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A family eats in an Internment camp mess hall.
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A major permanent exhibit at JAMSJ is that which captures the mass removal and incarceration of some 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were citizens of the United States. These individuals were forcibly removed in 1942, and most were initially held in 16 temporary detention centers euphemistically called "assembly" centers. They were subsequently moved to 10 desolate permanent camps in the interior of the country. Most were detained in them until 1945.
The exhibit features an extensive collection of photographs, artwork, handicraft, and other artifacts from the camps, such as an actual wash basin, window, door and barbed wire from Tule Lake Segregation Center.
Former horse stalls were used to house Japanese Americans evicted from their
homes in San Francisco. Twenty-five stalls were condemned by San
Mateo County Health officials as unfit to live in, but they remained in use.
This drawing of a camp "wash room" by artist Estelle Ishigo shows the lack of privacy in the camps: the restroom stalls have no doors.
Heart Mountain Relocation Center.
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