Manzanar National Historic Site

In the history of America, Manzanar is a historical site widely known for camping
over 110,000 Japanese Americans that were incarcerated at the time of World War II. The
site is located in California’s Owen’s Valley between Lone Pine town and Independence
town. Situated at the foot of Sierra Nevada, this site is identified in American history as the
best preserved traditional camp. The Manzanar historic site is characterized by the American
identity because it maintains and represents the legacy of the Japanese American. It was
associated with the forced relocation of more than 110,000 Japanese American families. They
were ordered to leave their homes and later detained in remote areas and military camps. The
site marks a dark period in American history and allows tourists to have an overview of the
events that occurred at this site during the Second World War. It consists of a collection of
memories of the Japanese American identity as well as monuments that illustrate the cultural
and historical way of life of the victims that were detained at Manzanar, now, Manzanar
National Historic Site.
When some incarcerates left, others worked on protecting the Manzanar site and
making it a national historic site. They wanted the historical and cultural way of life and
stories of the victims who were incarcerated unfairly is remembered throughout the history of
the US. Manzanar historic site will remind the current and future generations of this dark
moment that occurred during World War II. It is part of eth American identity that focuses on
the Japanese American incarceration era. The Manzanar National Historic site covers the

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former town of Manzanar, ranching, and mining old days as well as the role of water from the
Owens Valley in shaping its history (Burton, 160). Several terminologies have been used to
describe the Manzanar dull historical moment. It was labeled as a war relocation center,
relocation or concentration camp because of the activities that took place at the site. Gardens,
ponds, and historic buildings at this site are characteristic features of resistance and hope
while barracks symbolize their daily lives.
Research finds that two-thirds of the population incarcerated at Manzanar historic site
was of the American identity. At the time of the incarceration, Japanese Americans were the
principal victims despite committing no crime, trials and convictions. It was a concentration
camp because thousands of American citizens were detained on this site. In as much as the
government tries to disguise the reality of the dark moment that occurred at the site by calling
it an evacuation or relocation site, citizens and American society describe it as a forced
relocation because the victims were ordered to move out (Ng, 153). Some researchers do not
want the site to be called a concentration camp because historical camps of the German Nazi
communities during the Holocaust were labeled as concentration camps. Despite the denial
by the government, the field has been associated with the rejection of constitutional and
human rights, discrimination by race, forceful and oppressive conditions innocent individuals
from the Japanese ancestry experienced.
Previously, the site was a home for Native Americans. The location was established
by mines and ranchers who later abandoned it after Los Angeles was developed. The Natives
utilized irrigation to raise crops, practiced pottery and traded their products along the valley
during summer. When the mining of gold and silver began in the Owen Valley, the site
experienced an influx of miners, farmers, and herdsmen. When a war emerged in the valley,
the US army forced the residents at gunpoint to relocate. The battle began when the
California government was informed about the potential of alien enemies from Japanese

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descent. It pressed for action to designate military areas and exclude all persons staying in the
area. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans relocated, oppressed and forced to walk
distances such that many of them died along the way. Many of the victims were incarcerated
in the concentration camps where they had to endure poor and sub-standard conditions. They
made their livelihood by engaging in self-sufficient activities such as raising chickens and
recreational activities. Although they tried to make a living in the camp, many of them were
resistant and caused a Manzanar Riot in 1942.
When residents of Manzanar relocated and moved to Los Angeles city, they left
behind a historic site with monuments and memorials that have been prese