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.
Importance of Accessibility at Historic Sites
In this guest contribution, historian and PhD student Selena Moon explores the importance of accessibility at historic sites, highlighting how many sites have been and continue to be inaccessible. She...
Educator Spotlight: Satsuki Ina
Dr. Satsuki Ina is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in community trauma and author of The Poet and the Silk Girl (2024). She helps victims of oppression to claim not only...
Remembering Kyoko Nancy Oda and Her Life’s Work
We are heartbroken by the passing of Kyoko Nancy Oda, a giant in the Nikkei community and one of our oral history narrators. Born at Tule Lake in 1945 to...Upcoming Events
One Book, One Coast: Zine-Making Workshop at Seattle Public Library
Join Densho for a zine-making workshop at the Seattle Public Library, part of their programming for One Book, One Coast. Designed for teens and adults, this event will include highlights from Densho's Digital Repository and an opportunity to create a zine. Participants will learn about Gidra, a zine created in 1969 by Asian American students at UCLA to reflect an identity influenced by the Black Power movement. Specifically, they will learn about Gidra’s liberatory concepts and focus on cross-community solidarity, labor movements, fights against displacement and gentrification, and centering the voices of communities of color. Participants will engage with the concepts shared in Gidra by creating their own artwork.
This workshop will run from 2 – 4:30 pm and will be located in the Level 4 - Room 1 of Seattle Public Library’s central library. This is a free event, but registration is required.
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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.