$3 Million for WWII Japanese American Confinement Sites
National Park Service Grants Fund Preservation Efforts
Washington (May 13, 2010) — The National Park Service (NPS) has awarded 23 grants totaling $2.9 million to help preserve and interpret historic locations, where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.
In the program’s second year, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants will help fund projects in a dozen states, including the restoration of a historic railroad depot in Arkansas that will house an exhibit about that state’s two confinement sites, and an educational outreach program to engage youth in preserving confinement sites through art, conversation, and community service.
“The Japanese American internment experience is an important chapter in American history,” said NPS Director Jon Jarvis. “The National Park Service is honored to be part of this shared effort to preserve these sites, which are a tragic reminder of a shameful episode in our past, and a compelling lesson on the fragility of our constitutional rights.”
The NPS grants range from $17,295 to re-establish the historic Honor Roll at the Minidoka National Historic Site in Jerome County, ID (which commemorates Japanese American servicemen from that camp) to $832,879 to build the interior of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Park County, WY. Also receiving grants are a project to develop plans to rebuild a guard tower at the Granada Relocation Center (Amache) in southeastern Colorado, the relocation and rehabilitation of a historic barrack from the Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston) in Arizona, and several oral history projects. Although the matching funds support preservation and interpretation work in 12 states, some of the projects are national in scope. These include a plan to create a reference and resource website that will hold research materials and curricula on the history of the camps.
Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program in 2006 to preserve and interpret the places where Japanese Americans were sequestered after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The law authorizes up to $38 million in grants for the life of the program to identify, research, evaluate, interpret, protect, restore, repair, and acquire historic confinement sites. The program aims to teach and inspire present and future generations about the injustice of the World War II confinement and demonstrate the nation’s commitment since then to equal justice under the law.
Congress appropriated $3 million for grants in the current fiscal year. They were awarded in a competitive process, matching $2 in federal money for every $1 in non-federal funds and “in-kind” contributions raised by groups working to preserve the sites and their histories. Congress appropriated $1 million for fiscal year 2009, the first year of the grants.
Locations eligible for the grants include the 10 War Relocation Authority camps that were set up in 1942 in seven states: Gila River and Poston, AZ; Amache, CO; Heart Mountain, WY; Jerome and Rohwer, AR; Manzanar and Tule Lake, CA; Minidoka, ID, and Topaz, UT. Also eligible are more than 40 other locations in 16 states, including civilian and military-run assembly, relocation and isolation centers.
Following are brief descriptions of the funded projects. Those marked with an asterisk (*) indicate that the applicant is from one state and the project relates to a confinement site in another.
Arizona
*Under California, see Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District project, Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretations of Confinement Sites in the Western United States.
*Also under California, see Poston Community Alliance project, Poston Preservation Project—Barrack Relocation and Rehabilitation.
Arkansas
Arkansas State University
Jonesboro, AR
Rohwer Relocation Camp Interpretive Project
Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR
$100,502
McGehee Industrial Foundation
McGehee, AR
Jerome-Rohwer Visitor & Interpretation Facility
Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR
Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR
$419,967
*Under Hawaii, see the University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History project, Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas.
California
Friends of Manzanar
Independence, CA
Oral History and Research for Enhanced Interpretation and Education at Manzanar Demonstration Block 14
Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA
$58,833
Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District
Los Angeles, CA
Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretations of Confinement Sites in the Western United States
Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA
Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA
Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ
Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
$151,790
Japanese American National Museum
Los Angeles, CA
Nisei Oral History Project
Multiple sites, counties and states
$42,573
Japanese American National Museum
Los Angeles, CA
Toward Justice for All: Exhibit Planning
Multiple sites, counties and states
$75,713
Poston Community Alliance
Lafayette, CA
Poston Preservation Project—Barrack Relocation and Rehabilitation
Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz, County, AZ
$31,000
*Under Oregon, see Klamath County Friends of the Library project, Breaking the Silence: The Power of Remembering, Oral Histories of Tule Lake Internees
Colorado
Colorado Preservation, Inc.
Denver, CO
Building Stock Research and Inventory Related to the Granada Relocation Center (Amache)
Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
$20,093
Colorado Preservation, Inc.
Denver, CO
Water Tower Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan at Granada Relocation Center (Amache)
Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
$37,327
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Denver, CO
Granada Relocation Center (Amache) Guard Tower Reconstruction Plan
Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
$34,980
District of Colombia
National Japanese American Memorial Foundation
Washington, DC
Recruitment and Training of Volunteer Docents for National Japanese American Memorial Foundation
Multiple sites, counties and states
$38,909
Hawaii
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI
Hawai'i Confinement Sites Educational Documentary
Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI
Sand Island Detention Camp, Honolulu County, HI
Kilauea Military Camp, Hawai’i County, HI
Kalaheo Stockade, Kauai County, HI
Haiku Camp, Maui County, HI
$117,626
University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History
Honolulu, HI
Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas
Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR
$29,080
University of Hawaii, West O'ahu
Honolulu, HI
Multidisciplinary Research and Education at Honouliuli Internment Camp, Phase 2
Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI
$ 98,544
Idaho
Friends of Minidoka
Twin Falls, ID
Minidoka Honor Roll
Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
$17,295
*Under California, see Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District project, Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretations of Confinement Sites in the Western United States.
*Under Washington, see Wing Luke Memorial Foundation / Wing Luke Asian Museum project, First Person Stories Revealed: Historic Materials from Minidoka Preserved through the Higo Ten Cent Store.
Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts Boston
Boston, MA
From Confinement to College: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Students in World War II
Multiple sites, counties and states
$68,852
Oregon
Klamath County Friends of the Library
Klamath Falls, OR
Breaking the Silence: The Power of Remembering, Oral Histories of Tule Lake Internees
Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA
$55,000
Texas
Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc.
Austin, TX
Japanese Confinement Sites in Texas: An Untold Cultural Legacy of World War II
Kenedy Internment Camp, Karnes County, TX
Seagoville Internment Camp, Dallas County, TX
Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp, Bexar County, TX
Fort Bliss Internment Camp, El Paso County, TX
$20,167
Washington
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial
Bainbridge Island, WA
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial
Bainbridge Island/Eagledale Ferry Dock, Kitsap County, WA
$182,725
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
Seattle, WA
Japanese American Confinement: Reference and Resource Website
Multiple sites, counties and states
$166,145
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
Seattle, WA
Stories Less Told Part II: Video Oral Histories of the Japanese American Incarceration
Multiple sites, counties and states
$210,000
Wing Luke Memorial Foundation / Wing Luke Asian Museum
Seattle, WA
First Person Stories Revealed: Historic Materials from Minidoka Preserved through the Higo Ten Cent Store
Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
$100,000
Wyoming
Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation
Powell, WY
Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center (Interior Build-Out)
Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, WY
$832,879
