Loyalty & Resistance
Military Police at Manzanar
Many of the photos in this exhibit were taken by government-hired photographers to document events. However, the government wanted to present a positive view of the incarceration. Photos that showed barbed wire, armed guards, machine guns, or any sign of resistance, like this one, were “impounded.” The negatives were confiscated but, surprisingly, not destroyed. Photograph by Clem Albers, Manzanar Relocation Center, c. 1942. National Archives 537423.
Recruiting volunteers for the U.S. Army, Captain William S. Fairchild addressed Japanese Americans at the Granada (Amache) Relocation Center. He later handed out a questionnaire designed to determine their loyalty. About 12,000 inmates refused to respond or answered “No” to one or both of the loyalty questions. Some Nisei felt the questions were inappropriate for U.S. citizens, or would call them into military service. Others could no longer affirm their allegiance to the United States. Photograph by Tom Parker, Amache, Colorado, February 9, 1943. National Archives.
442nd Soldiers
Nisei soldiers upon entry into Marseille, France, Sept. 1944. Accompanying this image on a scrapbook page was the caption, “Our entry into Marseille, France, after a rough 2 day trip where nearly everyone got seasick. Pretty tough trying to get the gals to understand. Cigarettes sold for $20 to $25 a carton.” Courtesy Taki Family Collection, Densho Digital Repository.
Fellow inmate Toyo Miyatake photographed Teru Arikawa at the memorial service for her son, Private First Class Frank Nobuo Arikawa, who was killed in action on the Italian front. “Manzanar has its first gold star mother,” wrote the Manzanar Free Press. “We had dreaded the day when some family in Manzanar would receive the fateful telegram.” Photograph by Toyo Miyatake, Memorial Service, July 1944. Courtesy of Toyo Miyatake Studio.
