Manzanar

[Serece Tascione]

Driving along the 395, you can't help but wonder what those buildings are off to the side? Upon the desolate land with the Eastern Sierras as the backdrop, the brown exit sign reads 'Manzanar.' Do you stop..do you keep driving? Whar are these militant buildings? What happened there? Why is it a National Historic Site? If you have not pulled over for a visit, The National Park Service site (nps.gov) has a page explaining its historical significance in California. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten locations during WWII that detained 10,000 Japanese Americans and 'resident Japanese aliens' who were imprisoned in this 'concentration camp'. Stories are told of what it was like, but Toyo Miyatake snuck in cameras to document the scene. The Japanese American National Museum site (janm.org) shares this information through a featured video 'Making Waves.' The infamous photographer, Ansel Adams, also photographed the site during this time. He was invited in with regulations on what he could take pictures of. Through his creative eye, he was able to cature the idea of the injustices that were taking place there. Next time you drive by, take the time to stop and envision this perspective to visualize what they saw and to learn what stories were told. 

 

 

[Deirdre Harris]

I remember driving by this National Historic Site and wondering what these buildings were as well.  Until I took a class about what happened here later on in my life.  The atrocities that happened here, are real, and they happened here, in the United States of America.  When we think of rounding up 110,000 Japanese Americans (some American Citizens) we think of WWI and the Nazi's and the concentration camps in Poland, which ended much differently, but the treatment of these people were very similar.  I recently watched the Fred Korematsu story, of how he stood up against being taken to Manzanar, and took his court case all the way to the Surpreme Court, where at the time, he lost that case 6-3, in 1944.  He was forced into the compound, why?  Because the US Government said that they were afraid they might give intelligence to the enemy at the time?  He was an American.  The conditions were awful.  For Fred, he ended up in a horse stall in a breezy room with nothing but hay, and treated like an animal.  But the families at Manzanar had to share a 20X25 foot room to be their entire house.  The bathroom situation was unlike anything they had ever had to deal with, and many families had to find cardboard to give themselves just a tiny bit of privacy.  They put up blankets to create seperate bedrooms, and family areas.  The children did their best to learn in the make-shift schools they provided.  Things were always dirty, because the sand blew in from everywhere, and there was only a tar-paper roof, no real roof for their protection from the elements.   They waited in lines to eat terrible food, that made them sick often because it was spoiled.  Many developed illnesses, and died due to a lack of decent medical care.  

After they were released after 3-4 years of this imprisonment, they were given $25 and a bus ride to the city, and told to go "find a job."  They were treated as 2nd class citizens and endured much harrassment from regular Americans at the time.  I've listened to testimonials of people who were children in these camps, (like Manzanar) speak about their experiences during, and after their release, and they live with the trauma forever.  Years later the government finally gave them redress of $20,000 for each surviving member of these camps (there were many others, mostly in the Southwest part of the country.)  But how can you put a price tag on the experiences these people went through?  They will be in therapy for the rest of their lives, and even then, still ask themselves, "What did I do to deserve this?  I must have done something to end up in here?"  

As teachers, we must use these experiences, to teach our students, (mine as young as 9 and 10-years-old) to understand that all people are guaranteed civil rights under the constitution.  We must not allow people to treat other people differently because they look differently, or any other reason.  We can use these experiences to relate to what is happening today?  Some questions for a 4th grade class to answer might be:

1)  How can we relate what happened to the 110,000 Japanese Americans in 1942,  to what is happening now to both Asian Americans, and Black Americans in our world?

2)  Why have we not learned from our past?

3) What can you (all of us) do to prevent this type of thing from happening again?  Be specific.  

Education is the best (and possibly the only) way to prevent these types of experiences from happening again.  We must keep these issues alive, and use them in our daily lives, and lesson plans as teachers to not repeat the mistakes of the past.  

[Melina Melgoza]

The events around Manzanar, are critical to California and American history, yet, I don't remember learning about Manzanar in school. As educators with new found knowledge, we must allow students the opportunity to learn about these experiences and to understand that all people should be guaranteed civil rights under the constitution. It's important to teach out students that they have to stand up for what they believe in and not treat others differently based on social constructs. 

Teaching through memoirs is so important in history classes and all other classes. Which is one of the reasons, that I bought the book, "Farewell to Manzanar." As a reminder, A memoir is a personal account of the significant events and people in the author’s life. Most memoirs are first-person narrative in the author’s voice, and most express the writer’s feelings and opinions about events, providing insight into the impact of history on people’s lives. Memoirs often help a reader learn about the beliefs, values, traditions, and customs that are characteristic of the writer’s culture.

There were many quotes that stood out to me, mainly because I felt that they could be used in the classroom.

“But there were deeper, uglier reasons for his isolation…I could hear them whispering about Papa, deliberately, just loud enough for us to hear. They kept using the word ‘inu.’ I knew it meant dog. And I thought at the time they were backbiting him because he never socialized.” (PP.66)

This passage really resonated with me, because it seems as though she is trying to understand the deeper and uglier reasons why her father is always isolating. It almost seems like she never quite understands him, but tries. Clearly, her father is battling some difficult inner battles. This reminds me of my relationship with my father. As a young girl, I tried to understand why he would isolate and drink alcohol excessively. I could never understand until one day my uncle said, “when we were 14, we started drinking, not out of trying to get drunk, but because we were poor and alcohol would keep us warm in the cold nights.” It is difficult to understand what immigrant parents have gone through, even when we try. It is difficult to understand why they get so nervous at airports and near armed security guards. I related to this passage because you could tell she knew there were deeper and uglier reasons for her isolation, but she wasn’t able to ever fully understand.

“The night mama and I came back from the latrine with this newest bit of gossip….he had been drinking all day….He began to curse her for listening to such lies, then he cursed her for leaving him alone and wanted to know where she had really gone. (PP. 67-68)


This quote resonates with me about the plight of the main character because you can tell she often feels lost in understanding her elders. You can also tell she becomes affected when her father drinks all day, curses her mother for listening to lies, and responds negatively toward the family members. It is clear that there is a very difficult relationship amongst the family members.

I really enjoyed learning about the Manzanar through the novel and the website because I felt I understood the Japanese people's struggle through a very personal memoir. I think it's important to hear from these oral histories because we can then avoid these atrocities from ever happening again. We must be able to stand up against hatred and unjust treatment. Particularly, I think it is critical that we use our privilege to stand up against the Anti-Asian hate that we see today. I don't actually remember learning about Japanese internment in middle school or high school. And, it wasn't until I became a teacher and I began to plan curriculum that I realized it was critical for me to engage in these conversations in the classroom. I was definitely able to use my imagination by reading the descriptions in Farewell to Manzanar and get a vivid image from Mas's narrations of his life in the camp. Learning personally about this through oral histories helped me appreciate more what the Japanese endured and gave me the opportunity to understand the events more in depth.

I think Farewell to Manzanar gives us a vivid and clear picture of the true story of Japanese Americans trying to survive the unjust detention and treatment of Japanese Americans. Growing up in barbed wire is cruel and unjust, and I think it is critical we give Manzanar victims and Japanese internment victims the opportunity to tell their story and bring light to the issues that have scarred generations then and now. This book was inspiring because it showed me the importance of voicing our stories and fighting against injustice. We have to continue to fight against the hate that is present today so we can become a better society. No one should have to endure what the Japanese communities endured. Never again.

[Melina Melgoza]

Here are a few wonderful resources:

Balboa Park's (Lake Balboa) Japanese Garden	An oasis build around a water reclamation facility	6100 Woodley Ave.Van Nuys, CA 91406	(818) 756-8166 http://www.thejapanesegarden.c om/
Japanese American National Museum	Japanese American history on the West Coast.	369 East First St. Los Angeles, CA 90012	(213) 625-0414 Collections | Japanese American National Museum (janm.org)
Museum of Tolerance	A museum focused on the Holocaust and that promotes racial and ethnic tolerance.	9786 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035	(310) 553-8403 http://www.museumoftolerance.c om
Pacific Asia Museum and Tokyo Village	Asian art and culture museum and cultural village	46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101	(626) 449-2742 http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/
Japanese American Museum	A museum focused on the visiting the virtually.	See website	https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/united-states-of-america/los-angeles-museums/japanese-american-national-museum/             (cut and paste url)
Japanese Garden Portland (virtual)	Japanese gardens built in Portland, Oregon to educate about Japanese history.	611 SW Kingston Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97205	https://japanesegarden.org/visitvirtually/    (cut and paste url)

 

[Melina Melgoza]

Here are a few wonderful resources:

Balboa Park's (Lake Balboa) Japanese Garden	An oasis build around a water reclamation facility	6100 Woodley Ave.Van Nuys, CA 91406	(818) 756-8166 http://www.thejapanesegarden.c om/
Japanese American National Museum	Japanese American history on the West Coast.	369 East First St. Los Angeles, CA 90012	(213) 625-0414 Collections | Japanese American National Museum (janm.org)
Museum of Tolerance	A museum focused on the Holocaust and that promotes racial and ethnic tolerance.	9786 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035	(310) 553-8403 http://www.museumoftolerance.c om
Pacific Asia Museum and Tokyo Village	Asian art and culture museum and cultural village	46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101	(626) 449-2742 http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/
Japanese American Museum	A museum focused on the visiting the virtually.	See website	https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/united-states-of-america/los-angeles-museums/japanese-american-national-museum/             (cut and paste url)
Japanese Garden Portland (virtual)	Japanese gardens built in Portland, Oregon to educate about Japanese history.	611 SW Kingston Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97205	https://japanesegarden.org/visitvirtually/    (cut and paste url)

 

[Melina Melgoza]

I created curriculum for 11th grade U.S. History, where we used Critical Media Literacy to deconstruct, analyze, and interpret the media that played a role in criminalizing Japanese-Americans.

Attaching the file here:

 

[Melina Melgoza]

I created curriculum for 11th grade U.S. History, where we used Critical Media Literacy to deconstruct, analyze, and interpret the media that played a role in criminalizing Japanese-Americans.

Attaching the file here:

 

[Melina Melgoza]

Here is the link:

https://sites.google.com/a/g.ucla.edu/japanese-internment-and-critical-media-literacy/

 

I couldn't attach an image.

[Author]

Posts