Sepia Saturday: Manzanar
The incarceration of people of Japanese heritage in prison camps during World War II, the plundering of their property, and shunning of them as possibly traitorous "others" was a shameful event in American history. Ansel Adams took photographs memorializing life at one of the "relocation centers," Manzanar. It was, like other incarceration sites, remote from people's homes and inhospitable in many respects. Winters could be harsh; summer heat could be brutal. This summer view of the site was taken from the guard tower. I suspect most of the photos of people were staged to show life in the camps as tolerable and even beneficial, not because it was true but rather to assuage the guilt of government officials. This photo shows Mrs. Ryie Yoshizawa teaching a class in dressmaking and tailoring at Manzanar. A young woman stands at a dressmaker's form in the foreground, pretending to...