Why the US photographed its own WWII concentration camps
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- Опубліковано 9 січ 2022
- Dorothea Lange’s photos of the incarceration of Japanese Americans went largely unseen for decades.
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US President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 - two months after Japan’s bombing of the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor. It empowered the US army to designate strategic “military areas” from which any and all people deemed a threat could be forcibly removed. This began a process of placing 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.
To control the narrative around the removal, the government created a new department, the War Relocation Authority, and hired photographers to document the process. One of those photographers was Dorothea Lange, who had become famous during the 1930s for her Great Depression photographs for the Farm Security Administration.
Her images featured Japanese-American people in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to their incarceration in the camps, and captured expressions of dignity, resolve, and fear.
Most of Lange’s candid photos of the removal process weren’t approved for publication by the War Relocation Authority and were “impounded” for the duration of the war. They weren’t seen again widely until 1972, when her former assistant pulled them from the National Archives for a museum exhibit about the incarceration of Japanese Americans, called Executive Order 9066.
The photos became part of a redress movement for Japanese Americans in the 1970s and 1980s, which ultimately resulted in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, a bill that approved reparations for survivors of the camps.
Darkroom is a history and photography series that anchors each episode around a single image. Analyzing what the photo shows (or doesn't show) provides context that helps unravel a wider story. Watch previous episodes here: • Vox Darkroom
Further reading:
Dorothea Lange’s WRA photos at the University of California:
calisphere.org/collections/24...
Dorothea Lange’s WRA photos at the US National Archives:
catalog.archives.gov/search?q...
Satsuki Ina’s award-winning documentary, “From a Silk Cocoon”:
www.fromasilkcocoon.com/
I interviewed Elena Tajima Creef for this story as well, check out her book “Imaging Japanese America”:
nyupress.org/9780814716229/im...
The Densho Encyclopedia, a rich resource for researching this topic:
encyclopedia.densho.org/
Densho’s terminology guide for talking about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII:
densho.org/terminology/
More information about language and semantics from NPR, specifically about the choice to refer to the camps as “concentration camps” instead of “internment camps:” www.npr.org/sections/publiced...
Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro’s book about Lange’s WRA photos, “Impounded”:
wwnorton.com/books/9780393330908
Ansel Adams’s WRA-approved 1944 book of photos from the Manzanar camp, “Born Free and Equal”:
www.loc.gov/pictures/collecti...
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The more I learn about history, I keep learning that we don't learn from history
Like everything related to knowledge, the bubble of what we know is inside a bubble of what we know we don't know. And all of that is inside an infinite bubble of knowledge that we don't even know that we don't know
Yet, the less you learn about history, the more likely you are to repeat it.
The more that I learn from history, I keep learning how trash the US government is
People actively work to keep people ignorant of actual history. It’s no wonder why it keeps repeating.
Japanese internment camps are actually pretty well known at this point. I always see people say we never talk about them but I have yet to meet someone who is unaware of their existence.
“They wanted a record, just not a public record.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
That’s why Im happy that Americ ais becoming weak and China rise and rule
Ah yes,the floor here is made out of ceiling
Yea welcome to literally every country on earth
Someway somehow though, that will be public
The quote you give is a conclusion by someone after the fact, not necessarily a description of an actual government decision. Government consists of many people, and while one official might want a public record, another one might want to hide everything. Certain is that important decision makers deemed most of Lange's photos not helpful in 1942, for the war effort or otherwise.
@@hermeslein6614 I’d prefer not to have any imperialist superpower, rather than betting on one specific horse in the race :/
The irony is that the government hurt the innocent Japanese but did not effectively punish the war crimes that committed massacres all over Asia.
Hypocrisy of it all.
Its happening all over again!
punish who tho? the ones in japan aren't the ones who committed the war crimes either.
the ones who ordered the war crimes all committed sepuku
@@Maxtor-ve5nu Yeah, that's true, but there were other genocides in asia that the US knew about but ignored.
*cough cough* Cambodian massacre *cough cough*
@@Maxtor-ve5nunobusuke kishi AKA the devil of showa AKA monster of manchuria, never got punished and in fact he able becoming japanese prime minister in 1950s.
My grandfather was Italian and went through the same thing. The American citizens who were supposed to watch over their house and property destroyed the house & stole everything away from them and left them with nothing. My grandfather was able to recover but many people didn't.
Coming from Germany, the parallels are astounding and sad
@@John_Doe448The U.S. held German-Anericans in camps too.
In my area people took care of the properties of the Japanese- Americans. Farms, orchards, homes.
@@LilyGazoudid they get their property back afterwards?
@@LilyGazouHood River, Or.
One thing to note is that a lot of the interned Japanese folks' land and stores were never returned after they were released. They had to start again from nothing, and it took 20+ years to even get meagre reparations.
Its a lot better than what people got from Japanese concentration camps. Japanese were treated much better than Japanese treated people. People were well fed and the camps had schools so kids could continue education. The Japanese camps across asia were notorious for cruelty and death. People were starving and forced to work on bridges and railways. People who couldnt work were beheaded. There are many older Asians from around asia and POW's that still have hatred towards Japanese for the cruelty.
@@tubester4567 Yet these people are not Japanese citizen. They are Americans, they are not responsible for the Japanese concentration camps or any of the Imperial Japanese cruelty.
Black people still haven't gotten their reparations so of course the US government wasn't gonna help out the Japanese Americans falsely imprisoned.
@@Raja-bz4yw The US already gave Japanese compensation, Indians have been giving billions in compensation. More than half of the Africans in the US are not even descended from slaves. African Americans gets billions every year in welfare and government programs, free health care, food stamps, free education and section 8 housing. They also get jobs and education places through "diversity quotas".
@@tubester4567 literally what you just listed, EVERY MINORITY GROUP IN THE US benefits from. Those benefits you’ve listed are not specifically for African Americans. Disgusting attitude trying to diminish the suffering of one group for hundreds of years.
Another issue that the government did often is it seized and sold their property. I know of a family who moved here to Utah after their large farm and home was sold by the government while they were in an interment camp. They lost everything and had to start all over.
America is evil nation in the we need to get rid of them dtop watching shows and music
@@hermeslein6614 huh?
@@anujpandita3387 - where is the record of Japanese spies that justifies the concentration camps?
@@anujpandita3387 the video literally said that there was no known action of fifth columnists prior to or after the Pearl Harbour attacks
The government not only gets a cut but locals clean up.
As a Japanese American, I thank you for this great documentary.
The worst thing is: I did a report on the internment of Japanese Americans for one of my final exams here in Denmark, this was a joint English and History subject report.
Do you know how hard it is to find factual evidence that isn’t pictures or Nisei’s personal anecdotes?
I doubt the American government knew just how many people they threw into these camps let alone how many they let out again after the war.
(Also, I chose this topic because it’s under-studied, both within America and outside. Everyone knows about the Vietnam war and the torture camps in that conflict, the Korean War is almost over-done (not really, I like that topic) but the Japanese American treatment under ww2 is under-done.
@@MyBelch nobody is saying these were death camps. No one is saying they were as bad as German concentration camps. What is being said is that the rights of citizens were infringed and that it was a huge human rights violation.
@@YeshuaIsTheTruth Were somebody's feelings hurt? Oh mah gawd!
@@MyBelch nah, just yours.
@@MyBelch
How did we come to the point where having some empathy for fellow human beings is something To be ridiculed? Be better
@@00Julian00 In case you missed it, there was a World War going on. People's feelings rightfully took a back seat to sovereignty and national survival. Be smarter.
For all of their supposed “un-Americanness”, it’s also worth remembering that there was a US Army regiment during WWII whose members were almost entirely Nissei, or second-generation Japanese immigrants. Most of them fought while their families were in internment camps.
What did the 442nd Infantry Regiment accomplish during the war? They’re only the most decorated regiment in US history.
Ever.
Three of my wife's uncles (all second-generation Okinawan immigrants) were in the 442nd. Very patriotic generation.
I thought if a family member joined in the US military it proved he was not a risk and his family would be freed from the internment camps.
@@mashruralam5795 I don’t think that’s true. I recall stories of members of the 442nd whose families were still in camps, even while they were deployed. But I may be wrong?
Andy, there were two combat units that fought in Europe. The first was the 100th Infantry Battalion comprised of more than 1,400 Nisei from the Hawaii National Guard in June 1942 that left Hawaii to train at Camp McCoy WI and Camp Shelby MS before going into combat in September 1943 as part of the 34th ID. The 100th Infantry Battalion became the Army's experiment to see if Americans of Japanese descent could be trusted in combat. The War Department ordered General Mark Clark to report on the 100th's performance after it first entered combat, and General Clark responded, "... I sent a cable to Eisenhower on October 8, stating that they (the 100th) had seized their objective and that they were quick to react whenever the enemy offered opposition". In five months of combat, the battalion that had landed with 1,300 men at Salerno suffered so many casualties and were down to 521 men after the battle at Cassino in February 1944, leading war correspondents to refer to them as the Purple Heart Battalion. If the 100th Infantry Battalion had messed up anywhere along their journey from training and into combat, that would have ended the Army’s experiment for using them as front-line soldiers. But the men of 100th Infantry Battalion performed brilliantly, removing all doubts of their loyalty and paving the way for the future deployment of the 442nd RCT in June 1944.
Because of the magnificent training record of the 100th Infantry Battalion as well as the dedication and willingness by the Varsity Victory Volunteers (VVV), a group of ROTC students from the University of Hawaii to serve their country, as well as ongoing lobbying efforts, the War Department announced in January 1943 that it was forming a Japanese American combat team and called for 1,500 volunteers from Hawaii. An overwhelming 10,000 men signed up in the islands, including many men from the VVV. On the mainland, the War Department had set a goal of 3,000 recruits, but the reception was understandably much less enthusiastic. When the 442nd RCT was activated. Hawaii-born men made up about two-thirds of the regiment with the remaining one-third from the mainland, many of whom came from the internment camps. When the 442nd RCT entered combat in June 1944, the 100th Infantry Battalion became the 1st battalion but retained its designation because of its unparalleled combat record.
My was grandfather didnt fight in the war but was a part of the military as an engineer. He was deeply patriotic despite whatever was going on at that time.
My grandparents were both incarcerated. My grandpa in Poston Arizona and my grandma in Manzanar. I had the honor of interviewing them for a high school documentary project. They were both in their 90s at the time and despite their dementia they both remembered what happened to them so clearly. Sadly they both passed away last year my grandpa was 99 and my grandma 96. I’m really glad I got to hear from them their experiences and I am so proud to be Japanese American.
That's a horrible thing to happen. Let's hope this never happens again but that, mentality still exists now with political prisoners.
Condolence
my grandfather and his parents and siblings were also incarcerated in Poston.
Condolences. May they rest on
My dad, his parents, and his grandfather were all interned in Poston as well. I just found my dad's Poston grade school report card.
This really upset my father who had Japanese/American friends. He was raised in Long Beach, California. He said watching his friends and their families leave their homes was as traumatic as the war itself.
Thank you Lange for demonstrating humanity during one of those darkest moments for Asian Americans.
It was a dark time across the world. This was especially sad.
It also happened in Canada. 🇨🇦 In Vancouver, they were rounded up, their property seized, and interned. After the war, they were not allowed to return to BC until 1949. So they were offered two options: “return” to Japan (most were born in Canada and legally citizens of the country) or move East. Some went to Montréal. Much later, the government apologized in the 90s and paid reparations, but like all apologies it never returned what was lost.
At least you have free healtcare and you’re the best country
Stolen*
My grandmother was interned. Her whole family moved to Montreal and she eventually moved back to Vancouver. My family rarely talks about it and I know little of my Japanese heritage as a result.
@@hermeslein6614 Canada is still racist.
Canada didn't move to apologize or even begin reparation until after the U.S. did. Japanese were sent to some of the harshest places in Canada, up in the Rockies.
ALSO, the entire concentration camp system was repeated from how Canada treated innocent immigrant farmers from the countries of the Austro Hungarian empire during World War I. They repeated it against the Japanese Canadians in order to steal the fishing industry on the Canadian West Coast.
When I was in elementary school on the West Coast, they held a school wide assembly for a 3rd generation Japanese-American woman to speak about her grandparent's experience in the concentration camps. I remember crying so much and it always stuck with me. I was shocked to learn that many people never learn about this part of our history. My partner grew up on the East Coast and he said he was in the honor system all through school and he said he didn't recall learning about it - so even if it was taught, clearly it wasn't very thorough or memorable.
Dude same
I learned about it in elementary and middle school also stop making it seem like it was the worst thing to happen
@@yeeyee6505 I don't think anyone would say it's the "worst thing to ever happen". Although it likely is the worst thing to have happened to many of these individuals. That distinction is important. It's not a contest, but it is a tragedy.
we did a field trip to manzanar when i was in school
Learned about in from the “century, Americas time” doc series when I was about 8 or 9. Learned about it in middle school US history. Learned about it in high school US history. Saw it in memes, family guy, news specials, UA-cam videos like this one, and common conversations since then.
Please stop saying you didn’t learn about it in school. It’s dangerous and inaccurate to make that claim. This topic is too well known and talked about in pop culture and media in general to claim ignorance.
My grandpa spent his early teenage years in one of these concentration camps and he never forgot about it, even as his dementia got worse. He passed away from Covid early last year. I’ve been avoiding watching this video since it came out because I knew it would remind me of him and make me cry.
Coming from Hawaii, where there are lots of Japanese-Americans, we did learn about this. For a while, I thought this was common knowledge among Americans, but what do you know? It’s not. At this point, I’m not surprised, but also, it’s just sad to see.
I was born in the early seventies but l knew about this sad affair, just look what happened to Native Americans in the US and indigenous people in Canada.
Reason I know is because to this day I devour books and documentaries along with binging in news and reports of the world.
Yes I'm a nerd all these affairs saddened me very deep.
It really makes me sad, that there are these things that are so.. terribly important that i and many others were never told about, until we came across or looked for them. It’s no wonder so many Americans don’t have a care for others.
it is common knowledge - has been in the public eye ever since the war - the subject has been widely discussed and debated for decades - notice that the reparations act signed by Reagan occurred in 1980 - this is not a new awakening - maybe the younger generations are only learning about it in history class - but those of us in the older generation have lived with it our entire lives - in my case - my grandfather and father were interned
"Just when these American citizens needed their rights the most, their government took it away, and rights aren't rights if someone can take them away, they're privileges, that's all we've ever had in this country, is a list of temporary privileges, and if you follow the news even barely, the list keeps getting shorter, and shorter, and shorter" - George Carlin
America is the world problem we need China to rise for better peace and systemized dituation of the world state
@@hermeslein6614 So those Uyghur internment camps don't exist I guess
@@hermeslein6614 ah the prc, all the brutal genocide and famine of the ussr with even less benefits.
@@hermeslein6614 fatherless child
@@hermeslein6614 Woooahh woah woah woah america isn't great but china is a lot worse
I really wish that local history like this was taught at my school. The race tracks where these people were incarcerated is now a mall and I didn't find out about it's dark history until around my high school years.
Yeah That’s right thats how evil imperialist USA is😡They run the world by evilness thank god their country is collapsingh and declining
Schools have their own agendas and priorities to highlight certain topics and censor others. Seek knowledge as your own pursuit and you'll grow wiser.
Another one of these people blinded and gaslighted by learning curriculum promoted by the country of residence. Pursue true knowledge with your own skill and research...
@@hermeslein6614 literally every country does this, not only the USA
@@finnian3931 Ireland.
It also happened in some parts of Brazil. My grandparent got jailed multiple times just because they couldnt speak portuguese at the time. My dad was born inside the jail and the government took all the properties that my grandparent bought after years of hardworking in the coffee plantation...
That's a horrible story. Saddest fact is no one wants to bring this topic to light as currently only black people and refugees are the ones who have monopoly for sufferings
Where were they from?
Poor man
@@bignoonzz Brazil has the largest Japanese diaspora outside Japan
@@notthedoctor8621 never knew about this! Racism is unjustified in every country because of these movements.
"The complexity of human relationships around oppression and resistance" I love this description. Thank you so much for this history. What strong beautiful family oriented people ❤
I take japanese at my high school and even though it's a language class, our teacher has us watch documentaries about these camps in her class because she knows the history teachers pretty much just gloss over it. These are such important stories for young people to learn.
My school taught about the interment camps, Pearl Harbor, and the nukes during the Pacific War. They skip over Unit 731 and Nanjing.
@@LarryWater What do those have to do with each other out of curiosity? And also your school sounds terrible (or you’re bullshitting) because imperial Japanese expansion was covered both in US and Global history for me and everyone I know
For sure, in my school history was pretty much glossed over and we didn't stay in a certain section for long and just moved on to the next thing. Lucky for me since I love history I ended up learning more on my own time.
@@hakeemabdella2304 Im sure the japanese expansion was covered but Im not sure if the series of massacres, death marches, and human experimentation that followed not to mention the cannibalism that was performed on captured allied troops and the maltreatment and starvation that happened in the POW camps was taught my school (Im asian) taught about it a lot just not the POW camps and the cannibalism that happened
You have such a great opportunity to share this with your peers.
In Seattle's Museum of History and Industry, there are four Hinamatsuri dolls on display. When the Japanese were made to leave, they could bring only one suitcase with them. At one local school, Bailey Gatzert where 45% of the students were of Japanese descent, the students gave their dolls to the school principal for safe-keeping. The sixty dolls remained at the school until 1973 and none of the students returned for them. We do not know why they didn't return, but we do know families were forcefully relocated across the United States by the federal government after the internment camps.
As a native Washingtonian, that is a very fascinating thing 2 hear bcuz I learned so much more about this subject matter in a college-level PNW history class. One of the required readings was "Nisei Daughter" by Monica Sone, whose family owned one of the oldest hotels in the city at the time b4 the Executive Order 9066 was being legislated into law. I would recommend that as well for another 1st-person account/primary source.
There was a facility called the Puyallup Assembly Center or Camp Harmony
@@leviathan7593 Yep that's exactly what that was. I couldn't believe it when I 1st heard about it in my college class
@@melin4ted_bookworm632 I’ve known about it since middle school, of course it’s just a fair grounds parking lot now or something else.
This past summer, I was able to visit the World War Bonsai exhibit at the PNW Bonsai museum. It was haunting and beautiful in ways I can't properly express. Beautiful bonsai that were originally trained in coffee tins because that was all that was available in some internment camps ...
I was extremely moved by this video. Thank you for making it
My great auntie was around 5/6 years old when her parents and older sisters were sent to the internment camps at Heart Mountain Wyoming. Her account brought me to tears when she was able to open up about her experience, the trauma and hardship they faced was immense.
I know that their handmade furniture shop was seized and was only allowed to keep 1 suitcase of belongings. Even though they were born here in California they were brutally mistreated. She had mentioned being stuffed into the stables at the Santa Ana derby racetrack. The trains were blacked out and there wasn’t much room . The relocation led to a panic because so many families had been separated. Fortunately my family was lucky to reunited but men were separated from the women but they witnessed people get shot on the spot at the camps. The way she talks about it is heartbreaking because her response to the discrimination and racism was “we did what we could to survive but I understand people were scared we were in a war. I just hope people recognize when history seems to repeat themselves when a marginalized group becomes a mass target to validate hate.”
If you feel emotional watching this, good.
History is uncomfortable and disgusting and needs to be shared.
lul
People who white wash history no matter for what
Nationalism, To remove something from the public concience, to "stay unoffensive", etc
Is ruining the point of learning history
Unfortunately it's not American to reflect on our past anymore. We got people saying slavery never happened to them saying animal vaccine is the cure and they don't believe in the human cure...because there wasn't much testing. I'm pretty sure there was never any human trials for that animal vaccine.
I moved from Mexico to the US twice and then to Europe. Despite not being of Asian descent, as an immigrant and foreign person, this really hit me hard...
Policy makes complete sense within the context of the time.
Both my Japanese grandparents were born in America as nationalized citizens. However, my Bachan was forcibly removed to the Heart Mountain internment camps in Wyoming. Where as, my Jichan was a member of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. He was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, before being deployed to fight along the Gothic Line in Italy. On his last day, a mortar shell pierced his hand. Years of rehab later, he became a watch-maker. And despite having lost everything, my Bachman used to tell me and my cousins, as we huddled together, stories of her experience in the camps. However her stories weren’t those of tragedy, but of resilience. She was a very positive and optimistic woman. She passed away a few years ago at the age of 97.
Thank you for telling your story. I really appreciate it. Referring your grandpa as "jichan" and grandma as " bachan" is something only Japanese people can understand it's nuance.
Thank you for sharing this important part of history with us that we should never forget.
I wasn’t alive back then but I’ve visited Manzanar in the Sierra Nevada. It’s a terrible thing we did. I felt such shame and sorrow for what was done to these Americans.
As a photographer and photo educator for young people, the Vox Darkroom series is truly one of the most impressive resources, and it has inspired my teaching. And this is the episode that I have been waiting for. Dorothea Lange's photos documenting this atrocity are haunting, and I have always wanted to learn more about them. All of the great resources and links listed are appreciated!
I didn't really come to understand this event until I visited a friend in San Jose, and there are many signifiers throughout Japantown commemorating what happened.
Aq
I was so confused when I read the begining of this comment because I did read "As a pornographer"...
Anyway, this comment should have more likes.
Canada did this as well. The Canadian government seized all the possessions of the detainees and by the time they were released, their possessions were long gone as the Canadian government had sold off what they could to pay for their incarceration. Many lost everything and had to return to Japan which was their only source of support and the only way to get back on their feet. This is briefly taught in schools, but generally the topic of racism is skirted around here in Canada.
At least Canada has free healtcare than your saint poor country
@@hermeslein6614 Free healthcare isn't much of a bar to clear. Every developed country has universal healthcare, and many does it better than Canada (I am Canadian btw). USA is exceptional in that it's the only developed country that doesn't have free healthcare.
@@justonky how about Switzerland they pay imsurance their and it’s number 2 with most expensive healthcare
@@hermeslein6614 Switzerland still has Universal Healthcare. I am not against privatized healthcare, or whatever, lots of countries have interesting systems; but they are all universal. USA is the only developed nation where they don't guarantee you have access to Healthcare.
@@justonky how about China do theyn have?
Thank you for sharing this.
This is so eye opening, I never even heard about this happening. Thank you for informing us. So sad.
I heard about America's concentration camps from my grandparents in the late '70s, so I went to my local library to look it up. I was in middle school at the time. The librarian taught me how to use the Reader's Guide, and we about digging up articles. We found (only) three. After an hour, she asked me which teacher had given me this assignment. I explained I was just curious. The look on her face told me I had just then justified her choice in careers.
Its basically our civil duty to learn about this. The more we learn about what our country did wrong, the less likely our country gonna do it again.
Watched a documentary about German POW who were held in the US and they received better food and housing than these Americans.
Robert Lawyon, beautiful..
My English class recently read Obasan and that's how I learned about this. The day we finished the book, I told my mother about the context of Obasan, and her faith in American liberty and justice was seriously shaken. Mine was, too.
We need China to be superpower now oust America now!!
@@hermeslein6614 Yeah, like China isn't as bad, if not worse.
@@hans3000 China is giving free advantages and building railways in Africa and they don’t meddle in international affars like Murica did
@@hermeslein6614 If you like China that much, move there
The world with China replacing the US position is definitely not a better world. I believe as a Vietnamese, I am entitled to say that, given that our country was invaded by both.
This was a time when the essence of photography held a very deep impact and the art of the photographer mattered the most. When taking pictures was a big privilege and these great photographers brought to us these great stories.
Officials: These photos are way to emotional. I feel bad for them. It looks like we're destroying the lives of good people.
Lange: Because you d...
Officials: IMPOUNDED
true
How about the japanese american couple did in Niihau incident did that destroyed the rest of the japanese people or japanese descent living here in USA during WW2.
Every time I see these similar stories It always makes me shed tears. I'm a first generation American and was taught just how lucky I was to be born an America. I was always proud to be an American because this is the country of the people and for the people. But whenever I hear stories like this, the after effects of 9/11 and black lives matters, it really breaks my heart. The American ideals I so dearly held at heart were blurred. "We the People" is just a saying and a phrase written about a selected group of people who are of the "in". The term "American" is but a status. It doesn't mean anything unless you are of a selected group, or if it serves them well.
Only if u are white then u are a real American..
well said John
Yup and don’t forget how the Natives were treated
John le, at the start of the 2nd World war against Germany, Britain interned people of German descent and imprisoned them in camps also. Can you take a wild guess at the outrageous 'racist' reason we decided to imprison these fellow 'white' people in internment camps?
Yeah I think that to... But would you rather be living in a war zone? Or a hermit kingdom?
So thankful for the amazing photos and captions from Lange or maybe we may never know if these stories are not told 🥺. What happened to them wasn't fair. I hope we can do better.
Thank you so much for this. 😢
Thank you for making this. My great uncle and his parents were thrown in an American concentration camp and he ended up fighting for the US in the 442nd, even earning a Purple Heart. They had everything ripped away from them by the US government just because they shared the same heritage as the enemy of that time. I have one of Dorothea Lange's photos framed above my desk (entitled "I Am An American") as a reminder of how tenuous peace and stability is for many people, even in a country that touts "freedom" as one of its creeds.
Edit: I had written this halfway through the video because I just felt compelled to do so, and I saw that you included the story about that photo in the credits. I knew a bit about the story behind the photo, but not everything. Thank you to the descendants of the Masuda family for sharing that history.
Interment camp and concentration camp are very different - maybe a trip to Europe will teach you exactly that? Stop appropriating European terms to something vastly different just because you want it to sound scarier than it was.
@@remi_gio Did you even watch the video? They call the camps "concentration camps." In the Wikipedia page about the Japanese internment they are defined as "concentration camps." We just commonly associate "concentration camps" with the death camps in Europe. In fact, the use of the word "internment" is often attributed to the "imprisonment of non citizens" which would technically only apply to non citizen Issei. Even Truman himself called them concentration camps. How about before you get angry and accusatory, you do a little research?
The way the country treats veterans in general is disgusting. Hillary and benghazi is a good example.
My former husband’s best friend was born in a Salt Lake City camp. Kiku. She learned about the internment camps in high school, confronted her parents. As I recall third- or fourth-hand, Kiku’s parents said, “the government asked us to move, so we did. Their business, house, other assets? Kiku’s parents just shrugged. Their feelings? No, Kiku wouldn’t have asked about *that.*
This was extremely insightful
There's so much history hidden away
Thank you for the reserach and the great presentation.
I learned about this via George Takei (Mr. Sulu from Star Trek) - he was interned in the camps as a kid. He made a musical about it and a graphic novel about 5 or so years ago.
Oh wow that's nice! I clicked because my interest was piqued after listening to Mike Shinoda's (of Linkin Park fame) song Kenji, which is about his grandparents' time in the internment camp. He's a third generation Japanese American (sansei).
He’s is an exceptionally amazing human being. A couple years ago he came over to UCSD for a talk/panel, and I just finished my 3rd time rewatching TOS. I think many Asian Americans all see him as an icon of sorts.
"It's not a war crime if You win"
-every winner ever
Historians and scholars decide what were warcrimes according to the time, or to our time, not the "winners".
Japanese Imperial Family: laughs nervously
do you even have the slightest idea how the us compared to japanese or german war crimes?
@@jamadir Just beacause someone did worse, it does not make it ok. Plus Japanese-AMERICANS had nothing to do with it
@@jamadir and the Japanese government still denies what they did in China.
Thanks for this video.
This is very important.
"They want records but not public records" -Lange
All these photographs is making me emotional 😭
Likewise, the American occupation of Okinawa is recorded as being “positive”, in a narrative such that the governance was humane. However, censorship was heavily enforced and crimes committed by the marines were ignored. Hint: there are numerous half Americans in that generation and most of them were abandoned by their parents.
@@primalconvoy That’s what happens Japan started War, so we took their islands, America gave it back on the condition that we can continue to have bases and operate there.
@@braxtonjones6163 but the ww2 was long time ago. The Japanese empire is long gone, and there are barely any survivors. That’s why Japan is asking US to leave. The today’s Japanese government is Americanized enough. Japan views usa very favorably percentage wise. And the base is operated with Japan having to pay the gas electricity water rent for the soldiers. The Okinawan’s weren’t happy, I asked several of them 2 years ago. They wish us would abandon the bases like they did in Afghanistan
Cuban revolution was also long ago, yet embargo is still there
@@braxtonjones6163 Okinawa is not a Japanese island. It was an independent nation before it was conquered by Japanese.
You have shown your stupidity around the subject. Try to hide your racism and ignorance a bit.
@@royhuang9715 yeah it was called ryuku right?
Thank you for calling them concentration camps. They absolutely were.
I don’t remember a Japanese holocaust in my history classes.
Some kids were growing up inside there.
Some were *born* in there.
Childhood
Born
Behind barbed wire.
Concentrated. In camps.
*AMERICANS*
Their Dads were getting *killed* in GI combat as American foot soldiers.
I hope we never forget about them like we never forgot about Germany's.
@@ChristopherPuzey they are concetration camps if we call the Uyghur camps concentration camps we should call the ones for Japanese Americans oncentration camps
@@ChristopherPuzey One does not require the other.
Thank you for this video.
Your postings are of high quality! Let us see more!
My Ji-Chan and his family also were imprisoned during ww2.
My family had lived in the SF Bay Area since the late 1800’s and my Hi-o-Jichan was a ww1 vet as well.
They were taken to the Topaz concentration camp in Utah.
They owned and operated a laundry business before and after ww2 and the building is now a SF historical landmark (James Lick Baths/ People’s Laundry).
My Ji-Chan turns 92 this year.
God bless y'all 🙏
I remember reading a book about the US concentration camps during WWII in like 6th grade and feeling so much hurt. If I recall correctly a lot of them had their houses and land sold out from under them while in the camps, and ended up homeless after release. Whatever reparations they got from Reagan were probably not enough
true, and perhaps too late!
Its was about 25k each at the time, which would be equivalent to around 75k today. Not great... worse knowing it took 20 years to get...
It wasn't, yet to American Japanese, it was the recognition of Wrongdoing and the act of Reparations that counted.
To have what was done to them Officially declared unwarranted and unjustified, is soulfully and spiritually significant, because, in the end, being American is a Life celebrating *FREEDOM*
We should remember, too,
that their Sons, Dads and Husbands lay in American GI cemeteries of Europe having sacrificed Life in the bright height of their youth to enable the continuance of American Freedom and the guarding of it; and the saving of Freedom from being extinguished in the World.
excellent video. Thank you
Thank you so much for this informative video.
My dad grew up in Oakland, and had a life-long Nisei friend from school, Boy Scouts, and after. I look at the school photos, and he is the ONLY Asian there. Interned in Utah, he sent us mimeographed newsletters that were remarkably positive as well as realistic, and he was a yes-yes, not a no-no, and volunteered for Army Intelligence because of language skill. But when he died and was buried in a military cemetery, the US Army refused a him a Color Guard and it was sailors I heard fire the final salute.
Some indignities persist even to the grave.
I read "no no boy" by John Okada and a graphic novel by Mine Okubo "Citizen 13660". I'd learned about the internment camps in high school but only learned about the individual experiences through these stories much much later in my life.
@@nicholaslu4069 Mine Okubo did the artwork in those mimeo newsletters we got. Trek was the title, from the Topaz Utah camp.
We need to teach more about this in our educational system. The fact that this history is not widely taught in schools across our nation is puzzling. Thank you Vox for this outstanding mini-documentary, as it works to better enlighten our nation on our history.
I’m a freshman in high school and it’s pretty worrying that I haven’t been taught about both World Wars, Vietnam war, Korean war, and more yet. I’m only learning about these things through UA-cam sadly
@@angelvu This sort of history does get complex(I assume you'll probably learn it sophomore or junior year, so it's not far off), so it becomes especially important to know the world at the time to understand the conflict properly
There's just so much history to teach. Sure the pick what they want us to learn but sometimes you can't teach everything. With modern technology, it's much simpler to learn these things on your own.
If it were taught...alongside many more hard topics, it would be hard to remain the stance: we are the best, always were the best, and everyone who says we are not perfect is not a REAL american....
I mean I learned about this in US high school
The amount of patience from Lange who could have raised hysterical fuss for decades over this, is staggering. This is the kind of patience that outlasts pressure to create change. A literal diamond of a person and documentation.
Excellent video. Rich in history most have never heard about but everyone should know.
It’s an absolute shame that they don’t teach people stuff like this in history classes
Great work, more people need to know more stuff about this
if every point in history is being taught in class then you'll be forever in school. general education isn't supposed to teach everything though, they only give you a brief summary. it's up to the individual to expand their knowledge.
tbh it wasnt the most "shocking" parts of ww2, also schools have limited time to discuss the lessons and stuff so might as well focus on the big things, thats why they dont mention things like infantry tactics or tank types
edit: (lots of people are replying that they were taught/have teached this in in history class, so im assuming if are from the US you were taught this in history class)
@@darkfishthedestroyer139 Ah, good point
I ABSOLUTELY teach this stuff in my history class. And I have for years! Who is teaching US History and discussing WWII and not talking about this?!? It's as big a part of the "home front" during the war as rationing or war time industrial production.
I learned about this in 5th grade and middle school
All this suffering for no reason. It's truly disturbing but I'm glad it's seeing the light of day and not hidden anymore
You should be disturbed by what the Japanese did to other countries not to where a single person was not killed but just kept in isolation because of actual terrorism to US troops. While on the other side of the Pacific, the Japanese were slaughtering innocent people by the hundreds to thousands in Korea and China.
It’s good that America acknowledges it’s bad history. You should see how Japanese people still deny all the horrible things they did in WW2 because they don’t teach the real history in Japan.
@@dsgrts oh it was horrifying what the Japanese did.
@@dsgrts we should be disturbed by both.
What suffering?
Thank you for your video
"Guilty by Reason of Race" - This is what I do appreciate about living in the United States.
The very fact we're allowed to have these conversations, have press critical of the government, openly discuss the nation's wrongs & have conversations about dark moments in our history is something many take for granted. Every country has its skeletons, but not all are able to learn about them & openly lament them as we are.
Yeah you can online, but the overall ability to discuss this with peers and colleagues is not great. And media makes it harder.
In my 6th grade class, 90% of my peers had no idea that this atrocity took place. They were shocked that it happened. And we continue to fail to learn from our mistakes.
@MrXiaoqiao Yeah, I'm not sure many kids are taught that before 6th grade, but I definitely first learned about it at some point in middle school history class. Then in high school, US History went over it again when we were being taught WW2.
And of course, there's much more in depth teaching in college history courses, but it depends on what you sign up for.
I’m just happy that there is a pioneer of Asian American Studies that provides discourse on people otherwise erased.
Dude, I see you everywhere. Like EVERYWHERE.
@@moumabanik8006 Thank you for seeing me everywhere, I guess? 😂
I guess our tastes in UA-cam videos match well. It's quite funny. 😂
@@moumabanik8006 Happy to hear that! 👏🏽
The moments taken by those pictures.. showing families, people young... And old, to show that these are _humans_ , as we all are... Seeing these pictures brings such emotions to me, don't know why but i feel i should be crying right now.
GREAT video!
Dorothea Lange is one of the reasons I majored in photography in University
This is a wonderful piece. Would love to learn more about Lange.
There is a wonderful PBS documentary about her. Also, there’s a good UA-cam video made by nerdwriter about a couple of photos she took of Florence Thompson (the picture known as Migrant Mother). Perhaps you could start there.
@@alexanderverdoodt Great suggestions. Thank you!
She, Lange,
Captured
a Moment in Time
Of *AMERICAN* *Children*
*PLEDGING* *ALLEGIANCE*
To the
*United* *States* of *America*
5:48 pause
The children had only a few weeks left to continue to go to School before being
*taken* *away*
do more videos on war crimes. there’s so much we still don’t know
@Rafael Dejesus i think the actions of the cia in south america and central america would be a better one (also all presidents have committed war crimes)
@Rafael Dejesus why specify any individual president? They all have. That's arguably their job description
@@modernkennnern yeah at this point, i think every president has committed something of the sort lol
@@modestrocker1 ooh i would like that too. ive done a bit of research abt how the US overthrew governments in central and South America, especially during the Cold War .
but if vox did this it would be cool
@@user-eh6nz3vm7d you should watch the movie “American Made” with Tom Cruise. fantastic movie about The CIA and south american drugs
I only learned about this (as in US has these camps for Japanese Americans) last year and it was 11th grade. It was the teacher's first year teaching too and she did a good job at explaining a lot that was glossed over in our previous history classes.
Wow- I never knew about this, thank you for bringing this to my attention
I love when Vox does a video on history
I love when box does a video
@@whocaresnotme9594 I love box
Would be great if they got the facts right too. There is a huge difference between an interment camp and a concentration camp! 🤦🏻♂️
@@remi_gio I’m pretty sure they got the facts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@edgarpastor2706 Depending on where you are from the term « concentration camp « means death camp for the Europeans and internment camp for the Americans.
The more I learn about this dark history, I learn that it's all about the money and image, at least for governments...
The world needs to reunite to destroy Evil Imperialist Nation America
Its like that for a lot of our people too. Money is evil when it turns your "greater good" into the economy rather than the wellbeing of people
@@hermeslein6614 Another entity will just take its place. the US and USSR took European Empires spot and the same will happen to the US.
@@seco000 America is too short to be taken away currently
Already repeated during lockdown and ppl all believe their" science ". It shows ppl can't do their research and let government control
I love photography. And one of the best ways to teach history is through photos.
Great work! Darkroom is the best series of videos on Vox in our opinion! Please keep up the amazing quality and humanity of this series
This is deep
Let's thank this channel to give us the video and with great quality!
Finally a darkroom content.
Where was it all this time
I agreed. It’s the best thing from Vox!
Being in Puerto Rico, we used English as a Second Language books, so they tended to have a lot of short stories focusing on People of Color, so I learned about the Japanese camps as a kid. Thing is, I stopped hearing about this issue as much as other aspects of WW2 after that specific class, which led me to incorrectly believe that this was kind of a lesser evil. It wasn't until recently that this tragedy seemed to come back to the spotlight.
I was blessed to attend an alternative high school. A history teacher devoted an entire semester to this topic. We were fortunate enough to meet a man who was only 5 years old when his family was imprisoned. He was impressively forgiving, while also condemning the government's actions. I felt far less forgiving than this citizen whose entire life was shaped by these internment camps. *It was the first time I felt shame for being American.*
Its wounds me deeply knowing how much of America's history has oppressed its own citizens. Its bad enough we were doing this to non citezens but even worse that American citizen were subjected to this dehumanizing process
It was wounding.
Yet there is Healing.
Because in the end, America's *IDEALS* and it's *Promise*
ALWAYS *wins*
@@SunnyIlha ya if u white
@@youarebeingtrolled6954get out of the 60s
@@ps92809 it’s still true now lol
@@AlzheimersIam not really there is still racism but not on that level
Taking into account that about 40% of Americans have German ancestry, including even some higher-ups like Eisenhower (anglicised German for Ironsmith), the way they oddly and specifically targeted only Japanese people seemed to be motivated by racial differences rather than by "state security" to me.
That's incorrect. My grandparents, of German and Austrian descent immigrated to the US in the 1920's, were often visited by the FBI and were not allowed to own a radio.
@@franksmith7247 Well, if your parents had been Japanese at the time, they would've been outright deported into a concentration camp instead of just having "regular visits" from the authority.
You answered you’re own question…40% of Americans had German ancestry while Japanese were a small minority and most were recent immigrants
Naaa, check WW1. And you will know why nobody speaks German now. Nor socialist party
@@franksmith7247 Well, were they incarcerated in concentration camps. Moreover, they were 1st generation immigrants, so FBI and other agencies are justified to carryout "regular" visits. But incarceration of American citizens solely on the basis of race is ridiculous.
I've visited the camp sites and witnessed the barren locations. Seeing the vibrant farms many were ripped from makes this 1000 times more tragic that I felt it was when I visited and I already felt it was absolutely horrific that this abuse of humanity was allowed in the US!
you should see the horrific sites that the japanese people put the koreans in. its disgusting.
This made me cry
Super interesting! I had no idea both Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams took photos of this. Definitely something that needs more coverage in history books.
I’ve visited one of the camps during 5th grade, and from what I remember they were cramped together with multiple other people in one housing. They had little items to themselves, and there were no privacy. I think they’ve removed most of the camp by now though.
As a professional photographer I am really inspired to photograph more real events in a candid way.
This sickens me. I certainly didn't learn about this is high school in the 60's & 70's. I stumbled across it as I educated myself. Here we are in 2022. Nobody learned a thing. :(
I graduated high school in 99. I didn’t learn about the Japanese concentration camps until I took a WRITING class in college. Nothing was mentioned of it in any history class I took.
Learned about it in 5th grade in an advanced reading class with a few other kids.
"Interesting" that they didn't also round up anyone of German ancestry. Obviously German concentration camps were much worse but this was still a despicable thing to do, especially since they obviously knew what they were doing. Otherwise they wouldn't have impounded photos that made them look bad.
It's because they did this to take away money and resources from Japanese landowners and businesses.
Too many people would have to be rounded up if they wanted to do that.
It was only because a) the German Americans were far too numerous (today about 20% of White Americans have German ancestry, or about 50-60 million), so it was impossible to detain them all; and
b) the German Americans were white.
Yes, that's the harsh truth.
2:16
@@bibobeuba
Also most German-Americans denounced their ancestry during WW1 and even anglicized their names
I'm so glad I found this. It was a little difficult to watch, being a Japanese American myself, though from a younger generation, but it's a piece of history that I am glad to know more about. Thank you
Beautiful photographs honestly
The more I learn about American history, the more I realize that I don’t know more dark things about American history
its called war cupcake human rights go out the window during war when people are spooked about foreign spies
Don't forget china they were brutal to us they would run experiments on people from the war and see how far the human body can sustain pain so they would cut and cut with zero pain meads just to find out the limits of man.
Japenese history is worse
@@eduwino151 war is no excuse for putting your own citizens in concentration camps just because they're Asian.
I learned about this in 5th grade elementary and middle school
I've learned about this when I was in elementary, middle, and high school. It is quite haunting to learn about this tragedy. We even had someone invited to talk about what happened at Manzanar.
In every California school, this is very well taught.
Same with most American schools. Its the few thigns the school system does right.
Americas probably one of the few countries, where a military whistleblower, will receive military protection and eye-witness protection, despite being persecuted by the government.
I'm really surprised the government didn't destroy the photographs. Very glad they didn't. Very glad we can all see them now.
Mistake? No. Racism.
Dorothea Lange is one of my favourite artists, & this video shows part of why I love her work.
I learned of the American Japanese incarceration in school, in 7th grade in my US History class in 1998. Now in the year 2022, they don't teach it in school where I live which is where I grew up they just teach a test with the approved curriculum.
I don’t know that I believe it isn’t taught at all. It likely is just taught in another class. In the school I most recently taught at it was part of our Civics curriculum.
I also learned about it in 7th grade. But since then, the government mandated “Common Core” which changed the material they taught the kids
It wasn’t taught this in school I learned about this by finding it online
Thank you for understanding the difference between a concentration camp, labour camp, interment camp. Many here just don’t get it and use the terms wrongly. Greetings from Europe.
only slavery and the holocaust are taught nothing else
Great insightful video . A mentor of mine, the great Irish Japanese American UPA animator Teruaki "Jimmy" Murakami who animated on the world famous The Snowman and When the Wind Blows by Ronald Briggs, was incarcerated with his family (he was born in San Jose CA) in Tule Lake WRC (concentration camp). In 2010 he was the subject of a wonderful documentary called " Jimmy Murakami -Non Alien"...also a great insight into one child's traumatic experiences in one of these camps and how the mature artist reflected and used that period of their life to heal and exorcise that ghost.
This is an example of the failure of checks and balances. This should’ve clearly fell into judicial review and blocked. We should never repeat this mistake.
Also, the fact that these Japanese Americans families still remained loyal to the US just shows how they are great Americans.
This is the kind of stuff I wish we learned in school. We already know the grand brushstrokes of history. Focusing on the lesser-taught details is what truly paints a picture of our world
I’m gonna be completely honest, they do teach this in modern history classes
I recommend everyone after watching this video to listen to "Kenji" by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. Really great song that describes the story of his grandfather being deported to an Internment camp.