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Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps at which Japanese
American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World
War II. Located at the foot of the imposing Sierra Nevada in eastern California's
Owens Valley, Manzanar has been identified as the best preserved of these
camps.
Please click on the IN DEPTH button at right to access our expanded website.
There you will find information for planning your visit, including maps
and directions. You'll also find additional information about programs and
projects at Manzanar National Historic Site, volunteer opportunities, educational
resources, and much more about Manzanar's natural and cultural history.
Manzanar's history predates its occupation as a detention facility. Before
the white man came to Owens Valley, the area was home to many Paiute and
Shoshone Indians. Between 1910 and 1935 an agricultural village here known
as "Manzanar" (from the Spanish word for "apple") was
a thriving pear and apple growing center. In February of 1942, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering that all Japanese
Americans be evacuated from the West Coast. As a result, Japanese Americans
from all of California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington sold what they could
not carry and boarded trains to 16 assembly centers. There they would live
in temporary housing for much of the spring and summer of 1942 until permanent
camps were built. From 1942-1945, approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans
were evacuated from their homes and businesses to internment camps scattered
throughout the interior of the United States. Manzanar was used as an internment
camp for over 10,000 Japanese Americans from Southern California.
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