Capturing Confinement: Image Galleries

Ansel Adams shot over 200 images in Manzanar Relocation Center in the fall of 1943. Many of these images were published in 1944 in the book Born Free and Equal. The images are all courtesy of the Library of Congress and the entire series can be viewed on their online catalog. The captions are all original titles from the reverse of the photographs.

Girl Smiling Tom Kobayashi, Landscape, Manzanar Relocation Center, California Birds on wire, evening, Manzanar Relocation Center Pictures and mementoes on phonograph top: Yonemitsu home, Manzanar Relocation Center Roy Takeno, editor, and group reading paper in front of office, Manzanar Relocation Center, California Calesthenics Entrance, Catholic chapel (V), Manzanar Relocation Center, California School children, Manzanar Relocation Center, California Nurse Aiko Hamaguchi, patient Tom Kano, Manzanar Relocation Center, Calif. Baton practice, Florence Kuwata, Manzanar Relocation Center Richard Kobayashi, farmer with cabbages, Manzanar Relocation Center, California Mess line, noon, Manzanar Relocation Center, California Nurse Aiko Hamaguchi Corporal Jimmy Shohara Japanese-American U.S. Naval cadet nurse, Kay Fukuda, Manzanar Series Tojo Miatake [i.e., Tōyō Miyatake] Family, Manzanar Relocation Center Mrs. Nakamura and 2 daughters (Joyce Yuki and Louise Tami) Dressmaking class, Manzanar Relocation Center, California Mrs. Nakamura and 2 daughters (Joyce Yuki and Louise Tami) Manzanar street scene, winter, Manzanar Relocation Center Monument in cemetery, Manzanar Relocation Center, California School children, Manzanar Relocation Center, California image gallery lightbox by VisualLightBox.com v5.9m

In March 1942, shortly after the establishment of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), Dorothea Lange was one of several photographers hired by the WRA to document the experience of evacuation and incarceration. In total, Lange shot over 800 images of Nikkei in 1942-43. Ultimately, Lange was required to turn over every negative to the WRA and her photographs were marked “Impounded” and remained unseen for decades.

3 July 1942. Evacuees family of Japanese ancestry relax in front of their barrack room at the end of day. The father is a worker on the farm project at this War Relocation Authority center. Note the chair which was made of scrap lumber, and the wooden shoes known as Getas made by evacuees. National Archives, 537989. 2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Baseball is the most popular recreation at this War Relocation Authority center with 80 teams having been formed throughout the Center. Most of the playing is done between the barrack blocks. National Archives, 538065. 2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Evacuee in her "hobby garden" which rates highest of all the garden plots at this War Relocation Authority center. Vegetables for their own use are grown in plots 10 x 50 feet between rows of barracks. National Archives, 537984. 30 June1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Barrack homes at this War Relocaton Authority center. The family in the foreground have commenced a flower garden to make their surroundings more home-like. National Archives, 538159. 1 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. A barrack home at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry has been beautified by flowers, lawn and a small rock garden. National Archives, 538156. 1 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. An elementary school with voluntary evacuee attendance has been established with volunteer evacuee teachers, most of whom are college graduates. No school equipment is as yet obtainable and available tables and benches are used. However, classes are often held in the shade of the barrack building at this War Relocation Authority center. National Archives, 537966. 2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. A chef of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center. Evacuees find opportunities to follow their callings. National Archives, 538171.  2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Common sight during the long summer evenings after the day's work is done. As yet, there are no barbershops. National Archives, 538084. 1 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center line up at warehouse Number 26 for their allotment of soap. Four bars of soap are distributed to each apartment on designated days. One representative of each apartment room must appear presenting his identification tag. National Archives, 537970. Photograph of Dust Storm at Manzanar War Relocation Authority Center, 07/03/1942 2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Grandfather and grandson of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center. National Archives, 537994. 2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Baseball is the most popular recreation at this War Relocation Authority center with 80 teams having been formed throughout the Center. Most of the playing is done between the barrack blocks National Archives, 538065. 1 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Evacuee boy at this War Relocation Authority center reading the Funnies. National Archives, 538076. 30 June 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. A typical interior scene in one of the barrack apartments at this center. Note the cloth partition which lends a small amount of privacy. National Archives, 538136.  Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Evacuee girls practicing the songs they learned in school prior to evacuation to this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. National Archives, 538089  Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. General view of this War Relocation Authority center located in Owens Valley looking east across the wide fire-break which separates blocks of barracks. National Archives, 538122. Young evacuees of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center 1 July 1942 Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry lining up outside the mess hall at noon at this War Relocation Authority center. National Archives, 537969. Pre-school children on the way to their barrack homes from morning class at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry 2 July 1942. Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Fire equipment is used to keep the dust down at this War Relocation Authority Center, National Archives, 538163. image gallery lightbox by VisualLightBox.com v5.9m

Bill Manbo was born in Riverside, California, to parents from Hiroshima. Bill was sent with his wife, young son and his in-laws to Santa Anita Assembly Center and finally Heart Mountain Relocation Center. While incarcerated there, in 1943, the auto mechanic and amateur photographer shot over 150 images on Kodachrome film. This selection appears courtesy of Takao Bill Manbo. Photo captions are from the book, Colors of Confinement, edited by Eric L. Muller.

Billy Manbo and his maternal grandparents, Juno (left) and Riyo Itaya At midday on September 21, 1943, a crowd of about 4,000 gathers at the high school to send off 434 prisoners departing for the Tule Lake Segregation Center after the government deemed them "disloyal." The line for a matinee at one of the camp’s two movie theaters. The blue sign to the right of the door announces the film How Green Was My Valley. Billy Manbo walks westward along an avenue in the camp lined with piles of coal for the stoves in the barracks. A rainbow appears to end at a latrine and laundry building. A group of children line up for a photo in front of a barrack wall. Billy Manbo is on the far right. Bill Manbo (left) and a friend sit on Manbo’s front steps, showing off their model racing cars. Manbo used scrap lumber and Celotex wallboard to build a small sheltered porch on the landing in front of his barrack door. On the outer wall to the left of the door, he wrote his family name, spelling it "Manbeaux" as if it were French. Bill Manbo Bill Manbo One of the fifteen guard towers at Heart Mountain stands atop a hill overlooking a residential area. A barbed-wire fence interrupts the snow-covered landscape. ce-skating was a popular winter activity at Heart Mountain. Prisoners used fire hoses to create several skating areas around the camp. Here, in the middle of a crowd of skaters, Billy Manbo gets a lesson. A Boy Scout, and behind him a drum majorette, at the head of a parade. Two men grapple in the sumo ring in front of spectators. Dancers at Bon Odori. A portrait of Billy Manbo at a barbed-wire fence. Billy Manbo eats ice cream in his pilot outfit. Mary Manbo. At dawn, a light burns in a single barrack room’s window. image gallery lightbox by VisualLightBox.com v5.9m

This exhibit has been made possible through a gift from The Annenberg Foundation

With additional support from the Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation