Life+in+Manzanar




 * Life in Manzanar**

On February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order No. 9066 giving the war department the authority to detain over 110,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans in relocation camps. Ten such camps were created one being The Manzanar War Relocation Center. Manzanar was opened on June 1, 1942 and would be home to over 11,000 people before its close in 1945. The camp consisted of 36 blocks of wooden barracks at the mercy of the elements. Each barrack was divided in to 20x25 living areas, the amount of space given to a family of four. People with larger families were allotted two such rooms.



Times in Manzanar were not always bleak however because of the hard work and ingenuity of the residents the camp they were able to retain some semblance of their life of the outside. By the close of camp in 1945 Manzanar had, an orphanage, newspaper, fire department, boy scout troop, teaching hospital and numerous parks. They also had many recreational events such as musical evenings and movies, living and working as a small town in the desert.



In September of 1945 Manzanar closed it’s doors for good and as per the agreement with the city of Los Angeles was dismantled. Manzanar did not open again until 2004 and this time it did so a museum and national park dedicated to the memory of the people who‘s lived there.





Pictures are from Ansel Adams and can be found [|here]

Quotes are from Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and http://www.cmdrmark.com/manzanar.html http://www.michaeldale.com/history/manzanar/

Facts and information were found http://www.cmdrmark.com/manzanar.html http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9173/manzanar.html http://www.michaeldale.com/history/manzanar/ http://www.classbrain.com/artteenst/publish/article_69.shtml


 * Anne Sullivan