defendant in ''United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara'', the only Japanese-American draft resistance case to be dismissed on the basis of a due process violation of the U.S. Constitution.
*William M. Marutani
William M. Marutani (March 21, 1923 – November 15, 2004) was the first Asian-American male judge in Pennsylvania (1975). Marutani was the only Japanese Americans, Japanese American commissioner to sit on the Commission on Wartime Relocation and ...
(1923–2004), lawyer, judge, and member of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was a group of nine people appointed by the U.S. Congress in 1980 to conduct an official governmental study into the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Pr ...
*Bob Matsui
Robert Takeo Matsui (September 17, 1941 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician from the state of California. Matsui was a member of the Democratic Party and served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the congressman for California's ...
(1941–2005), was elected to 13-terms as member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
* Toshiko Mayeda (née Kuki) (1923–2004), a Japanese American chemist
* Tsutomu "Jimmy" Mirikitani (1920–2012), Sacramento, California), artist and subject of ''The Cats of Mirikitani
''The Cats of Mirikitani'' is a 2006 documentary film.
Synopsis
In 2001, Japanese American painter Jimmy Mirikitani (born Tsutomu Mirikitani), over 80 years old, was living on the streets of lower Manhattan. Filmmaker Linda Hattendorf took an int ...
,'' an award-winning documentary film.
*Fujimatsu Moriguchi
was a Japanese-born American businessman who founded Uwajimaya in 1928.
Biography
Moriguchi was born to a family of growers of mikan growers in Yawatahama in 1898, the oldest of the children of Kenshichi Moriguchi and his wife Suwa. Upon gradu ...
(1898–1962), an American businessman
* Sadako Moriguchi (née Tsutakawa), (1907–2002), an American businesswoman
*Tomio Moriguchi
is an American businessman and civil rights activist who served as CEO of the Uwajimaya supermarket chain in Seattle, Washington, from 1965 to 2007.
Biography
Moriguchi was born in Tacoma, Washington, to Fujimatsu Moriguchi and Sadako Tsutak ...
(born 1936), an American businessman and civil rights activist
* Tomoko Moriguchi-Matsuno (née Moriguchi), (born 1945), an American businesswoman
*Pat Morita
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on ''Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitco ...
(1932–2005), became an actor best known for his role in the ''Karate Kid
''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the first installment in the '' Karate Kid'' franchise, and stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue and ...
'' films; interned as a child ''nissei'' with whole family. Later interned at Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...
.
*Jimmy Murakami
was a Japanese-American-Irish animator and film director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the animated adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books '' When the Wind Blows'' and ''The Snowman''. He was ...
(1933–2014), an animator and director.
*George Nakano
George Nakano (born November 24, 1935) served as a California State Assemblyman for the 53rd district from 1998 until 2004. During his time in the Assembly, Nakano was chosen to serve as the chairman of the Democratic caucus. In 2006, Nakano sou ...
(born 1935), a former California State Assemblyman. Also interned at Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
.
* Alan Nakanishi (born 1940), a California politician
*James K. Okubo
James K. Okubo (May 30, 1920 – January 29, 1967) was a United States Army soldier.Kakesako, Gregg K"AJA medic’s medal may be upgraded,"''Honolulu Star-Bulletin,'' September 15, 2009; 2012-12-29. He was a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Ho ...
(1920–1967), a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
. Also interned at Heart Mountain.
* James Otsuka (1921–1984), a conscientious objector during World War II and a war tax resister.
*Otokichi Ozaki
Otokichi "Muin" Ozaki (尾崎音吉 (無音)) (November 1, 1904 December 3, 1983) was a Japanese tanka poet who lived in Hawaii.
Biography
Ozaki was born to Tomoya and Shobu Ozaki in Kochi prefecture, Japan on November 1, 1904. He moved to Haw ...
(1904–1983), a poet. Also interned at Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
.
*Yuki Shimoda
Yuki Shimoda (August 10, 1921 – May 21, 1981) was an American actor best known for his starring role as Ko Wakatsuki in the NBC movie of the week ''Farewell to Manzanar'' in 1976. He also co-starred in the 1960s television series '' Johnny Mi ...
(1921–1981), an actor.
*Sab Shimono
is a Japanese-American actor. He began his career on stage on Broadway and in regional theaters, starring in musicals like ''Mame'', ''Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen'', and ''Pacific Overtures''. He has appeared in dozens of movies and television ...
(born 1937), an actor. Also interned at Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
.
* Hana Shimozumi (1893–1978), an American singer.
* Noboru Shirai, author of "Tule Lake: An Issei Memoir." Born in Hiroshima, Japan, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1934, married Akiko May Taketa (a UC Berkeley graduate born and raised in Sacramento) and was a graduate student at Stanford University in 1942. After his release from Tule Lake, Shirai became a successful California businessman.
*Robert Mitsuhiro Takasugi
Robert Mitsuhiro Takasugi (September 12, 1930 – August 4, 2009) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Early life
Takasugi was born in Tacoma, Washington. When he wa ...
(1930–2009), first Japanese-American appointed to the federal bench.
*George Takei
George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井 穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...
(born 1937), an American actor best known for his role in Star Trek. Also interned at Rohwer.
*George T. Tamura George T. Tamura (November 27, 1927 – February 11, 2010) was an American artist.
Early life and education
Tamura was born in Sacramento, California. In 1942, soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) and signing of Executive ...
(1927–2010), an artist.
* Kazue Togasaki (1897-1992), one of the first two women of Japanese ancestry to earn a medical degree in the United States. Also interned at Topaz
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...
and Manzanar
Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...
.
*Teiko Tomita
Teiko Tomita (December 1, 1896 March 13, 1990) was a Japanese tanka poet who lived in the Pacific Northwest. Her penname was Yukari.
Early life
Tomita was born Teiko Matsui on December 1, 1896 in Osaka, Japan. She was the second of nine childr ...
(1896–1990), a tanka poet. Also interned at Heart Mountain.
*Taitetsu Unno
Taitetsu Unno (海野 大徹 ''Unno Taitetsu'') was a scholar, lecturer, and author on the subject of Pure Land Buddhism. His work as a translator has been responsible for making many important Buddhist texts available to the English-speaking worl ...
(1930–2014), a Buddhist scholar, lecturer, and author. Also interned at Rohwer.
*Harry Urata
Harry Minoru Urata (浦田ハリー實) (1917 – October 23, 2009) was a music teacher best known for preserving the '' Holehole bushi'', a type of folk song sung by Japanese immigrants in Hawaii's sugar plantations.
Early life and education
U ...
(1917–2009), a music teacher
* Jimi Yamaichi member of the 27 draft resisters of conscience,[''United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara'', 56 F. Supp. 716 (N.D. Cal 1944)] a Tule Lake survivor who shares his memories at the biennial pilgrimages, and promotes preservation of the site.
*Takuji Yamashita was a Japanese civil rights activist. In spite of social and legal barriers, he directly challenged three major barriers against Asians in the United States: citizenship, joining a profession, and owning land.
Biography
Yamashita was born in Yawat ...
(1874–1959), an early 20th-century civil rights pioneer. Also interned at Manzanar
Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...
and Minidoka.
* Kenneth Yasuda (1914–2002), scholar and translator.
Terminology
Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Tule Lake, and the other camps in which Japanese Americans
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
were imprisoned by the United States Government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
during the war. Tule Lake has been referred to as a "relocation camp," "relocation center," "internment camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
", "concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
", and "segregation center," and the controversy over which term is the most accurate and appropriate continues into the early 21st century. Activists and scholars believe the government terms: relocation and internment, are euphemisms for forced deportation and concentration camps.
In 1998, use of the term "concentration camps" gained greater credibility prior to the opening of an exhibit at Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...
about the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Initially, the American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...
(AJC) and the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
, which manages Ellis Island, objected to the use of the term in the exhibit. But, during a subsequent meeting held at the offices of the AJC in New York City, leaders representing Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans reached an understanding about the use of the term. After the meeting, the Japanese American National Museum
The is located in Los Angeles, California, and dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, it is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affil ...
and the AJC issued a joint statement (which was included in the exhibit) that read in part:
The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' published an unsigned editorial supporting the use of the term "concentration camp" in the exhibit. An article quoted Jonathan Mark, a columnist for ''The Jewish Week
''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish We ...
'', who wrote, "Can no one else speak of slavery, gas, trains, camps? It's Jewish malpractice to monopolize pain and minimize victims." AJC Executive Director David A. Harris stated during the controversy, "We have not claimed Jewish exclusivity for the term 'concentration camps.'"
On July 7, 2012, at their annual convention, the National Council of the Japanese American Citizens League
The is an Asian American civil rights charity, headquartered in San Francisco, with regional chapters across the United States.
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) describes itself as the oldest and largest Asian American civil right ...
unanimously ratified the ''Power of Words Handbook,'' calling for the use of
truthful and accurate terms, and retiring the misleading euphemisms created by the government to cover up the denial of Constitutional and human rights, the force, oppressive conditions, and racism against 120,000 innocent people of Japanese ancestry locked up in America's World War II concentration camps."
See also
* Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...
* California Water Wars
* Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
* Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange' ...
* Other camps:
** Gila River War Relocation Center
The Gila River War Relocation Center was an American concentration camp in Arizona, one of several built by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) during the Second World War for the incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. It was lo ...
** Granada War Relocation Center
The Amache National Historic Site, formally the Granada War Relocation Center but known to the internees as Camp Amache, was a concentration camp for Japanese Americans in Prowers County, Colorado. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor o ...
** Heart Mountain War Relocation Center
The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain (Wyoming), Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody, Wyoming, Cody and Powell, Wyoming, Powell, was one of ten concentration camps ...
** Jerome War Relocation Center
The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas, near the town of Jerome in the Arkansas Delta. Open from October 6, 1942, until June 30, 1944, it was the last American concentration camp ...
:* Minidoka National Historic Site
Minidoka National Historic Site is a National Historic Site (United States), National Historic Site in the western United States. It commemorates the more than 13,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Minidoka War Relocation Cent ...
:* Poston War Relocation Center
The Poston Internment Camp, located in Yuma County (now in La Paz County) in southwestern Arizona, was the largest (in terms of area) of the ten American concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II.
The sit ...
:* Rohwer War Relocation Center
The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American concentration camp located in rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942, until November 30, 1945, and held as many as 8,475 Ja ...
:* Topaz War Relocation Center
The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp which housed Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come t ...
*California during World War II
California during World War II was a major contributor to the World War II effort. California's long Pacific Ocean coastline provided the support needed for the Pacific War. California also supported the war in Europe. After the Japanese attack ...
References
Further reading
Articles
*"A request to be honored as patriots: World War II internees vote for recognition", by Lee Juillerat H&N Regional Editor, ''Herald and News'' (July 3, 2012).
"At Internment Camp, Exploring Choices of the Past"
''Tulelake Journal,'' by Norimitsu Onishi, ''New York Times'' (July 8, 2012).
*'Former Tule Lake segregation camp prisoners make pilgrimage, recall lost years', by Alex Powers, ''Herald and News'' (July 4, 2012).
*'Interest in Tule Lake Unit goes beyond Basin: Concerned public seeks monument's conservation', by Lee Juillerat H&N Regional Editor, ''Herald and News'' (8/19/2012).
by Ayako Mie, Staff writer for ''The Japan Times'' (8/16/2012).
Books
Nisei Draft Resisters
*''Free to Die for their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II'', 2001, by Eric Muller.
Renunciants
*''Native American Aliens: Disloyalty and the Renunciation of Citizenship by Japanese Americans during World War II,'' 1985, Donald E. Collins.
Tule Lake
=Fiction
=
*''Tule Lake'', 2006, a novel by Edward T. Miyakawa.
=Non-Fiction
=
*''Kinenhi: Reflections on Tule Lake'', by the Tule Lake Committee (1980).
*''Tule Lake Revisited: A Brief History and Guide to the Tule Lake Concentration Camp Site'', Second edition, 2012, by Barbara Takei and Judy Tachibana.
*''Tule Lake: An Issei Memoir'', by Noboru Shirai; an autobiographical account, published in English in 2001 by Muteki Press. ; . Originally published in Tokyo, Japan, in 1981, by Kawade Shobo Shinsha, under the title, ''Kariforunia nikkeijin kyōsei shūyōjo.''
U.S. concentration camps
*''Concentration Camps U.S.A: The Japanese Americans and World War II'', 1971, by Roger Daniels.
*''Keeper of Concentration Camps: Dillon S. Myer
Dillon Seymour Myer (September 4, 1891 – October 21, 1982) was a United States government official who served as Director of the War Relocation Authority during World War II, Director of the Federal Public Housing Authority, and Commissioner ...
and American Racism'', 1987, by Richard T. Drinnon
Richard T. Drinnon (January 4, 1925 - April 19, 2012) was professor emeritus of history at Bucknell University. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught courses on American history. He was denied tenure due to his p ...
.
*''Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America's Concentration Camps'', 1976, by Michi Weglyn
Michi Nishiura Weglyn (November 29, 1926 – April 25, 1999) was an American author. Her book ''Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps'', which was published in 1976, helped fuel a movement leading to reparations ...
.
Dissertations
*''Bitter Sweet Home,'' 2005 dissertation by Junko Kobayashi on the Japanese-language literature of the wartime incarceration
Film
*''From a Silk Cocoon,'' a film about Itaru and Shizuko Ina and segregation at Tule Lake, 2004, produced and directed by Satsuki Ina.
*
Resistance at Tule Lake
', directed by Konrad Aderer, 2017.
Journals
*"A Question of Loyalty: Internment at Tule Lake," ''Journal of the Shaw Historical Library,'' Vol. 19, 2005, Klamath Falls, OR
External links
Tule Lake Unit General Management Plan
*
Tule Lake Relocation Center for Japanese Americans / photographed by Raymond Okamura
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Views of Tule Lake Relocation Center
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
June letter : Tule Lake Relocation Center, to Satoka, 1943 Mar. 8
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Rosalie H. Wax Papers
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Tule Lake Relocation Center views, Calif. [graphic]
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Tule Lake Committee
History, photos, and VR panoramas.
1944 "Aquila" Tri-State High School Yearbook
The yearbook for the camp high school.
"Tulean Dispatch"
Densho Encyclopedia article on the camp newspaper
Japanese Internment : Tule Lake, 1935-1988. Collection guide, California State Library, California History Room.
Japanese Relocation Center, Tule Lake Collection, 1943-1943. Collection guide, California State Library, California History Room.
Tulean Dispatch Collection
available a
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Internment camps
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