Discover the History ofWWII Incarceration
120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. Learn about this unprecedented denial of civil liberties and why it still matters today.
Explore Personal Stories
Learn about Japanese American history and the legacy of WWII incarceration by exploring personal stories from those who lived through it.
Promote Equity Today
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Join us in putting the lessons of Japanese American WWII incarceration into action today.
Densho Catalyst: History, Essays, & Opinion
Dive into hidden histories and learn why these stories matter today with the latest essays and opinions from Densho and other community voices.
The Alien Enemies Act Paved the Way for Japanese American Incarceration. Let’s Keep It in the Past.
At a rally in Aurora, Colorado last week, former president and 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump made a disturbing promise to round up and deport millions of immigrants if elected....
Ask a Historian: Where Can I Find…
At Densho, we field a lot of questions about where to find various resources related to the Japanese American incarceration online. While some things can be found via your favorite...
Protecting Archival Materials from Fires, Floods and Other Disasters
After helping our neighbors at the Seattle Betsuin salvage archival materials damaged in a fire, Densho Archivist Micah Merryman took steps to level up Densho’s disaster preparedness and protect the...Upcoming Events
MOHAI Curator’s Fellowship: Forgotten Dolls, Remembered Stories
IN-PERSON EVENT
MOHAI’s Curator’s Fellowship invites community and academic historians to bring a new perspective to MOHAI’s extensive collections. 2024 Curator’s Fellow, Polly Yorioka, researched a collection of Japanese Boys’ and Girls’ dolls left behind after families were sent to incarceration camps. Left in the care of Bailey Gatzert Elementary, these dolls were never retrieved. Join Polly for a discussion on how these forgotten dolls help us remember the stories of identity and loss experienced by Japanese American children during WWII.
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Campu: A Podcast
Campu weaves together the voices of survivors to spin narratives out of the seemingly mundane things that gave shape to the incarceration experience: rocks, fences, food, paper. Follow along as hosts Hana and Noah Maruyama move far beyond the standard Japanese American incarceration 101 and into more intimate and lesser-known corners of this history.
Encyclopedia
Thousands of articles about the history of the Japanese American WWII exclusion and incarceration experience. Here are a few to get you started:
Documentary films/videos on incarceration
The following is an attempt at a comprehensive listing of documentary films/videos that include a significant treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, broken up into several broad categories.
Scene (magazine)
Japanese American pictorial monthly magazine that ran from 1949 to 1955. Largely produced by and for Nisei, Scene magazine highlighted "successful" Japanese Americans as well as Japanese culture.
Owens Valley (detention facility)
The Owens Valley Reception Center—later the Manzanar Reception Center—was the first of the WCCA -administered short-term detention camps to open when the first "volunteers" from the Los Angeles area arrived on March 21, 1942.