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{{Short description|World War II internment camp in California, US}}
{{About|the World War II internment camp|the former community in Owens Valley, California|Manzanar, California|other uses|Manzanar (disambiguation)}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                     = Manzanar War Relocation Center
| nrhp_type                = nhl
| nrhp_type2               = nhs
| image                    = Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Street scene of barrack homes... - NARA - 538128 - restored.png
| caption                  = A hot windstorm brings dust from the surrounding desert, July 3, 1942
| location                 = [[Inyo County, California]]
| nearest_city             = [[Independence, California]]
| coordinates              = {{coord|36|43|42|N|118|9|16|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin                 = California#USA
| area                     = {{convert|814|acre|ha}}
| built                    = 1942
| architect                =
| architecture             =
| added                    = July 30, 1976<ref name="NRHP">{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/management/statistics.htm | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: Park Statistics (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service | access-date=February 3, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212074705/http://home.nps.gov/manz/parkmgmt/statistics.htm | archive-date=February 12, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref>
| designated_nrhp_type=February 4, 1985<ref name="NHL">{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ca/CA.pdf |title=National Historic Landmarks Program – National Park Service: Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State |access-date=June 1, 2017 |publisher=National Park Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307000431/http://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ca/CA.pdf |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| designated_nrhp_type2=March 3, 1992<ref name="Legislation">{{cite web | title=H.R.543 – Japanese American National Historic Landmark Theme Study Act | url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/house-bill/543 | access-date=February 25, 2013 | date=March 3, 1992 | publisher=U.S. Congress }}</ref>
| designated_other1        = California
| designated_other1_date   = 1972<ref name="Reflections19">Embrey (1998), p. 19.</ref><ref name="CA-OHP">{{cite web | url=http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21422 | title=California Historical Landmarks – Inyo County | publisher=California State Parks, Office of Historical Preservation, State of California | access-date=February 27, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401122915/http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21422 | archive-date=April 1, 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref>
| designated_other1_number = 850
| designated_other2        = LAHCM
| designated_other2_date   = September 15, 1976<ref name="LAHCM_list">{{cite web | title=Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) List: City Declared Monuments | publisher=City of Los Angeles, Office of Historical Resources, Cultural Heritage Commission | url=http://preservation.lacity.org/files/HCMDatabase%23072213_0.pdf | date=July 22, 2013 | access-date=February 3, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804175350/http://preservation.lacity.org/files/HCMDatabase | archive-date=August 4, 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref>
| designated_other2_number = 160
| visitation_num           = 97,382<ref name="ManzanarVisitation">{{cite web | title=Manzanar NHS | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSReports/Park%20Specific%20Reports/Recreation%20Visitors%20By%20Month%20(1979%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year)?Park=MANZ | year=2020 | access-date=January 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421233833/https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/Park%20Specific%20Reports/Recreation%20Visitors%20By%20Month%20(1979%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year)?Park=MANZ | archive-date=April 21, 2020 | url-status=live }}</ref>
| visitation_year          = 2019
| website                  = [https://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm Manzanar National Historic Site]
| refnum                   = 76000484
}}

'''Manzanar''' is the site of [[Internment of Japanese Americans#WRA Relocation Centers|one of ten]] American [[concentration camp]]s,<!-- Please discuss and obtain consensus on the talk page before changing terminology. Also, please see Terminology section below. --> where more than 120,000 [[Japanese Americans]] were [[Internment of Japanese Americans|incarcerated during World War II]], from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, Manzanar was one of the smaller internment camps. It is located in California's [[Owens Valley]], on the eastern side of the [[Sierra Nevada]] mountains, between the towns of [[Lone Pine, California|Lone Pine]] to the south and [[Independence, California|Independence]] to the north, approximately {{convert|230|mi|km}} north of Los Angeles. Manzanar means "apple orchard" in Spanish. The '''Manzanar National Historic Site''', which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States [[National Park Service]] as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites.

The first Japanese Americans arrived at Manzanar in March 1942, just one month after President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] signed [[Executive Order 9066]], to build the camp their families would be staying in. Manzanar was in operation as an internment camp from 1942 until 1945.<ref>104</ref> Since the last of those incarcerated left in 1945, former detainees and others have worked to protect Manzanar and to establish it as a [[National Historic Site (United States)|National Historic Site]] to ensure that the history of the site, along with the stories of those who were incarcerated there, is recorded for current and future generations. The primary focus is the [[Japanese American internment|Japanese American incarceration]] era, as specified in the legislation that created the Manzanar National Historic Site. The site also interprets the former town of Manzanar, the ranch days, the settlement by the [[Mono people|Owens Valley Paiute]], and the role that water played in shaping the history of the Owens Valley.
[[File:Manzanar Entrance.jpg|thumb|View of original entrance to Manzanar internment camp, November 2024]]

== Background ==
[[File:LAAqueductUnlined2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Aqueduct (water supply)#Open channels|Unlined]] section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, just south of Manzanar near [[U.S. Route 395 in California|U.S. Route 395]], 2007]]
Manzanar was first inhabited by [[Native Americans in the United States|Indigenous Americans]] nearly 10,000 years ago.<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture"/> Approximately 1,500 years ago, the area was settled by the [[Owens Valley]] Paiute,<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: History & Culture (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/index.htm | access-date=April 12, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212104204/http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/index.htm | archive-date=February 12, 2015 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Steward">{{cite journal | last=Steward | first=Julian H | title=Ethnography Of The Owens Valley Paiute | journal=University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology | volume=33 | issue=3 | pages=233–250 | year=1933 | url=http://users.lmi.net/kstewart/texts/ovp/ovp.pdf | access-date=May 2, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717182122/http://users.lmi.net/kstewart/texts/ovp/ovp.pdf | archive-date=July 17, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> who ranged across the Owens Valley from [[Long Valley Caldera|Long Valley]] on the north to [[Owens Lake]] on the south, and from the crest of the Sierra Nevada on the west to the [[Inyo Mountains]] on the east.<ref name="ThreeFarewells151">Burton (1996), p. 151.</ref> When [[European American]] settlers first arrived in the Owens Valley in the mid-19th century, they found a number of large Paiute villages in the Manzanar area.<ref name="ThreeFarewells2">Burton (1996), p. 2.</ref> John Shepherd, one of the first of the new settlers, homesteaded {{convert|160|acre|ha}} of land {{convert|3|mi|0}} north of Georges Creek in 1864. With the help of Owens Valley Paiute field workers and laborers,<ref name="Shepherd">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site – Miners and Homesteaders (U.S. National Park Service) | url=https://home.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/miners-and-homesteaders.htm | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | access-date=July 26, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109065401/http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/miners-and-homesteaders.htm | archive-date=November 9, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref> he expanded his ranch to {{convert|2000|acre|ha}}.<ref name="ThreeFarewells2–3">Burton (1996), pp. 2–3.</ref>

In 1905, [[George Chaffey]], an agricultural developer from [[Southern California]], purchased Shepherd's ranch and subdivided it, along with other adjacent ranches. He founded the town of Manzanar in 1910,<ref name="Chaffey">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site – Orchard Community (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/orchard-community.htm | access-date=July 26, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109065407/http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/orchard-community.htm | archive-date=November 9, 2007 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ThreeFarewells3">Burton (1996), p. 3.</ref> along the main line of the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]].<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/74271538/?terms=Manzanar |title= Topmost Prices for Owens Valley Apples |work= Santa Ana Register |date= March 1, 1913 |access-date= June 14, 2020 | page= 10 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> By August 1911, the town's population was approaching 200.<ref name=TheThousand>{{cite news |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/380254593/?terms=Manzanar |title= The Thousand Wonders of Productive Owens Valley; Manzanar |work= Los Angeles Times |date= August 13, 1911|at= image 88, column 5, page 10 |via= newspapers.com}}</ref> The company built an irrigation system over an area of {{convert|1000|acre|ha}} and planted about 20,000 fruit trees.<ref name="Chaffey" /><ref name=TheThousand/> By 1920, the town had more than 25&nbsp;homes, a [[two-room schoolhouse|two-room school]], a town hall, and a general [[Retail store|store]].<ref name="ThreeFarewells3" /> Also at that time, nearly {{convert|5000|acre|ha}} of apple, pear, and peach trees were under cultivation; along with crops of grapes, prunes, potatoes, corn and alfalfa; and large vegetable and flower gardens.<ref name="Chaffey" /><ref name="DeBoer">{{cite journal | last=DeBoer | first=Lucille | title=Following Manzanar: A Life Story | journal=The Album, Times & Tales of Inyo-Mono | year=1993 | url=http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/stories2/manzanar_town.pdf | access-date=July 26, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031103658/http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/stories2/manzanar_town.pdf | archive-date=October 31, 2007 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

As early as March 1905, the City of Los Angeles began acquiring [[water rights]] in the Owens Valley.<ref name="Smith192">Smith & Bateman (1978), p. 192.</ref><ref name="TEDCases">{{cite journal | last=Neal | first=Kevin | title=TED Case Studies: The Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Owens and Mono Lakes (MONO Case) | journal=TED Case Studies | volume=7 | issue=1 | pages=4–6 | date=January 1997 | url=http://www.american.edu/TED/mono.htm | access-date=July 23, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926060922/http://www1.american.edu/TED/mono.htm | archive-date=September 26, 2009 | url-status=live |publisher= American University }}</ref> In 1913, it completed construction of its {{convert|233|mi|km|0|adj=on}} [[Los Angeles Aqueduct]],<ref name="DWP-AqueductHistFacts">{{cite web | title=Facts and History: The Story of the Los Angeles Aqueduct | url=https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/aboutus/a-water/a-w-losangelesaqueduct/a-w-laa-factsandhistory | publisher=Los Angeles Department of Water and Power | access-date=October 1, 2017}}</ref> In dry years, Los Angeles pumped ground water and drained all surface water, diverting all of it into its aqueduct and leaving Owens Valley ranchers without water.<ref name="Smith 196">Smith & Bateman (1978), p. 196.</ref> Without water for irrigation, the holdout ranchers were forced off their ranches and out of their communities; that included the town of Manzanar, which was abandoned by 1929.<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture" /> Manzanar remained uninhabited until the [[United States Army]] leased {{convert|6200|acre|ha}} from the City of Los Angeles for the Manzanar War Relocation Center.<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture" />

== Establishment ==
[[File:Yuki-Okinaga-Hayakawa-1942-Clem-Albers.jpg|thumb|Two-year-old [[Yuki Okinaga Llewellyn|Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa]] waits at [[Union Station (Los Angeles)|Union Station]] for the train taking her and her mother to Manzanar (April 1942)<ref>{{cite news |last=Marble |first=Steve |date=July 17, 2020 |title=Yuki Llewellyn, a child of Manzanar whose image touched America, dies at 80|url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-07-17/yuki-llewellyn-manzanar-photo-union-station-world-war-ii-dead |url-status=live |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719045954/https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-07-17/yuki-llewellyn-manzanar-photo-union-station-world-war-ii-dead |archive-date=July 19, 2020 |access-date=October 16, 2020}}</ref>]]
[[File:MANZ entrance,-adams.JPG|thumb|right|Wooden sign at entrance to the Manzanar War Relocation Center]]
After the December 7, 1941, [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the United States Government swiftly moved to begin solving the "[[Japanese Problem]]" on the West Coast of the United States.<ref name="Reflections2">Embrey (1998), p. 2.</ref> In the evening hours of that same day, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) arrested selected "enemy [[alien (law)|aliens]]", including more than 5,500 [[Issei]] men.<ref name="DenshoAboutIncarceration">{{cite web | title=About The Incarceration | publisher=[[Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project]] | url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/history | year=2017 | access-date=June 1, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527212300/http://encyclopedia.densho.org/history/ | archive-date=May 27, 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref> Many citizens in California were alarmed about potential activities by people of Japanese descent even if the families have been in America for generations.<ref name="smithsonian mag 20180119">{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/great-los-angeles-air-raid-terrified-citizenseven-though-no-bombs-were-dropped-180967890/ |title=The Great Los Angeles Air Raid Terrified Citizens&nbsp;– Even Though No Bombs Were Dropped |first=Lorraine |last=Boissoneault |date=January 19, 2018 |work=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-date=September 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929062023/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/great-los-angeles-air-raid-terrified-citizenseven-though-no-bombs-were-dropped-180967890/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

On February 19, 1942, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] signed [[Executive Order 9066]], which authorized the [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] to designate military commanders to prescribe military areas and to exclude "any or all persons" from such areas. The order also authorized the construction of what were later called "relocation centers" by the [[War Relocation Authority]] (WRA), to house those who were to be excluded.<ref name="Reflections3">Embrey (1998), p. 3.</ref> This order resulted in the forced relocation of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were native-born [[United States nationality law|American citizens]]; the rest had been prevented from becoming citizens by federal law.<ref name="nakanishi 2003">Nakanishi (2003).</ref><ref name="AAPacificNorthwest">{{cite web | work=Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest | title=History of Washington State & The Pacific Northwest: Lesson 22: Asian Americans and the Modern Pacific Northwest | url=http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2022/22.html | publisher=University of Washington | date=July 1998 | access-date=December 28, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711010751/http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2022/22.html | archive-date=July 11, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> Over 110,000 were incarcerated in [[Internment of Japanese Americans#WRA Relocation Centers|ten concentration camps]] located far inland and away from the coast.<ref name="DenshoAboutIncarceration" />

Manzanar was the first of the ten concentration camps to be established,<ref name="Reflections15">Embrey (1998), p. 15.</ref> and began accepting detainees in March 1942.<ref name="JACLPOw">{{cite web | publisher=National JACL Power of Words II Committee | title=Power of Words Handbook: A Guide to Language about Japanese Americans in World War II – Understanding Euphemisms and Preferred Terminology | url=https://jacl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Power-of-Words-Rev.-Term.-Handbook.pdf | date=April 27, 2013 | access-date=October 11, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715002655/https://jacl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Power-of-Words-Rev.-Term.-Handbook.pdf | archive-date=July 15, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nps japanese americans manzanar">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm |title=Japanese Americans at Manzanar |date=May 22, 2020 |publisher= National Park Service|access-date=June 2, 2020 |archive-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428031604/https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Initially, it was a temporary "reception center", known as the ''Owens Valley Reception Center'' from March 21, 1942, to May 31, 1942.<ref name="Reflections15" /><ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="hansen 52">Hansen, p. 52.</ref> At that time, it was operated by the US Army's Wartime Civilian Control Administration (WCCA).<ref name="hansen 52"/><ref name="CAE162">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 162.</ref> 
The first director of the camp was [[Calvin E. Triggs]], a longtime veteran of the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), a signature program of the [[Second New Deal]]. Many of his fellow employees had worked in that agency. Manzanar, according to one insider, was "manned just about 100% by the WPA."   Drawing on experiences derived from New Deal era road building, Triggs, funded primarily through the WPA, supervised the installation of such features as guard towers and spotlights.<ref>{{cite book | last=Beito | first=David T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kjvazwEACAAJ|title=The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance | edition=First | pages=182–183| location=Oakland | publisher=Independent Institute | year=2023 | isbn=978-1598133561}}</ref>

The Owens Valley Reception Center was transferred to the WRA on June 1, 1942, and officially became the "Manzanar War Relocation Center".<ref name="hansen 52"/> The first Japanese Americans to arrive at Manzanar were volunteers who helped build the camp. By mid–April, up to 1,000 Japanese Americans were arriving daily, and by July, the population of the camp neared 10,000.<ref name="CAE162–163">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), pp. 162–163.</ref> About 90 percent of the incarcerated were from the Los Angeles area,<ref name="hansen 52"/> with the rest coming from [[Stockton, California|Stockton]], [[California]]; and [[Bainbridge Island]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]].<ref name="CAE162–163" /> Many were farmers<ref name="heitz 3"/> and fishermen. Manzanar held 10,046 adults and children at its peak, and a total of 11,070 were incarcerated there.<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture" /><ref name="nps manzanar daily life">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/dailyLife.html |title=Daily Life |access-date=June 2, 2020 |work=Manzanar National Historic Site |archive-date=March 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311095429/https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/dailyLife.html |url-status=live |publisher= National Park Service}}</ref>

== Camp conditions and facilities ==

=== Climate and location ===
[[File:Barrack Row.jpg|thumb|right|Barrack row looking west to the desert and mountains beyond (July 2, 1942)]]
The Manzanar facility was located between [[Lone Pine, California|Lone Pine]] and [[Independence, California|Independence]].<ref name="hansen 52"/> The weather at Manzanar caused suffering for the inmates, few of whom were accustomed to the extremes of the area's climate.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life"/> While the majority of people were from the Los Angeles area, some were from places with much different climates (such as [[Bainbridge Island]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington]]).<ref name="heitz 2019">Heitz (2019).</ref> The temporary buildings were inadequate to shield people from the weather. The Owens Valley lies at an elevation of about {{convert|4000|ft|m}}.<ref name="ManzanarWeather">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site – Weather (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/weather.htm | date=July 26, 2006 | access-date=August 4, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109065434/http://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/weather.htm | archive-date=November 9, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Summers on the desert floor of the Owens Valley are generally hot, with temperatures often exceeding {{convert|100|°F|°C}}.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life"/><ref name="ManzanarWeather" /> Winters bring occasional snowfall and daytime temperatures that often drop into the {{convert|40|°F|°C}} range.<ref name="ManzanarWeather" /> At night, temperatures are generally {{convert|30|to|40|F-change}} lower than the daytime highs, and high winds are common day or night.<ref name="CAE162" /><ref name="ManzanarWeather" />

The area's mean annual precipitation is barely {{convert|5|in|cm|spell=in}}. The ever-present dust was a continual problem due to the frequent high winds; so much so that people usually woke up in the morning covered from head to toe with a fine layer of dust, and they constantly had to sweep dirt out of the barracks.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life"/><ref name="Reflections8">Embrey (1998), p. 8.</ref>

"In the summer, the heat was unbearable," said former Manzanar inmate [[Ralph Lazo]]. "In the winter, the sparsely rationed oil didn't adequately heat the tar paper-covered pine barracks with knotholes in the floor. The wind would blow so hard, it would toss rocks around."<ref name="latimes 20070527">{{cite news | last=Rasmussen | first=Cecilia | title=Following His Beliefs Led Him To Manzanar | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=May 27, 2007 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-27-me-then27-story.html | access-date=September 16, 2008 | page=B2 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323033715/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/27/local/me-then27 | archive-date=March 23, 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Camp layout and facilities ===
[[File:Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. A typical interior scene in one of the barrack ap . . . - NARA - 538136.jpg|thumb|right|Typical barrack apartments with cloth partitions between units (June 30, 1942)]]

The camp site was situated on {{convert|6200|acre|ha}} at Manzanar, leased from the City of Los Angeles,<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture" /> with the developed portion covering approximately {{convert|540|acre|ha}}.<ref name="CAE163">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 163.</ref> Eight guard towers equipped with machine guns were located at intervals around the perimeter fence, which was topped by barbed wire.<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007">Colborn-Roxworthy (2007).</ref> The grid layout used in the camp was standard, and a similar layout was used in all of the relocation centers.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

The residential area was about one square mile (2.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), and consisted of 36 blocks of hastily constructed,<ref name="JAsAtManzanar">{{cite web | work=Manzanar National Historic Site |title= Japanese Americans at Manzanar | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm | access-date=November 18, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420132241/http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm | archive-date=April 20, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> {{convert|20|by|100|ft|m|adj=on}} tarpaper barracks, with each family (up to eight people) living in a single {{convert|20|by|25|ft|m|adj=on}} "apartment" in the barracks.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/campLife.html |title=Camp Life |access-date=June 2, 2020 |work=Manzanar National Historic Site |publisher= National Park Service |archive-date=March 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311095423/https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/campLife.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, a Manzanar survivor, described the living conditions in her book: "After dinner we were taken to Block 16, a cluster of fifteen barracks that had just been finished a day or so earlier—although finished was hardly a word for it. The shacks were built of pine planking covered with tarpaper. They sat on concrete footings, with about two feet of open space between the floorboards and the ground. Gaps showed between the planks, and as the weeks passed and the green wood dried out, the gaps widened. Knotholes gaped in the uncovered floor."<ref name="WakatsukiHouston">Wakatsuki Houston & Houston (1983) [1973.</ref>{{rp|page=18}} In the book, she goes on to explain the size and layout of the barracks. They were divided into six units that were sixteen long by twenty feet wide, and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. They had an oil stove for heat as well as two army blankets each, some mattress covers and steel army cots.<ref name="WakatsukiHouston" />

These apartments consisted of partitions with no ceilings, eliminating any chance of privacy.<ref name="Reflections16">Embrey (1998), p. 16.</ref><ref name="CAE167">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 167.</ref> Lack of privacy was a major problem, especially since the camp had communal men's and women's latrines.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="CAE167" /> Former Manzanar inmate Rosie Kakuuchi said that the communal facilities were "[o]ne of the hardest things to endure", adding that neither the latrines nor showers had partitions or stalls.<ref name="JAsAtManzanar" />

Each residential block also had a communal mess hall (large enough to serve 300 people at one time),<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/><ref name="kikuchi memories 2007 npr"/> a laundry room, a recreation hall, an ironing room, and a heating oil storage tank, although Block&nbsp;33 lacked a recreation hall.<ref name="CAE167" /> In addition to the residential blocks, Manzanar had 34 blocks that had staff housing, camp administration offices, two warehouses, a garage, a camp hospital, and 24 firebreaks.<ref name="CAE163" />

The camp had school facilities, a high-school auditorium (that was also used as a theatre),<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> staff housing, chicken and hog farms, churches, a cemetery, a post office, a hospital, an orphanage, two community latrines, an outdoor theater, and other necessary amenities that one would expect to find in most American cities.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="Reflections16" /> Some of the facilities{{which|date=January 2024}} were not built until after the camp had been operating for a while.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/> The camp perimeter had eight watchtowers manned by armed [[military police]], and it was enclosed by five-strand barbed wire. There were sentry posts at the main entrance.<ref name="CAE163" /><ref name="Reflections16" /> Many of the camp administration staff lived inside the fence at the camp, though the military police lived outside the fence.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

=== Commercial facilities ===
{{see also|Manzanar Guayule Project}}

Typical businesses such as a cooperative store and other shops and a camp newspaper were operated by the internees.<ref name="Reflections16" /> A camouflage net factory, to provide the nets to various military units, was operated on the site.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="DenshoManzanar"/> An experimental plantation for producing [[natural rubber]] from the [[Guayule]] plant was built and operated.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="DenshoManzanar"/>

Before a hospital was built, doctors in the camp faced many difficulties, including treating internees for diseases such as measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, and diarrhea.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> Treatment facilities were often the barracks, which did not include running water or heating.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> Once the Manzanar Hospital was built, it included a kitchen, operating rooms, treatment wards, laboratories, and other facilities.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> All medical treatment in Manzanar was provided at no charge.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/>

[[Manzanar Children's Village]], an orphanage housing 101 Japanese-American orphans from June 1942 to September 1945, operated within the camp.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="DenshoManzanar">{{cite web | title=Sites of Shame: Manzanar | publisher=Densho | url=http://www.densho.org/sitesofshame/facilities.xml | access-date=April 23, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405213033/http://www.densho.org/sitesofshame/facilities.xml | archive-date=April 5, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref> Children incarcerated there were from multiple orphanages in the Los Angeles area as well as locations in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.<ref name="Densho-MCV">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Manzanar%20Children's%20Village/|title=Manzanar Children's Village|first=Catherine |last=Irwin |encyclopedia=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref> Infants born to unmarried mothers in other [[War Relocation Authority|WRA]] camps were also sent to Children's Village over the next three years.<ref name="Tawa">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-11-mn-37002-story.html|title=Childhood Lost: The Orphans of Manzanar|first=Renee |last=Tawa |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date= March 11, 1997}}</ref>

The 61 remaining children in Maryknoll, Shonien and the Salvation Army Home were slated for removal. On June 23, 1942, they were bused, under armed guard, with several adult caretakers, from Los Angeles to Manzanar.<ref name='Densho-MCV'/> Over the next few months, approximately thirty more children from Washington, Oregon and Alaska, mostly orphans who had been living with non-Japanese foster families, would arrive in Manzanar.

== Life in camp ==
{{See also|Japanese American internment#Conditions in the camps|l1=Japanese American internment: Conditions in the camps|List of inmates of Manzanar}}
After being uprooted from their homes and communities, the incarcerated people had to endure primitive, sub-standard conditions<ref name="JAsAtManzanar" /> and lack of privacy. They had to wait in line for meals, at latrines, and at the laundry room.<ref name="Reflections7">Embrey (1998), p. 7.</ref> Each camp was intended to be self-sufficient, and Manzanar was no exception.<ref name="heitz 4"/> Cooperatives operated various services, such as the camp newspaper,<ref name="FreePress">{{cite web | work=Manzanar National Historic Site |title= Manzanar Free Press Index | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/mfpindex.htm | year=2004 | access-date=April 18, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109065356/http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/mfpindex.htm | archive-date=November 9, 2007 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Newspapers-LATimes">{{cite news | last=Chawkins | first=Steve | title=Barbed Wire And Free Press | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-03-me-internment3-story.html | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=May 3, 2007 | access-date=June 28, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013063721/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/03/local/me-internment3 | archive-date=October 13, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="DenshoNewspapers">{{cite web | last=Takeya | first=Mizuno | title=Newspapers In Camp | publisher=Densho | url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Newspapers_in_camp | access-date=October 1, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002022644/http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Newspapers_in_camp/ | archive-date=October 2, 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref> beauty salons and barber shops, shoe repair, libraries, and more.<ref name="Reflections7" /><ref name="loc hartsell 20180517"/> In addition, there were some who raised chickens, hogs, and vegetables, and cultivated the existing orchards for fruit.<ref name="Reflections7" /> During the time Manzanar was in operation, 188 weddings were held, 541 children were born in the camp, and between 135 and 146 individuals died.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="IReiTo5"/>

Life in the camp became more difficult as sickness spread throughout it. The housing sector of the camp was just 500 acres and held more than ten thousand prisoners at its peak. The compactness of the camp led many people to fall ill even though they were given vaccines upon arrival to the camp. The water at Manzanar was unclean, and caused many inmates to suffer from dysentery.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Some of those interned at the camp supported the policies implemented by the [[War Relocation Authority]], causing them to be targeted by others in the camp.<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705"/> On December 6, 1942, a [[#Manzanar Riot|riot broke out]] and two internees were killed. [[Togo Tanaka]] was one of those targeted, but he escaped by disguising himself and mingling into the crowd that was searching for him.<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705"/> Others were outraged that their patriotism was being questioned simply because of their ethnic heritage.<ref name="heitz 2019"/> Despite the hardships endured, the internees gradually "turned [the] concentration camp into a community" by "[spending] their days creating beautiful things".<ref name="heitz 3">Quote from H. Umemoto in a 2014 interview by Heitz, p. 3.</ref>

=== Food ===
[[File:Mess Hall Line.jpg|thumb|right|Waiting for lunch outside a mess hall at noon on July 7, 1942]]
The barracks at Manzanar had no cooking areas, and all meals were served at block mess halls.<ref name="nps manzanar daily life"/> The mess hall lines were long and stretched outside regardless of weather.<ref name="nps manzanar daily life"/><ref name="kikuchi memories 2007 npr"/> The cafeteria-style eating was named by the 1980s Congressional Committee on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) as a cause of the deterioration of the family due to children wanting to eat with their friends instead of their families, and families not always being able to eat together.<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/><ref name="heitz 2019"/> There was a strict meal schedule, with one young detainee noting "We eat from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM o'clock in the morning 12:00 PM-1:00 PM in afternoon and 5:00 PM-6:00 in night and on Sunday we eat 8:00 AM-9:00."<ref>{{cite journal | title=Letter from Yoshi Sugiyama to Claire D. Sprauge, June 5, 1942 | url=https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/sprague/10/ | journal=Claire B. Sprague Collection | date=June 5, 1942 | access-date=February 19, 2021| last1=Sugiyama | first1=Yoshi }}</ref> Food at Manzanar was based on military requirements. Meals usually consisted of hot rice and vegetables, since meat was scarce due to [[rationing]].<ref name="Reflections7" />

In 1944, a chicken ranch and a hog farm began operation, providing the camp with meat.<ref name="CAE171"/> As many of the internees were farmers, they used their knowledge of fertilizers, irrigation, land reclamation, and cultivation to successfully grow productive gardens.<ref name="heitz 3"/> They made their own [[soy sauce]] and [[tofu]].<ref name="Reflections7" /> Many families had small gardens outside their barracks.<ref name="heitz 4">Heitz, p. 4.</ref>

The food varied in quality, but was mostly substandard compared to the food the internees ate prior to incarceration.<ref name="caam kim food 20170213">{{cite web |url=https://caamedia.org/offthemenu/2017/02/13/victory-gardens-behind-barbed-wire-japanese-americans-recall-eating-in-camp/ |title=Victory Gardens Behind Barbed Wire: Japanese Americans Recall Eating In Camp |first=Heidi |last=Kim |date=February 13, 2017 |publisher=Center for Asian American Media |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-date=March 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316205447/https://caamedia.org/offthemenu/2017/02/13/victory-gardens-behind-barbed-wire-japanese-americans-recall-eating-in-camp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Togo Tanaka]] described how people "got sick from eating ill-prepared food."<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705"/> Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga described trying to take care of her newborn daughter, saying that the child was so sick that, while "[m]ost infants double their weight, birth weight, at six months", her daughter "had not doubled her weight in a year".<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/>

The food in Manzanar was heavily [[Starch#Food|starchy]] and low quality, including [[Vienna sausage#North America|Vienna sausages]], canned [[Green bean|string beans]], [[Hot dog#In the United States|hot dogs]], and [[apple sauce]].<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/> Outside of the sausages and hot dogs, meat was rare, usually consisting of chicken or mutton that was heavily breaded and fried.<ref name="kikuchi memories 2007 npr">{{cite AV media |first=Frank |last=Kikuchi |year=2007 |title=Frank Kikuchi Describes the Food at the Manzanar Camp in California |url=https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17335538/17358613 |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605232228/https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17335538/17358613 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |format=audio |time=0:18–0:59 |publisher=[[NPR]] }}</ref> Frank Kikuchi, an internee at Manzanar, stated that some of the newspapers lied to the American public by telling them that the "Japs [in the camps] are getting steaks, chops, eggs, or eating high off the hog."<ref name="kikuchi memories 2007 npr"/> Camp, school, and individual gardens eventually helped supplement the menu in the mess halls.<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/> Internees also snuck out of the camp to go fishing, often bringing back their catches to the camp.<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/>

[[Harry Ueno]] accused camp administrators and leaders in the [[Japanese American Citizens League]] (JACL) of stealing food meant for the internees and then selling it on the [[black market]].<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/> During the [[#Manzanar Riot|December 1942 camp riot]], Ueno was arrested for allegedly beating another internee who was a member of the JACL.

=== Employment ===
[[File:Ansel Adams - Farm workers and Mt. Williamson.jpg|thumb|right|Farm workers at Manzanar, 1943 by [[Ansel Adams]]]]
Most of the adults were employed at Manzanar to keep the camp running.<ref name="nps manzanar daily life"/> In order for the camps to be self-sufficient, the adults were employed in a variety of jobs to supply the camp and the military.<ref name="nps manzanar work">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/work.html |title=Work |work=Manzanar National Historic Site |publisher= National Park Service |access-date=June 2, 2020 |archive-date=March 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311095646/https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/work.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Jobs included clothing and furniture manufacturing, farming and tending orchards, military manufacturing such as camouflage netting and experimental rubber, teaching, civil service jobs such as police, fire fighters, and nursing, and general service jobs operating stores, beauty parlors, and a bank.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/>

A farm and orchards provided vegetables and fruits for use by the camp,<ref name="nps japanese americans manzanar"/> and people of all ages worked to maintain them.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> By the summer of 1943, camp gardens and farms were producing potatoes, onions, cucumbers, Chinese cabbage, watermelon, eggplant, tomatoes, aster, red radishes, and peppers.<ref name="heitz 4"/> Eventually, there were more than 400 acres of farms producing more than 80 percent of the produce used by the camp.<ref name="heitz 4"/> In early 1944, a chicken ranch began operation, and in late April of the same year, the camp opened a hog farm. Both operations provided welcome meat supplements to the diet.<ref name="CAE171">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 171.</ref>

Shortly after being interned, [[Togo Tanaka]] and Joe Masaoka were hired by anthropologist [[Robert Redfield]] as documentary historians for the camp.<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705"/><ref name="1973 interview calstate fullerton">{{cite web |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft0p30026h&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text
|title=An Interview with Togo W. Tanaka |author1-first=Betty E. |author1-last=Mitson |author2-first=David A. |author2-last=Hacker |editor-first=Arthur A. |editor-last=Hansen |date=May 19, 1973 |publisher=[[California State University, Fullerton]] |page=125 |access-date=June 3, 2020 |archive-date=June 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603023355/http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft0p30026h&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Niiya">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Niiya |first=Brian |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Togo%20Tanaka/ |title=Togo Tanaka |encyclopedia=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref> In addition to his work at the ''[[#Manzanar Free Press|Manzanar Free Press]]'', he filed hundreds of reports to the WRA that often criticized those in charge at the camp and the living conditions in the camp.<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705"/>

Unskilled workers earned [[United States dollar|US$]]8 per month (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|8|1942|r=1}}}} per month as of {{inflation/year|US}}), semi-skilled workers earned $12 per month (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|12|1942|r=0}}}} per month as of {{inflation/year|US}}), skilled workers made $16 per month (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|16|1942|r=0}}}} per month as of {{inflation/year|US}}), and professionals earned $19 per month (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|19|1942|r=0}}}} per month as of {{inflation/year|US}}).<ref name="nps japanese americans manzanar"/> In addition, everybody received $3.60 per month (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|3.6|1942|r=0}}}} per month as of {{inflation/year|US}}) as a clothing allowance.<ref name="Reflections7" />

=== ''Manzanar Free Press'' ===
[[File:Manzanar Free Press (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Roy Takeno reading a copy of the ''Manzanar Free Press'' in front of the newspaper's office in the camp]]
The ''Manzanar Free Press'' was first published April 11, 1942, and was published through the October 19, 1945, issue.<ref name="loc ca manzanar free press about">{{cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025948/ |title=About Manzanar free press. [volume] (Manzanar, Calif.) 1942–1945 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=June 2, 2020}}</ref> It was published with both Japanese and English sections, with the Japanese section added on July 14, 1942.<ref name="loc ca manzanar free press about"/><ref name="densho manzanar free press"/> Between the first issue and the May 31, 1942, issue, it was published at the Manzanar Assembly Center, which was operated by the [[Wartime Civil Control Administration]]. After that, it was published at the Manzanar Relocation Center until it ceased publication.<ref name="loc manzanar free press archive">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84025948/?st=calendar |title=Manzanar Free Press (Manzanar, Calif.) 1942–1945 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=June 2, 2020}}</ref>

The paper was originally published as four pages biweekly which were hand-typed and [[mimeograph]]ed.<ref name="densho manzanar free press"/> The circulation increased as the number of people in the camp grew, the release increased to three issues weekly, and a printing press was acquired, allowing the paper to be typeset beginning on July 22, 1942.<ref name="densho manzanar free press"/> The page count also increased to six.<ref name="densho manzanar free press"/>

Journalists who reported for the newspaper include [[Togo Tanaka]], who was the English section editor of the ''[[Rafu Shimpo]]'' before being incarcerated.<ref name="densho manzanar free press"/> Tanaka also delivered the ''Free Press'' before becoming a journalist for them.<ref name="1973 interview calstate fullerton"/> While working as a reporter for the ''Free Press'', Tanaka wrote hundreds of articles documenting the everyday life in the camp.<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705">{{cite web|last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-togo-tanaka5-2009jul05,0,7479353.story |title=Togo W. Tanaka dies at 93; journalist documented life at Manzanar internment camp |date=July 5, 2009 |work= [[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=June 2, 2020}}</ref> Beginning on July 22, 1942, [[Chiye Mori]], poet and journalist, was listed as an editor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chiye Mori {{!}} Densho Encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Chiye%20Mori |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=encyclopedia.densho.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=Jul 30, 1942 |title=Japanese evacuees publish own paper: contingent at Manzanar, Calif., conduct new enterprise |page=10 |work=[[New York Times]] |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/106266237|id={{ProQuest|106266237}} }}</ref>

Despite the name of the newspaper, the [[War Relocation Authority]] (WRA) controlled the content of the paper and used it to publish announcements from the camp administration, news from other camps, orders, rules and guidelines from the WRA, and upcoming camp events, in addition to the regular content.<ref name="densho manzanar free press">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Manzanar_Free_Press_(newspaper)/ |title=Manzanar Free Press (newspaper) |last=Wakida |first=Patricia |encyclopedia=[[Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project|Densho Encyclopedia]] |date=January 16, 2018 |access-date=June 2, 2020}}</ref> Some content{{which|date=January 2024}} was not allowed to be published.<ref name="bahr unquiet nisei 2007">Bahr (2007).</ref> The standard content included articles about life in the camps, sports scores and coverage, coverage of the war, and so on.<ref name="loc hartsell 20180517"/><ref name="densho manzanar free press"/>

=== Recreation ===
[[File:Ansel Adams, Baseball game at Manzanar, 1943.jpg|thumb|right|A [[baseball]] game at Manzanar, 1943]]
People made life at Manzanar more tolerable through recreation. They participated in sports, including [[baseball]], [[American football|football]], [[basketball]], [[Association football|soccer]], [[volleyball]], [[softball]], and [[martial arts]].<ref name="Reflections8" /><ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/><ref name="loc hartsell 20180517"/> A nine-hole golf course was built at the camp.<ref name="Reflections7" /><ref name="CAE168">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 168.</ref> [[Lou Frizzell]] served as the musical director, and under his mentorship [[Mary Nomura]] became known as the "songbird of Manzanar" for her performances at dances and other camp events.<ref>{{citation|url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Mary_Nomura/|title=Mary Nomura|encyclopedia=Densho Encyclopedia|publisher=[[Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project]]|access-date=March 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310135957/http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Mary_Nomura/|archive-date=March 10, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Theatre performances—for internees, camp administration and WRA staff, and even for some members of the surrounding communities—included original productions by internees as well as traditional Japanese works of [[kabuki]] and [[noh]].<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/>

Internees, many of whom were relocated from their landscaping businesses in the Los Angeles area,<ref name="heitz 3"/> personalized and beautified their barren surroundings by building elaborate [[Japanese garden|gardens]] and parks, which often included pools, waterfalls, and rock ornaments.<ref name="nps japanese americans manzanar"/><ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> Competitions were often held between landscapers as they created gardens in the public spaces of the camp (such as between barracks).<ref name="heitz 4"/> The camp administration even allowed some gardens to be created outside the camp.<ref name="heitz 4"/> These helped create a sense of community and gave the internees a place to heal.<ref name="heitz 3"/> Remnants of some of the gardens, pools, and rock ornaments are still present at Manzanar, and there are plans to restore at least some of them.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><!--any updates since 2010?-->

One of the most popular pastimes for those incarcerated at Manzanar was baseball. The men there formed almost 100 baseball teams, and the women formed 14.<ref name="nytimes baseball 20140620">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/upshot/for-incarcerated-japanese-americans-baseball-was-wearing-the-american-flag.html |title=For Incarcerated Japanese-Americans, Baseball Was 'Wearing the American Flag' | first=Michael |last=Beschloss |date=June 20, 2014 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-date=May 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506113358/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/upshot/for-incarcerated-japanese-americans-baseball-was-wearing-the-american-flag.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Regular seasons were established, teams were divided into leagues, and championship games were held.<ref name="loc hartsell 20180517">{{cite web |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/05/baseball-americana-playing-behind-barbed-wire/ |title=Baseball Americana: Playing Behind Barbed Wire |first=Mark |last=Hartsell |date=May 17, 2018 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-date=May 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503094834/https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/05/baseball-americana-playing-behind-barbed-wire/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The teams included both professional and amateur players.<ref name="american history byrd 20150318"/> Some of the players viewed playing baseball as a way to prove their loyalty to America, treating it like wearing an American flag.<ref name="nytimes baseball 20140620"/><ref name="american history byrd 20150318"/> Photographer [[Ansel Adams]] took his photo (right) as part of his effort to show how those incarcerated at Manzanar "overcome [their] sense of defeat and despair."<ref name="loc hartsell 20180517"/><ref name="nytimes baseball 20140620"/><ref name="american history byrd 20150318"/>

Many Japanese cultural celebrations were continued, though the official photos allowed out by the WRA rarely showed them.<ref name="heitz 2019"/> The New Year tradition of [[Mochi#Traditional preparation|''mochitsuki'']]—pounding glutinous rice into mochi—was regularly covered by the [[#Manzanar Free Press|camp newspaper]].<ref name="heitz 2019"/> Craftsman in the camp carved [[Geta (footwear)|''geta'']] for many of the residents, though the official photography only pointed out that they were useful for keeping above the dusty ground.<ref name="heitz 2019"/>

=== Manzanar Riot ===
Although most quietly accepted their fate during World War II, there was some resistance in the camps. [[Poston War Relocation Center|Poston]], [[Heart Mountain War Relocation Center|Heart Mountain]], [[Topaz War Relocation Center|Topaz]], and [[Tule Lake War Relocation Center|Tule Lake]] each had civil disturbances about wage differences, [[black market]]ing of sugar, food shortages, intergenerational friction, rumors of "informers" reporting to the camp administration or the FBI, and other issues.<ref name="Reflections8" /><ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/><ref name="hansen 52-72">Hansen, pp. 52–72.</ref> The most serious incident occurred at Manzanar on December 5–6, 1942 (with some of the actions on both sides carrying over into the following days),<ref name="hansen 34-36"/> and became known as the "Manzanar Revolt" or "Manzanar Riot".<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="CAE172">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 172.</ref><ref name="hansen 43">Hansen, p. 43.</ref>

Some of the tension that precipitated the riot was related to work availability and the pay of those jobs, with ''[[Nisei]]'' and members of the [[Japanese American Citizens League]] (JACL) getting preferential treatment.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="hansen 52"/><ref name="hansen 40">Hansen, p. 40.</ref> After several months of tension between those who supported the JACL and a group of ''[[Kibei]]'' (Japanese Americans educated in Japan), rumors spread that sugar and meat shortages were the result of black marketing by camp administrators.<ref name="Reflections8" /><ref name="hansen 33">Hansen, p. 33.</ref> To make matters worse, JACL leader Fred Tayama was beaten by six masked men on the evening of December 5. Harry Ueno, the leader of the Kitchen Workers Union, and two others suspected of involvement, were arrested. The other two suspects were questioned and released, but Ueno was removed from Manzanar.<ref name="CAE172" /><ref name="hansen 33"/>

About 200 internees met on the morning of December 6 in the gardens at the Block&nbsp;22 mess hall to discuss what they should do, and another meeting was scheduled for a few hours later.<ref name="hansen 33"/><ref name="heitz 3-4">Heitz, pp. 3–4</ref> Between two and four thousand people gathered at the meeting where they listened to speeches and chose five people to present their grievances to the camp director.<ref name="hansen 34-36">Hansen, pp. 34–36.</ref> The crowd decided to follow the five representatives, which caused the camp director to tell the military police to muster in order to be available to control the crowd. The five representatives demanded that Ueno be released, but the camp director did not immediately agree.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/>

After the crowd began getting more unruly, the director finally agreed to release Ueno if the crowd agreed he should still stand trial, no one attempted to break him out of the camp jail, the five representatives would discuss any further wants with the director, the protesting crowds would disperse and not reassemble, and the five would work to dispel and quiet the protesters. Ueno was then returned to the camp jail in the early evening.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/><ref name="CAE172" />

When the five representatives went to verify that Ueno was in the jail, the crowd again returned to protest. Instead of dispersing as asked, they broke into groups to try to find Tayama and kill him. When they were unable to find him in the hospital, they began searching all through the camp for Tayama as well as Tokie Slocum and Togo Tanaka, two other suspected collaborators. When they were unable to find any of them, the searchers began returning toward the jail.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/>

While the smaller search parties were searching the camp, the camp director had been trying to negotiate with the five representatives. This appeared to work initially, but the crowd gradually became more angry and started throwing bottles and rocks at the soldiers. The military police responded with [[tear gas]] to disperse them.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/> As people ran to avoid the tear gas, some in the crowd pushed a driverless truck toward the jail.<ref name="CAE173">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 173.</ref> At that moment, the military police fired into the crowd, killing a 17-year-old boy instantly.<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/><ref name="hansen 34-36"/> A 21-year-old man who was shot in the abdomen died a few days later.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/> At least nine to ten other prisoners were wounded, and a military police corporal was wounded by a ricocheting bullet.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="Reflections8" /><ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/>

That night, some inmates continued attacking suspected collaborators and meeting in small groups while avoiding military police patrols.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/> Over the next several days, internees marked as suspected collaborators were quietly removed from the camp with their families in order to protect them from being beaten or killed by the protesters.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/>

=== 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team ===
{{Main|100th Infantry Battalion|442nd Infantry Regiment (United States)}}
The vanguard of Japanese American (JA) combat units was the legendary 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) made up of soldiers in the Hawaii National Guard that was formed in June 1942.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://encyclopedia.densho.org/100th%20Infantry%20Battalion | title=100th Infantry Battalion &#124; Densho Encyclopedia }}</ref> The training record of the 100th Battalion at Camp McCoy WI from June to December 1942 convinced the War Department to authorize the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) on February 1, 1943.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://encyclopedia.densho.org/442nd%20Regimental%20Combat%20Team | title=442nd Regimental Combat Team &#124; Densho Encyclopedia }}</ref> On August 21, 1943, the 100th Battalion was deployed to Oran in North Africa. This unit became the War Department's test on whether JA soldiers could be trusted in combat when it landed in Italy in September 1943 as part of the 34th Infantry Division. The unparalleled bravery of the 100th Battalion in the first weeks of combat forever answered this question of trust, paving the way for the 442nd RCT to join them in June 1944.

Because of the 100th Battalion's sterling training record and the Varsity Victory Volunteers,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Varsity%20Victory%20Volunteers | title=Varsity Victory Volunteers &#124; Densho Encyclopedia }}</ref> a group of University of Hawaii ROTC students who received positive publicity for their volunteer civilian labor for the U.S. Army, along with many organizations and leaders in Hawaii and on the mainland lobbying the government to allow Japanese Americans to serve in the armed forces, President Roosevelt authorized the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) on February 1, 1943. When the announcement about the new unit was made, 10,000 young men in Hawaii signed up from which 2,686 were selected, and along with 1,182 from the mainland, they were sent to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for basic training in April 1943. Along with the cadre of those already in the Army, roughly 2/3 of the 442nd RCT were from Hawaii and 1/3 from the mainland.

Of the nearly 160,000 people of Japanese descent living in Hawaii in 1940, fewer than 2,000 were incarcerated compared to the mass incarceration of those on the West Coast; thus, less than 2% of the soldiers from the islands had families in the camps.

== Closure ==
{{See also|Ex parte Endo}}
The [[War Relocation Authority|WRA]] closed Manzanar when the final internee left at 11:00&nbsp;a.m. on November 21, 1945.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="nps historical study of manzanar p663">{{cite book |title=Manzanar National Historic Site, California: The Evacuation and Relocation of Persons of Japanese Ancestry During World War II : a Historical Study of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, Volume 2 |first=Harlan D. |last=Unrau |date=March 14, 1997 |chapter=The Role of the Military Police in Providing External Security for the Manzanar War Relocation Center |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |page=663 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fov9e5Oa_kgC&pg=PA663}}</ref> It was the sixth camp to be closed.<ref name="nps japanese americans manzanar"/> Although the Japanese Americans had been brought to the Owens Valley by the United States Government, they had to leave the camp and travel to their next destinations on their own.<ref name="CAE172" /><ref name="Reflections11">Embrey (1998), p. 11.</ref> The WRA gave each person $25 (${{Formatnum:{{Inflation|US|25|1945|r=0}}}} today), one-way train or bus fare, and meals to those who had less than $600 (${{Formatnum:{{Inflation|US|600|1945|r=0}}}} today).<ref name="Reflections11" />

While many left the camp voluntarily, a significant number refused to leave because they had no place to go after having lost everything when they were forcibly uprooted and removed from their homes. As such, they had to be forcibly removed once again, this time from Manzanar. Indeed, those who refused to leave were generally removed from their barracks, sometimes by force, even if they had no place to go.<ref name="Reflections11" /><ref name="houston 133-134">Houston, pp. 133–134.</ref>

Between 135 and 146 Japanese Americans died at Manzanar.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="IReiTo5">Burton ''et al.'' (2001), p. 5.</ref> Fifteen were buried there, but only five<!-- Find a Grave says one still-born infant is in an unmarked grave --> graves remain, as most were reburied elsewhere by their families.<ref name="IReiTo18">Burton ''et al.'' (2001), p. 18.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philibert-Ortega |first1=Gena |title=Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra |date=2007 |publisher=Arcadia Press (Images of America) |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-0738547862 |page=45}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{Find a Grave cemetery|2367166|Manzanar Cemetery}}</ref> --> The Manzanar cemetery site is marked by a monument that was built by stonemason Ryozo Kado in 1943.<ref name="Reflections28">Embrey (1998), p. 28.</ref> An inscription in Japanese on the front (east side) of the monument reads {{lang|ja|慰霊塔}} ('Soul Consoling Tower': ireitō=Mandarin: wèi-líng-tǎ 'consoling-soul monument' ).<ref name="IReiTo5" /> The inscription on the back (west side) reads "Erected by the Manzanar Japanese" on the left-hand column, and "August 1943" on the right-hand column.<ref name="IReiTo5" />

After the camp was closed, the site eventually returned to its original state. Within a couple of years, all the structures had been removed, with the exception of the two sentry posts at the entrance, the cemetery monument, and the former Manzanar High School auditorium, which was purchased by the [[Inyo County, California|County of Inyo]]. The County leased the auditorium to the Independence [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]], who used it as a meeting facility and community theater until 1951. After that, the building was used as a maintenance facility by the Inyo County Road Department.<ref name="CAE172" /><ref name="Reflections18">Embrey (1998), p. 18.</ref>

The site also retained numerous building foundations, portions of the water and sewer systems, the outline of the road grid, some landscaping, and much more.<ref name="Reflections18" /> Despite four years of use, the site also retains evidence of the ranches and of the town of Manzanar, as well as artifacts from the days of the Owens Valley Paiute settlement.<ref name="Reflections19" /><ref name="CAE173–200">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), pp. 173–200.</ref>

== Preservation and remembrance ==
During the war, the [[War Relocation Authority]] hired photographers [[Ansel Adams]] and [[Dorothea Lange]] to document through pictures the Japanese-Americans impacted by the [[Executive Order 9066|forced relocation]], including Manzanar. [[Togo Tanaka]] and Joe Masaoka were hired by anthropologist [[Robert Redfield]] as documentary historians for the camp on behalf of the WRA.<ref name="latimes obit togo tanaka 20090705"/><ref name="1973 interview calstate fullerton"/><ref name="Niiya"/>

=== Manzanar Pilgrimage ===
[[File:MAD-Sato07.jpg|thumb|right|As part of the Manzanar At Dusk program, Wilbur Sato (at far right) relates his experiences in Manzanar during a small group session]]
On December 21, 1969, about 150 people departed Los Angeles by car and bus, headed for Manzanar.<ref name="ManzanarCommitteeHistory">{{cite web | title=Who We Are | publisher=Manzanar Committee | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/who-we-are/ | date=June 1, 2011 | access-date=February 13, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214061631/https://manzanarcommittee.org/who-we-are/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> It was the first official annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, though two ministers—the Reverend Sentoku Mayeda and the Reverend Shoichi Wakahiro—had been making annual pilgrimages to Manzanar since the camp closed in 1945.<ref name="ManzanarCommitteeHistory" />

The [[non-profit]] Manzanar Committee, formerly led by Sue Kunitomi Embrey, has sponsored the Pilgrimage since 1969. The event is held annually on the last Saturday of April<ref name="ManzanarCommitteeHistory" /> with hundreds of visitors of all ages and backgrounds, including former inmates, gathering at the Manzanar cemetery to remember the incarceration. The hope is that participants can learn about it and help ensure that what is generally accepted to be a tragic chapter in American history is neither forgotten nor repeated. The program traditionally consists of speakers, cultural performances, an interfaith service to memorialize those who died at Manzanar, and ''[[Ondo (music)|Ondo]]'' dancing.<ref name="41stPilgrimage">{{cite news | last=Matsuda | first=Gann | title=41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage Highlights the Unfinished Business of the Civil Rights Struggle | publisher=Manzanar Committee | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/2010/04/30/41st-annual-manzanar-pilgrimage-highlights-the-unfinished-business-of-the-civil-rights-struggle | date=April 30, 2010 | access-date=May 20, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174415/https://manzanarcommittee.org/2010/04/30/41st-annual-manzanar-pilgrimage-highlights-the-unfinished-business-of-the-civil-rights-struggle/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1997, the Manzanar At Dusk program became a part of the Pilgrimage.<ref name="MAD1997">{{cite web | last=Matsuda | first=Gann | title=Manzanar At Dusk | publisher=Manzanar Committee | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/manzanar-at-dusk | date=June 2011 | access-date=February 13, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174340/https://manzanarcommittee.org/manzanar-at-dusk/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> The program attracts local area residents, as well as descendants of Manzanar's ranch days and the town of Manzanar. Through small-group discussions, the event gives participants the opportunity to hear directly from those who had been there and to talk about the relevance of what had happened at Manzanar to their own lives.<ref name="MADConnectionsBonds">{{cite news | last=Matsuda | first=Gann | title=Connections And Common Bonds Are Key At Manzanar At Dusk Program | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/2010/06/04/connections-and-common-bonds-are-key-at-manzanar-at-dusk-program | publisher=Manzanar Committee | date=June 4, 2010 | access-date=May 20, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214233418/https://manzanarcommittee.org/2010/06/04/connections-and-common-bonds-are-key-at-manzanar-at-dusk-program/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Since the [[September 11 attacks]], [[American Muslims]] have participated in the Pilgrimage to promote and increase awareness of civil rights protections in the wake of widespread suspicions harbored against them [[post-9/11]].<ref name="ManzanarCommitteeDiversity">{{cite news | last=Matsuda | first=Gann | title=Manzanar Pilgrimage: A Diversity of Faces...And Much More | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/2008/04/27/manzanar-pilgrimage-a-diversity-of-facesand-much-more | publisher=Manzanar Committee | date=April 30, 2008 | access-date=May 20, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214233416/https://manzanarcommittee.org/2008/04/27/manzanar-pilgrimage-a-diversity-of-facesand-much-more/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AsianWeek-Ties">{{cite news|last=Leach |first=Emily |title=The Ties That Bind: Muslim Americans Join Japanese Americans on Manzanar Pilgrimage |work=Asian Week |url=http://www.asianweek.com/2008/05/02/the-ties-that-bind-muslim-americans-join-Japanese-Americans-on-manzanar-pilgrimage |date=May 2, 2008 |access-date=September 16, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513143207/http://www.asianweek.com/2008/05/02/the-ties-that-bind-muslim-americans-join-japanese-americans-on-manzanar-pilgrimage/ |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref> A group of 150 Muslims visited in 2017, in part to compare treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II with how Muslims are treated following the 9/11 attacks.<ref name="nbc may 2017">{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/muslim-american-manzanar-pilgrimage-finds-parallels-between-internment-modern-day-n754561 |title=Muslim-American Manzanar Pilgrimage Finds Parallels Between Internment, Modern Day |first=Caitlin Yoshiko |last=Kandil |date=May 4, 2017 | publisher=[[NBC News]] |access-date=May 19, 2020 |archive-date=December 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203013316/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/muslim-american-manzanar-pilgrimage-finds-parallels-between-internment-modern-day-n754561 |url-status=live }}</ref> Over 2,000 people visited the site on April 27, 2019, for the 50th anniversary of the first pilgrimage, including a number of Muslim speakers, and a group of Muslims held afternoon prayers at the monument.<ref name="latimes 20190519">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-manzanar-50th-annual-pilgrimage-20190427-story.html |title=Manzanar pilgrimage takes on broad themes of democracy, civil rights |first=Teresa |last=Watanabe |date=April 27, 2019 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=May 19, 2020 |archive-date=May 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514080826/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-manzanar-50th-annual-pilgrimage-20190427-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Designations ===
{{anchor|California Historical Landmark and Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument|California Historical Landmark|Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument|National Historic Landmark and National Historic Site}}
The Manzanar Committee's efforts resulted in the [[State of California]] naming Manzanar as [[California Historical Landmark]] #850 in 1972, with an historical marker being placed at the sentry post on April 14, 1973.<ref name="Reflections19" /><ref name="OHP">{{cite ohp|850|Manzanar|2012-10-07}}</ref> Manzanar, which had been historically owned by the City of Los Angeles, was registered as a [[Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument]] in 1976.<ref name="LAHCM_list" />
[[File:Manzanar Watchtower Sunset.jpg|left|thumb|Replica watch tower at the Manzanar National Historic Site, 2024]]
The Manzanar Committee also spearheaded efforts for Manzanar to be listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]], and in February 1985, Manzanar was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref name="Reflections19" /><ref name="NHL" /><ref name="NRHPINV2">{{cite web | author=Thompson, Irwin H. | title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination: Manzanar War Relocation Center/Manzanar Internment Camp | url={{NHLS url|id=76000484}} | publisher=U.S. National Park Service | format=PDF | date=August 12, 1984 | access-date=May 29, 2008}}</ref> Embrey and the committee, along with California representative [[Mel Levine]], led the effort to have Manzanar designated a [[National Historic Sites (United States)|National Historic Site]], and on March 3, 1992, President [[George H. W. Bush]] signed House Resolution 543 into law.<ref name="106 stat 40">106 Stat. 40; United States Statutes at Large, Volume 106, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session; Japanese American National Historic Landmark Theme Study Act; To establish the Manzanar National Historic Site in the State of California, and for other purposes; Public Law 102-248. {{USStat|106|40}}.</ref><ref>{{USPL|102|248|Japanese American National Historic Landmark Theme Study Act}}.</ref> This [[act of Congress]] established the Manzanar National Historic Site "to provide for the protection and interpretation of the historical, cultural, and natural resources associated with the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II."<ref name="Legislation" /><ref name="GMP13–16">{{cite book | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: General Management Plan and Environmental Statement | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | pages=13–16 |date=August 1996}}</ref><ref name="Reflections20">Embrey (1998), p. 20.</ref> Five years later, the National Park Service acquired {{convert|814|acre|ha}} of land at Manzanar from the City of Los Angeles.<ref name="Reflections20" /> It was the first of the camps to be designated as a National Historical Site.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

{{anchor|Opposition to the creation of the Manzanar National Historic Site}}
After Congress named Manzanar a National Historic Site and gave the National Park Service the job of restoring the site in 1992, protests against its creation emerged. Letters were sent to the National Park Service included statements that Manzanar should be portrayed as a guest housing center, with others stating that calling the site a concentration camp is "treason", threatening dismissal campaigns against National Park Service employees and other related individuals, threatening to destroy buildings, and objecting to the use of the phrase "concentration camp" on signage at the site.<ref name="LATimes-Whitewash">{{cite news | last=Jones | first=Robert A. | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-10-me-56927-story.html | title=Whitewashing Manzanar: Various Veterans Groups want To (Bully) The Government Into Denying The Site of its Historic Meaning | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 10, 1996 | access-date=May 15, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518142020/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-10/local/me-56927_1_veterans-groups | archive-date=May 18, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref> The California State historical marker was hacked and stained, with the first "C" of "concentration camp" ground off. A man describing himself as a World War II veteran stated that he had driven 200 miles to urinate on the marker.<ref name="LATimes-Bitter">{{cite news | last=Forstenzer | first=Martin | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-04-mn-54883-story.html | title=Bitter Feelings Still Run Deep at Camp | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 4, 1996 | access-date=May 15, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518142016/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-04/news/mn-54883_1_manzanar-internment-camp | archive-date=May 18, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref>

== Monument facilities and setting ==
[[File:Manzanar shrine.jpg|thumb|right|Monument at Manzanar cemetery, 2002]]
The site features a visitor center with a gift shop, housed in the historically restored Manzanar High School Auditorium with a reconstructed stage proscenium.<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> The auditorium and the two sentry posts at the entrance are the only original structures from the time the camp was operating during World War II.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> Permanent exhibits tell the stories of the internee transportation to Manzanar, the [[Mono people|Owens Valley Paiute]], the ranchers, the town of Manzanar, the role that water played in shaping the history of the Owens Valley, and one that plays a video of [[Ronald Reagan]] signing the [[Civil Liberties Act]].<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/><ref name="GMP13–16" /><ref name="InterpretiveCenter">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: Visitor Center (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/interpretive-center.htm | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508100259/https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/interpretive-center.htm | archive-date=May 8, 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Federalist">{{cite journal | last=Hitchcock | first=Anne | title=Using Civic Engagement To Address History's Difficult Lessons | url=http://shfg.org/shfg/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/14-Federalist-summer-07.pdf | journal=The Federalist: Newsletter of the Society for History in the Federal Government | volume=14 | issue=Second Series, Summer 2007 | access-date=August 19, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002161539/http://shfg.org/shfg/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/14-Federalist-summer-07.pdf | archive-date=October 2, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref>

An "interpretive center" helps visitors gain an understanding of some of the internees' experiences.<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> The exhibits in the center are constructed with materials that would have been used—or are similar to those used—when the camp was in operation. Details of camp experiences are from all ten of the relocation centers.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/> A driving tour with 27 points of interest takes visitors around the site.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

A mess hall, salvaged from a closing military facility, was added to the site in 2002. The replica guard tower was built in 2005.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/> The Manzanar cemetery, where some of the internees who died at the camp were buried, also contains the memorial obelisk, which was built by masons in the camp in August 1943.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> All of the remains have been removed to other locations.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

The site features restored sentry posts at the camp entrance, a replica of a camp guard tower built in 2005,<ref name="GuardTower">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site – Guard Tower | publisher=U.S. National Park Service | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/parkmgmt/guard-tower.htm | date=July 25, 2006 | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221044408/http://www.nps.gov/manz/parkmgmt/guard-tower.htm | archive-date=February 21, 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> a self-guided tour road, and wayside exhibits.<ref name="OutdoorActivities">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: Outdoor Activities (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/outdooractivities.htm | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508100301/https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/outdooractivities.htm | archive-date=May 8, 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Staff offer guided tours and other educational programs,<ref name="GuidedTours">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: Guided Tours (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508100303/https://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm | archive-date=May 8, 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref> including a Junior Ranger educational program for children between four and fifteen years of age.<ref name="JuniorRanger">{{cite web | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/forkids/beajuniorranger.htm | title=Be A Junior Ranger | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225125738/http://www.nps.gov/manz/forkids/beajuniorranger.htm | archive-date=February 25, 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Reconstruction ===
Under most circumstances, the National Park Service discourages the reconstruction of structures and artifacts that are no longer extant, but allows for exceptions when "there is no alternative that would accomplish the park's interpretive mission, there is sufficient data to enable an accurate reconstruction," and "the reconstruction occurs on the original location."<ref name="Hays">{{cite journal |last1=Hays |first1=Frank |title=The National Park Service: Groveling Sycophant or Social Conscience: Telling the Story of Mountains, Valley, and Barbed Wire at Manzanar National Historic Site |journal=The Public Historian |date=Fall 2003 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=73–80|doi=10.1525/tph.2003.25.4.73 }}</ref> On the basis that these criteria were met, and after extensive discussion with the Japanese-American community, the NPS decided to proceed with a reconstruction of some elements of the original site alongside preservation of those remnants that survive.<ref name="Hays"/>

The National Park Service is reconstructing one of the 36 residential blocks as a demonstration block (Block&nbsp;14, adjacent to and west of the Visitor Center). One barrack appears as it would have when Japanese Americans first arrived at Manzanar in 1942, while another has been reconstructed to represent barracks life in 1945. Exhibits in these barracks opened on April 16, 2015. A restored World War II mess hall, moved to the site from Bishop Airport in 2002, was opened to visitors in late 2010.<ref name="LATimes-Boxall">{{cite news | last=Boxall | first=Bettina | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | title=Reassembling A Sad Chapter Of History | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-11-me-manzanar11-story.html | date=December 11, 2002 | access-date=May 18, 2017 | page=A1 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305070031/http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/11/local/me-manzanar11 | archive-date=March 5, 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref> The Manzanar National Historic Site also unveiled its virtual museum on May 17, 2010.<ref name ="NPS-Oral Histories}">{{cite web | title=Museum Collection | url=https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/museum-collection.htm | publisher=U.S. National Park Service | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508100518/https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/museum-collection.htm | archive-date=May 8, 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

National Park Service staff have continued to uncover artifacts from throughout Manzanar's history, the result of archaeological digs that have also excavated several of the gardens designed and built there, including the noted Merritt Park (also known as Pleasure Park).<ref name="Nishi">{{cite news | last=Alvarado | first=Patrick | title=Nishi Family Returns To Manzanar To Help Rebuild Historic Bridge At Merritt Park | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/2011/05/31/nishi-family-returns-to-manzanar-to-help-rebuild-historic-bridge-at-merritt-park | publisher=Manzanar Committee | date=May 31, 2011 | access-date=May 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174402/https://manzanarcommittee.org/2011/05/31/nishi-family-returns-to-manzanar-to-help-rebuild-historic-bridge-at-merritt-park/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> In progress is a classroom exhibit that will be housed in the Block&nbsp;9 barracks<ref name="Classroom">{{cite news | last=Matsuda | first=Gann | title=What's New At Manzanar NHS: Classroom Exhibit Is Taking Shape | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/2016/09/22/classroom-exhibit-taking-shape | publisher=Manzanar Committee | date=September 22, 2016 | access-date=May 20, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174323/https://manzanarcommittee.org/2016/09/22/classroom-exhibit-taking-shape/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> and an historic replica of the Block&nbsp;9 women's latrine (opened in October 2016, but with no interpretive exhibit materials at this time).<ref name="Latrine">{{cite news | last=Matsuda | first=Gann | title=New At Manzanar NHS: You've Got To See The Historic Women's Latrine | url=https://manzanarcommittee.org/2017/05/12/womens-latrine | publisher=Manzanar Committee | date=May 12, 2017 | access-date=May 20, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174321/https://manzanarcommittee.org/2017/05/12/womens-latrine/ | archive-date=February 14, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

== Reception of and discussion regarding Manzanar ==
The Manzanar site had 1,275,195 people visit from 2000 through December 2016.<ref name="ManzanarVisitation" /> The [[National Park Service]]'s interpretation of events and experiences has been described as both "[willing] to memorialize a shameful, unconstitutional policy" and "providing a shortcut around the unjust suffering and often insurmountable adversity imposed by the internment".<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> Congressman [[Mel Levine]] said the site should "serve as a reminder of the grievous errors and inhumane policies we pursued domestically during World War II and a reminder that we must never again allow such actions to occur in this country."<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

Academics have criticized those who initiated and implemented the WRA relocation policy and members of the JACL for supporting the WRA policies.<ref name="hansen 42">Hansen, p. 42.</ref> They have also pointed out that the majority of accounts of the relocation published within the first few decades following the closure of the camps have been from the perspective of the WRA and the JACL.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/>

Following President Trump's [[Executive Order 14253]], and by order of [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]], Manzanar was one of the National Park Service sites to post a notice directing visitors to report "signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features." In an interview for [[NBC News]] Dr. Nicholas Baham, professor of ethnic studies, was pessimistic about the feasibility of the Manzanar site avoiding such information.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ramos |first=John |date=June 16, 2025 |title=Trump directive at Bay Area national parks is "whitewashing history," critics say |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/signs-at-bay-area-national-parks-ask-visitors-to-report-any-negative-history/ |work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=June 21, 2025}}</ref>

=== Terminology ===
{{Further|Japanese American internment#Terminology debate}}
Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Manzanar and the other camps in which [[Japanese Americans|Americans of Japanese ancestry]] and their immigrant parents were incarcerated by the [[United States Government]] during the war.<ref name="ManzanarControversy">{{cite web | title=The Manzanar Controversy | url=https://www.pbs.org/weekendexplorer/california/mammoth/manzanar.htm | publisher=Public Broadcasting System | access-date=July 18, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108145320/http://www.pbs.org/weekendexplorer/california/mammoth/manzanar.htm | archive-date=November 8, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="DanielsTerminology">{{cite journal | last=Daniels | first=Roger | date=May 2002 | title=Incarceration of the Japanese Americans: A Sixty-Year Perspective | url=https://historycooperative.org/journal/incarceration-of-the-japanese-americans-a-sixty-year-perspective | journal=The History Teacher | volume=35 | issue=3 | pages=4–6 | doi=10.2307/3054440 | jstor=3054440 | access-date=July 29, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729152316/https://historycooperative.org/journal/incarceration-of-the-japanese-americans-a-sixty-year-perspective/ | archive-date=July 29, 2019 | url-status=live | url-access=subscription }}</ref> Manzanar has been referred to as a "War Relocation Authority center",<ref name="mcstotts 2010">McStotts (2010).</ref><ref name="nara japanese relocation"/> "War Relocation Center",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="nps historical study of manzanar p663"/> "relocation camp",<ref name="Calisphere relocation"/> "relocation center",<ref name="nara japanese relocation">{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation|title=Japanese Relocation During World War II|date=August 15, 2016|website=National Archives|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> "[[internment camp]]",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="american history byrd 20150318">{{cite web |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/baseball-behind-barbed-wire |title=Baseball behind barbed wire |first=Philip |last=Byrd | date=March 18, 2015 |publisher=[[National Museum of American History]] |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-date=April 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401230213/https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/baseball-behind-barbed-wire |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nara japanese relocation"/> "incarceration camp",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="american history byrd 20150318"/> "prison camp",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/> and "concentration camp".<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="Calisphere relocation">{{cite web |url=http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/historical-context.html |title=Relocation and Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II |publisher=University of California – Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives |access-date=April 25, 2014 |archive-date=April 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426214946/http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/historical-context.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="CLPEF">{{cite web|url=http://www.momomedia.com/CLPEF/backgrnd.html#Link%20to%20terminology|title=CLPEF Resolution Regarding Terminology|year=1996|publisher=Civil Liberties Public Education Fund|access-date=July 20, 2007}}</ref>

Prior to the opening of an exhibit about the American camps at [[Ellis Island]], the [[American Jewish Committee]] (AJC) and the National Park Service, which manages Ellis Island, expressed concern regarding the use of the term "concentration camp" in the exhibit.<ref name="NYTimes-Debate">{{cite news | last=Sengupta | first=Somini | title=What Is a Concentration Camp? Ellis Island Exhibit Prompts a Debate | newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/08/nyregion/what-is-a-concentration-camp-ellis-island-exhibit-prompts-a-debate.html | date=March 8, 1998 | access-date=July 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107045726/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/08/nyregion/what-is-a-concentration-camp-ellis-island-exhibit-prompts-a-debate.html | archive-date=November 7, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref> At a meeting held at the offices of the AJC in New York City, leaders representing Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans reached an understanding about the use of the term,<ref name="NYTimes-Debate"/><ref name="JANM-AJC"/> and the [[Japanese American National Museum]] and the AJC issued a joint statement:

{{Blockquote|A concentration camp is a place where people are imprisoned not because of any crimes they have committed, but simply because of who they are. Although many groups have been singled out for such persecution throughout history, the term 'concentration camp' was first used at the turn of the [20th] century in the [[Spanish–American War|Spanish American]] and [[Second Boer War|Boer Wars]]. During World War II, America's concentration camps were clearly distinguishable from Nazi Germany's. Nazi camps were places of torture, barbarous medical experiments and [[summary execution]]s; some were extermination centers with gas chambers.<ref name="JANM-AJC">{{cite press release | title=American Jewish Committee, Japanese American National Museum Issue Joint Statement About Ellis Island Exhibit Set To Open April 3 | publisher=Japanese American National Museum and American Jewish Committee | url=http://www.janm.org/press/release/52 | date=March 13, 1998 | access-date=December 30, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617051045/http://www.janm.org/press/release/52/ | archive-date=June 17, 2010 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYTAccord">{{cite news | last=Sengupta | first=Somini | title=Accord On Term "Concentration Camp" | newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/10/nyregion/accord-on-term-concentration-camp.html | date=March 10, 1998 | access-date=June 13, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107045733/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/10/nyregion/accord-on-term-concentration-camp.html | archive-date=November 7, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref>}}<!--outcome? are they ok with the term 'concentration camp' in this case? The first part of the statement makes it sound like they are fine with it, the scond part, not so much.-->

== In popular culture ==
=== Films and television ===
A made-for-television movie, ''[[Farewell to Manzanar]]'', aired on [[NBC]] in 1976.<ref name="JANM-DVD"/> It was based on the 1973 memoir of the same name, written by [[Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston]], who was incarcerated at Manzanar as a child, and her husband James D. Houston.<ref name="FarewellBook">Houston (1983).</ref><ref name="DiscoverNikkeiJWH">{{cite web | title=Discover Nikkei: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston | url=http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/profiles/61/ | publisher=DiscoverNikkei.org | date=November 25, 2006 | access-date=November 18, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909113640/http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/profiles/61/ | archive-date=September 9, 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2011, the [[Japanese American National Museum]] (JANM) announced that they had negotiated the rights to the movie, and that they would make it available for purchase on DVD.<ref name="JANM-DVD">{{cite web | last=Newman | first=Esther | title=Farewell to Manzanar on DVD-Timeless and Timely | url=http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2011/10/7/farewell-to-manzanar | publisher=Japanese American National Museum | date=October 7, 2011 | access-date=October 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025081225/http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2011/10/7/farewell-to-manzanar/ | archive-date=October 25, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="FTM-Densho">{{cite web | title=Farewell to Manzanar (film) | url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Farewell_to_Manzanar_%28film%29/ | last=Niiya | first=Brian. | publisher=Densho | date=2018 | access-date=May 13, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514141642/http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Farewell_to_Manzanar_%28film%29/ | archive-date=May 14, 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The 1990 feature film ''[[Come See the Paradise]]'' detailed the forced removal and incarceration at Manzanar of a Japanese American family from Los Angeles.<ref name="NYTImes-CSTP">{{cite news | last=James | first=Caryn | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/23/movies/review-film-when-a-population-was-victimized-at-home.html | title=Review/Film; When a Population Was Victimized at Home | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=December 23, 1990 | access-date=April 23, 2016 }}</ref>

In the 1984 film ''[[The Karate Kid]]'', [[Mr. Miyagi]] opens up to his student Daniel about the dual loss of his wife and son in childbirth at the Manzanar [[internment camp]]; the actor who played Mr. Miyagi, [[Pat Morita]], was interned for two years at Manzanar with his parents.<ref>{{cite news |title=Morita's long road to Miyagi |work=Los Angeles Times |author=Champlin, Charles |date=June 22, 1986 |page=28 |id={{ProQuest |<!--insert ProQuest data here--> }}}}</ref>

In [[Die Hard|''Die'' ''Hard'']], [[Hans Gruber]] says that [[Joseph Takagi]] was interred in Manzanar from 1942 to 1943.

The short film, ''[[A Song for Manzanar]]'', depicts the true story of a detainee and her struggle to remain hopeful for her son and stay in contact with her family in [[Hiroshima]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nprillinois.org/post/springfield-native-screens-film-familys-story-japanese-internment#stream/0|publisher=NPR Illinois | title=Springfield Native Screens Film On Family's Story Of Japanese Internment |author=Otwell, Rachel | date=October 4, 2017 | access-date=September 29, 2020}}</ref>

In "Baku", the 2018 season three episode of ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man in the High Castle]]'' TV series, Frank Frink is executed for his resistance against the Japanese occupation by [[Kenpeitai]] inspector Kido on the site of the former camp.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tallerico |first=Brian |date=October 7, 2018 |title=The Man in the High Castle Recap: The Different Truth |work=[[Vulture (magazine)|Vulture]] |url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/10/the-man-in-the-high-castle-recap-season-3-episode-9-baku.html |access-date=November 23, 2022}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=March 2025}}

=== Music ===
Folk/country musician [[Tom Russell]] wrote "Manzanar", a song about the Japanese American incarceration, that was released on his album ''Box of Visions'' (1993).<ref name="Billboard.com">{{cite magazine | title=Box of Visions – Tom Russell (1993) | url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=tom russell|chart=all}} | magazine=Billboard | date=April 10, 2003 | access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref>  [[Laurie Lewis]] covered the song on her album ''Seeing Things'' (1998), adding the [[koto (musical instrument)|koto]] to her performance.<ref name="BlueGrassWorks">{{cite web|author=Geffen, Lewis |title=Laurie Lewis |url=http://www.bluegrassworks.com/profile.php?profileID=26 |publisher=Bluegrass Works LLC |date=January 1, 2004 |access-date=December 24, 2007 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806013853/http://www.bluegrassworks.com/profile.php?profileID=26 |archive-date=August 6, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="jeff wall review">{{cite web |url=https://www.laurielewis.com/reviews/r_seeing.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060325042031/http://www.laurielewis.com/reviews/r_seeing.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 25, 2006 |first=Jeff |last=Wall |title=CD Reviews: Seeing Things |access-date=May 19, 2020 |publisher=LaurieLewis.com }}</ref> The Asian American jazz fusion band [[Hiroshima (band)|Hiroshima]] has a song entitled "Manzanar", inspired by the incarceration, on its album ''The Bridge'' (2003).<ref name="HiroshimaBridge">{{cite web | title=Bridge | publisher=Hiroshima, Inc. | url=http://www.hiroshimamusic.com/bridgereview.html | date=October 2003 | access-date=May 27, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928013444/http://www.hiroshimamusic.com/bridgereview.html | archive-date=September 28, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref> Hiroshima's song "Living in America", on its album titled ''East'' (1990), contains the phrase "I still remember Manzanar".<ref name="sheppard 2019">Sheppard (2019).</ref> [[Fort Minor]]'s song "[[Kenji (song)|Kenji]]", from the album ''[[The Rising Tied]]'' (2005), tells the true story of [[Mike Shinoda]]'s family including their experiences during their imprisonment at Manzanar.<ref name="ShinodaInterview">{{cite news | title=MorleyViews: Interviews by Morley Seaver: Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park, Fort Minor) | publisher=AntiMusic/Iconoclast Entertainment Group | url=http://www.antimusic.com/morley/05/FortMinor.shtml | access-date=September 24, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235600/http://www.antimusic.com/morley/05/FortMinor.shtml | archive-date=September 26, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref> The band [[Channel 3 (band)|Channel 3]] recorded a song titled "Manzanar" about the incarceration.<ref name="Channel3">{{cite web | title=Channel 3 ('CH3') Launch Pre-Orders For New Album 'Put 'em Up', Out August 18 | publisher=Top40-Charts.com | url=https://top40-charts.com/news.php?nid=128713 | date=May 8, 2017 | access-date=May 19, 2020}}</ref>

American composer [[Steve Heitzeg]]'s work "Green Hope After Black Rain (Symphony for the Survivors of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Manzanar Concentration Camp)" is a memorial to the victims of the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|1945 atomic bombings]] of the two Japanese cities as well as the Manzanar camp. It includes percussion elements made from [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]] trees as well as stones from Manzanar. It was premiered in 2022 by the Saint Paul Civic Symphony in Minnesota.<ref name="GLH2022">{{cite web |url=https://glh.unitar.org/en/trees-arts-and-science/green-hope-after-black-rain-symphony-for-the-survivors-of-manzanar-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/ |title=Green Hope After Black Rain (Symphony for the Survivors of Manzanar, Hiroshima and Nagasaki) |last= |first= |date= |website=Green Legacy Hiroshima (GLH) Initiative |publisher= |access-date=2024-05-20}}</ref>

=== Literature ===
The 1994 novel ''[[Snow Falling on Cedars]]'' by [[David Guterson]] contains scenes and details relating to Japanese Americans from the state of Washington and their incarceration experiences at Manzanar.<ref name="snow falling on cedars award winning">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/prize-winning-novel-pulled-from-school-shelves-1.638071|title=Prize-winning novel pulled from school shelves |date=January 31, 2007 |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|access-date=May 19, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Cedars">Guterson (1995).</ref><ref name="UW">{{cite web | title=Aggressive Regionalism: Commentary: 16. David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars | url=https://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Reading%20the%20Region/Aggressive%20Regionalism/Commentary/16.html | publisher=Center For The Study Of The Pacific Northwest, University of Washington | access-date=April 23, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402202335/http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Reading%20the%20Region/Aggressive%20Regionalism/Commentary/16.html | archive-date=April 2, 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref> A [[Snow Falling on Cedars (film)|1999 film of the same name]] was based on the book.<ref name="UW alumni interview">{{cite web|url=https://www.washington.edu/uaa/2011/11/01/an-interview-with-honors-alum-david-guterson/ |title=An interview with Honors alum David Guterson |first=Kat |last=Chow |date=November 1, 2011|publisher=[[University of Washington]] Undergraduate Academic Affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222233122/http://www.washington.edu/uaa/textpattern47/tp/features/244/DavidGuterson |archive-date=December 22, 2014 }}</ref> Paper Wishes, a book published in 2016 by Lois Sepahban is a book about a girl named Manami who goes to Manzanar with her family and loses her dog Yujiin, on the way.

== See also ==
* [[California during World War II]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
* {{cite book |last=Bahr |first=Diana Meyers |title=The Unquiet Nisei: An Oral History of the Life of Sue Kunitomi Embrey |year=2007 | url=https://archive.org/details/unquietniseioral00bahr_0 | url-access=registration |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Palgrave MacMillan]] |page=68 |isbn=978-0-230-60067-6 }}
* {{cite book | last=Beito | first=David T. | author-link = David T. Beito| year=2023 | title = The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance| edition=1st | pages=4–7| location=Oakland | publisher=Independent Institute | isbn=978-1598133561}}
* {{cite book |last=Burton |first=Jeffrey F. | title=Three Farewells To Manzanar: The Archeology of Manzanar National Historic Site, California |series=Publications in anthropology / Western Archeological and Conservation Center |publisher=Western Archeological and Conservation Center, National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior |year=1996 |asin=B0006FAN8I}}
* {{cite book |last1=Burton |first1=Jeffery F. |last2=Farrell |first2=Mary M. |last3=Lord |first3=Florence B. |last4=Lord |first4=Richard W. |title=Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites | publisher=Western Archaeological and Conservation Center, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior | year=1999 | series=Publications in Anthropology 74 }} See also {{ISBN|978-0295981567}}
* {{cite book |last1=Burton |first1=Jeffrey F. |last2=Haines |first2=Jeremy D. |last3=Farrell |first3=Mary M | title=I Rei To: Archaeological Investigations at the Manzanar Relocation Center Cemetery, Manzanar National Historic Site, California | publisher=Western Archeological and Conservation Center, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior | year=2001 | series=Publications in Anthropology 79 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Colborn-Roxworthy |first=Emily | title="Manzanar, the Eyes of the World Are upon You": Performance and Archival Ambivalence at a Japanese American Internment Camp | journal=[[Theatre Journal]] | date=May 2007 |volume=59 |number=2 |pages=189–214 |jstor=25070006 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |doi=10.1353/tj.2007.0120 |s2cid=162723631 }}
* {{cite book |last=Embrey |first=Sue Kunitomi | title=Reflections in Three Self-Guided Tours of Manzanar | publisher=Manzanar Committee | year=1998 |isbn=978-0156692618 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Guterson |first1=David | title=Snow Falling On Cedars | publisher=Vintage | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-679-76402-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/snowfallingonced00gute }}
* {{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Arthur A. | title=Barbed Voices: Oral History, Resistance, and the World War II Japanese American Social Disaster |  jstor=j.ctv7xbs1t.8| publisher=University Press of Colorado | chapter=The Manzanar "Riot": An Ethnic Perspective| series=Nikkei in the Americas |doi=10.5876/9781607328124 |date=November 2018 |pages=29–88 | isbn=9781607328117 |s2cid=239829820 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Heitz |first=Kaily | title=Pictured pioneers: photographic representation of Japanese-American identity on the frontier | journal=[[Visual Studies (journal)|Visual Studies]] | date=August 2019 |volume=34 |number=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1080/1472586X.2019.1583541 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] / [[International Visual Sociology Association]] |s2cid=201391529 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Wakatsuki Houston |first1=Jeanne |last2=Houston |first2=James D. | title=Farewell To Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment | url=https://archive.org/details/farewelltomanzan000hous | url-access=registration | publisher=Laurel Leaf | orig-year=1973| year=1983 | isbn=978-0-553-27258-1}}
* {{cite journal |last=McStotts |first=Jennifer Cohoon | title=Internment in the Desert: A Critical Review of Manzanar National Historic Site | journal=International Journal of Heritage Studies | date=October 2010 |volume=13 |number=3 |pages=281–287 |doi=10.1080/13527250701228239 |publisher=Routledge |s2cid=143491254 }}
* {{cite book |last=Nakanishi |first=Don T. | title=Asian American Politics | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | year=2003 | pages=35, 41 | isbn=978-0-7425-1850-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Sheppard | first=W. Anthony |title=Extreme Exoticism: Japan in the American Musical Imagination |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0190072704 |year=2019 |page=307}}
* {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Genny Schumacher |last2=Bateman |first2=Paul C. | title=Deepest Valley | publisher=Genny Smith Books | orig-year=1969| year=1978 | isbn=978-0-931378-01-0 |location=Los Altos, California}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | author1-first=Adams |author1-last=Ansel |author1-link=Ansel Adams | title=Born Free And Equal: Photographs of the Loyal Americans at Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, California | publisher=U. S. Camera | year=1944 |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=gdc3&fileName=scd0001_20020123001bfpage.db&recNum=0 |access-date=May 23, 2020 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Cooper |first1=Michael | title=Remembering Manzanar: Life In A Japanese Relocation Camp | url=https://archive.org/details/rememberingmanza0000coop | url-access=registration | publisher=Clarion Books | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-618-06778-7}}
* {{cite book | last=Embrey |first=Sue Kunitomi | title=The Lost Years: 1942–1946 | publisher=Moonlight Publications | year=1972 | isbn=978-0-930046-07-1 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/manzanarmartyrin00embr }}
* {{cite book | editor1-last=Garrett |editor1-first=Jessie A. |editor2-last=Larson |editor2-first=Ronald C. | title=Camp and Community: Manzanar and the Owens Valley | publisher=Japanese American Oral History Program: California State University, Fullerton | year=1977 | isbn=978-0-930046-00-2 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/campcommunityman00garr }}
* {{cite news |last=Tse |first=Joyce |work=The Rafu Shimpo |title=Manzanar Pilgrimage Begins A New Era |url=http://www.rafu.com/manzanar.html |date=May 2, 2007 |access-date=January 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070701150832/http://www.rafu.com/manzanar.html|archive-date=July 1, 2007}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Manzanar War Relocation Center}}
* [http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/eBANC+MSS+2006%2F94/ebanc+mss+2006+++94/-3,-1,,B/browse Manzanar Assembly Center letter and telegrams, 1942–1943] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001032131/http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/eBANC+MSS+2006%2F94/ebanc+mss+2006+++94/-3,-1,,B/browse |date=October 1, 2019 }}, [[Bancroft Library|The Bancroft Library]]
* {{HABS |survey=CA-2399 |id=ca1969 |title=Manzanar War Relocation Center, Owens Valley off U.S. Highway 395, six miles south of Independence, Inyo County, CA}}
* [https://manzanarcommittee.org/ Manzanar Committee – official web site]
* [https://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm Manzanar National Historic Site, National Park Service]
* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/experience/index.html A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans & the U.S. Constitution] (Smithsonian Institution)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160927183122/https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/management/upload/Manzanar-CLR-LOW-RES.pdf Manzanar Cultural Landscape Report, Manzanar National Historic Site]
* [https://www.cwu.edu/geography/sites/cts.cwu.edu.geography/files/chapter8manzanar.pdf Manzanar Geography of the Manzanar War Relocation Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923174102/https://www.cwu.edu/geography/sites/cts.cwu.edu.geography/files/chapter8manzanar.pdf |date=September 23, 2020 }}
* [https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/sprague/ Claire B. Sprague Collection] available at [https://www.pacific.edu/university-libraries/find/holt-atherton-special-collections.html Holt-Atherton Special Collections.]

{{Internment of Japanese Americans|state=expanded}}
{{Protected areas of California|NPS}}
{{Portal bar|California|Greater Los Angeles|History|United States}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:World War II internment camps in the United States]]
[[Category:Internment camps for Japanese Americans]]
[[Category:Prisons in the United States]]
[[Category:Prisons in California]]
[[Category:Japanese-American culture in California]]
[[Category:1940s in California]]
[[Category:History museums in California]]
[[Category:Museums in Inyo County, California]]
[[Category:World War II museums in California]]
[[Category:Owens Valley]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Inyo County, California]]
[[Category:History of California]]
[[Category:History of Inyo County, California]]
[[Category:History of the Mojave Desert region]]
[[Category:California Historical Landmarks]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in California]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in California]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Inyo County, California]]
[[Category:Temporary populated places on the National Register of Historic Places]]
[[Category:World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:1942 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:California in World War II]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1972]]
[[Category:1972 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in California]]
[[Category:National Park Service areas in California]]
[[Category:Prisons completed in the 1940s]]