2017 / 48th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage & 2017 Manzanar At Dusk Set for April 29

Forwarded for the Manzanar Committee

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23, 2017 — “Never Again To Anyone, Anywhere! 75th Commemoration of Executive Order 9066” is the theme for the 48th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, sponsored by the Manzanar Committee, on Saturday, April 29, 2017, at the Manzanar National Historic Site, located on U.S. Highway 395 in California’s Owens Valley, between the towns of Lone Pine and Independence, approximately 230 miles north of Los Angeles (see map below).

This year’s Pilgrimage will commemorate 75 years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the unjust incarceration of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans and their immigrant parents in American concentration camps and other confinement sites during World War II.

The event will also recognize the 25th Anniversary of Manzanar being declared a National Historic Site on March 3, 1992.

Cultural performances are tentatively scheduled to begin at 11:30 AM PDT, while the main portion of the program begins at 12:00 PM.

Each year, more than 1,000 people from all walks of life attend the Pilgrimage, including students, teachers, community members, clergy and former incarcerees. Planning is underway for the afternoon event as well as for the Manzanar At Dusk program, scheduled from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM that same evening at Lone Pine High School, approximately eight miles south of Manzanar National Historic Site.

Manzanar At Dusk is co-sponsored by the Nikkei Student Unions at California State University, Long Beach, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego.

Through a creative presentation, small group discussions and an open mic session, Manzanar At Dusk participants will have the opportunity to learn about the experiences of those incarcerated in the camps. Participants will also be able to interact with former incarcerees in attendance to hear their personal stories, to share their own experiences, and discuss the relevance of the concentration camp experience to present-day events and issues.

Pilgrimage participants are advised to bring their own lunch, drinks and snacks, as there are no facilities to purchase food at the Manzanar National Historic Site (restaurants and fast food outlets are located in Lone Pine and Independence, which are nearby). Water will be provided at the site.

Further details about the Pilgrimage and the Manzanar At Dusk program, including bus transportation from the Los Angeles area, will be announced at a later date.

Both the Manzanar Pilgrimage and the Manzanar At Dusk programs are free and are open to the public. For more information, call (323) 662-5102 or send e-mail to 48thpilgrimage@manzanarcommittee.org .

The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site.