Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten American concentration camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed during World War II from December 1942 to 1945.
Map of Designated Dispersed Campsites at Alabama Hills National Scenic Area & Special Recreation Management Area (NSA & SRMA) in the BLM Bishop Field Office area in California. Published by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
https://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanar
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten American concentration camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed during World War II from December 1942 to 1945.
In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women, and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where the US government incarcerated Japanese immigrants ineligible for citizenship and Japanese American citizens during World War II.
Manzanar is located on the west side of U.S. Highway 395, 9 miles north of Lone Pine, California and 6 miles south of Independence, CA.
Manzanar Visitor Center
The Manzanar visitor center offers extensive exhibits, a 22-minute park film, a bookstore, a Junior Ranger program, and an information desk.
The Manzanar visitor center is located on the west side of U.S. Highway 395, 9 miles north of Lone Pine, California and 6 miles south of Independence, CA.
Barracks in 1942, Manzanar
People walk to barracks framed by mountain peaks.
1942 image of barracks at Manzanar
Block 15 Barrack 7 Garden Lantern, Manzanar
Japanese stone lantern with mountains in background
Block 15 Barrack 7 Garden Lantern, Manzanar
Historic Entrance Sign, Manzanar
Wooden sign with "Mananar War Relocation Center" written on it
Historic Entrance Sign, Manzanar
Manzanar Guard Tower
guard tower with fog and hills in background
Reconstructed Manzanar Guard Tower
Merritt Park, Manzanar
wooden bridge and stonework in foreground with mountains behind
Merritt Park, Manzanar
Manzanar Cemetery Monument
white obelisk with black Japanese characters with stormy mountains beyond
Manzanar Cemetery Monument
Manzanar Pear Orchard and Mount Williamson
flowering pear trees with mountains in background
Manzanar Pear Orchard and Mount Williamson
Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
crowd surrounds white obelisk with mountains beyond
Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
Manzanar Sentry Post
stone building with stormy mountains beyond
Manzanar Sentry Post
2015 Recipients: George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service
Six people and programs received the 2015 Harzog Award for their exceptional volunteer service. Check out their amazing contributions!
Young volunteer giving a thumbs up sign
Japanese American Life During Internment
Overseen and operated by the National Park Service, the sites at Manzanar, Tule Lake, and Minidoka were examined by NPS archeologist Jeff Burton and his team between 1993 and 1999, along with the seven other camps and isolation and assembly centers associated with Japanese American incarceration and relocation.
Archeologists excavate at Manzanar
Rader Lane and Rose Masters have won the 2019 National Freeman Tilden Award
Congratulations to all the two 2019 recipients of the national Freeman Tilden Awards. Learn more about all their innovative interpretive programs.
Three rangers at Manzanar NHS
The Barracks Exhibit at Manzanar
The Barracks Exhibit at Manzanar National Historic Site is an outstanding example of historical thinking that blends original research with community engagement and public outreach.
Laundry hangs on a line over cots in this recreation of a barracks at Manzanar
Gerry Enes
Gerry Enes has been a Preservation Gardener and Arborist with the NPS since 2004. Since that time, he has cared for the historic vegetation at Manzanar National Historic Site, including more than 60 original fruit trees. The orchards are a critical part of the landscape's story, beginning from the time of the pioneer orchadists to the care of the Japanese-American internees.
A man with safety gear prunes a fruit tree.
Shaping the System under President George H.W. Bush
President George H.W. Bush was an ardent supporter of the national parks. Explore some the parks that are part of the legacy of the presidency of George H.W. Bush, who served as the 41st president of the United States from January 20, 1989 to January 20, 1993.
President George H.W. Bush shaking hands with a park ranger at the World War II Memorial
A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation During World War II
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066 empowering the U.S. Army to designate areas from which "any or all persons may be excluded." No person of Japanese ancestry living in the United States was ever convicted of any serious act of espionage or sabotage during the war.
Calisthenics at Manzanar
Manzanar - A Site of Conscience
In 1942, the United States government ordered over 110,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry to leave their homes in California and parts of Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. Under the guise of “military necessity,” the U.S. Army established 10 military-style camps to house the people in remote areas, under guard, for the duration of the war. One of the camps was at Manzanar, in the Owens Valley of eastern California.
Manzanar entrance sign
Celebrating soils across the National Park System
First in a series of three "In Focus" articles that share insights into the near-universal and far-reaching effects of soils on the ecology, management, and enjoyment of our national parks.
Fossil soils at Cabrillo National Monument reveal marine deposits
JROTC and NPS Collaboration – Expanding Our Stories
Over the course of the 2018-19 academic years, the National Park Service’s Washington, DC Office of Interpretation, Education and Volunteers (WASO IEV), with support from Kutztown University, has overseen a series of pilot programs aimed to facilitate unique, place-based learning experiences in national parks for military youth throughout the United States.
Using Their Voices: Founding Women of National Parks
As we commemorate both the centennial of the 19th Amendment and the 104th birthday of the National Park Service, we’re highlighting a few women who harnessed their public voices to protect powerfully important American places.
Series: National Park Service Geodiversity Atlas
The servicewide Geodiversity Atlas provides information on <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geoheritage-conservation.htm">geoheritage</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geodiversity.htm">geodiversity</a> resources and values all across the National Park System to support science-based management and education. The <a href="https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1088/index.htm">NPS Geologic Resources Division</a> and many parks work with National and International <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/park-geology.htm">geoconservation</a> communities to ensure that NPS abiotic resources are managed using the highest standards and best practices available.
park scene mountains
NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Manzanar National Historic Site, California
Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports. [Site Under Development]
monument and mountains
A Taste of Home in a Hostile Place
Manzanar National Historic Site is the best-preserved of the Japanese American War Relocation Centers operated by the U.S. Government between 1942 and 1945. Incarcerees endured harsh living conditions and created a self-sustainable community by transforming the extreme desert environment into a more livable landscape. Today, historic fruit trees survive from the period as an indication of the resiliency of the incarcerated individuals who cared for them.
Leafy fruit trees in an orchard at Manzanar, with tall mountains in the background.
Timeline: Japanese Americans during World War II
Timeline: Japanese Americans during World War II
three black and white photos
Executive Order 9066
This is the exact wording of EO 9066.
black and white image of Franklin D Roosevelt signing document
Glossary of terms related to Japanese American Confinement
Glossary of terms related to Japanese American Confinement
poster with black writing
Timeline: Manzanar 1942-1945
Timeline: Manzanar 1942-1945
black and white image of sign
Manzanar Camp Layout
Manzanar Camp Layout
graphic of a barrack
War Relocation Centers
War Relocation Centers
map of western two thirds of US with confinement sites noted
Terminology and the Mass Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II
Terminology and the Mass Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II
Japanese American man reads newspaper
Alice Piper
Manzanar is most frequently associated with Japanese incarceration; however, its story stretches back thousands of years as part of the homelands of the Owens Valley Paiute and other Native peoples. Just thirty-four miles from Manzanar, Alice Piper, a 15-year-old Paiute student, made history in 1924 by successfully suing the Big Pine School District to integrate their classrooms and allow Indigenous students to attend their newly built school.
Large group of Owens Valley Paiute in front of one-room wooden building in shrubby landscape.
Shino Bannai
Shino Bannai was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Joan Beyers
Joan Beyers lived at Manzanar.
LaPriel Strong Bush
LaPriel Strong Bush lived at Manzanar.
Kazuko Tsubouchi Fujishima
Kazuko Tsubouchi Fujishima was incarcerated at Jerome and Rohwer.
Sue Kunitomi Embrey
Sue Kunitomi Embrey was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Frederick P Causey Jr
Frederick P. Causey, Jr. lived at Manzanar.
Paul Bannai
Paul Bannai was incarcerated at Manzanar.
George Izumi
George Izumi was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Midori Kunitomi Iwata
Midori Kunitomi Iwata was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Kazuko Oyamada Iwahashi
Kazuko Oyamada Iwahashi was incarcerated at Topaz.
Margaret D'Ille Gleason
Margaret D'Ille Gleason worked at Manzanar.
Fumi Manabe Hayashi
Fumi Manabe Hayashi was incarcerated at Topaz.
William Hohri
William Hohri was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Yayoi Okuno Hirashiki
Yayoi Okuno Hirashiki was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Masaji Mas Inoshita
Masaji "Mas" Inoshita was incarcerated at Gila River.
Grace Kato Izumi
Grace Kato Izumi was incarcerated at Jerome.
Eiichi H.E. Kamiya
Eiichi H.E. Kamiya was incarcerated at Rohwer.
Rosie M. Kakuuchi
Rosie M. Kakuuchi was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Kazuko Toji Kato
Kazuko Toji Kato was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Sho Maruyama
Sho Maruyama was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Ayako Nomura Machida
Ayako Nomura Machida was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Ralph Lazo
Ralph Lazo lived at Manzanar.
Tetsuo Kunitomi
Tetsuo Kunitomi was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Rose B. Kitahara
Rose B. Kitahara was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Grace Shinoda Nakamura
Grace Shinoda Nakamura was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Mitsuru J. Nakamura
Mitsuru J. Nakamura was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Claire Ayako Harada Nakashima
Claire Ayako Harada Nakashima was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Lillian I. Matsumoto
Lillian I. Matsumoto was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Bill Nishimura
Bill Nishimura was incarcerated at Poston and Tule Lake.
George H. Morishita
George H. Morishita was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Joe Nagano
Joe Nagano was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Momo Nagano
Momo Nagano was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Raymond E. Muraoka
Raymond E. Muraoka was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Aiji Nagano
Aiji Nagano was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Gloria Hisako Tamura Morita
Gloria Hisako Tamura Morita was incarcerated at Tule Lake.
Frank Mori
Frank Mori was incarcerated at Gila River.
Atsufumi Archie Miyatake
Atsufumi Archie Miyatake was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Albert Mizuhara
Albert Mizuhara was incarcerated at Topaz.
Mariagnes Aya Uenishi Medrud
Mariagnes Aya Uenishi Medrud was incarcerated at Minidoka.
Helen Sugiyama Mishima
Helen Sugiyama Mishima was incarcerated at Gila River.
Shirley Meeder
Shirley Meeder lived at Manzanar.
Phyllis Yeiko Hirata Mizuhara
Phyllis Yeiko Hirata Mizuhara was incarcerated at Poston.
Rose Matsui Ochi
Rose Matsui Ochi was incarcerated at Rohwer.
Joyce Okazaki
Joyce Okazaki was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Jun Okimoto
Jun Okimoto was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Robert Katsumasa Okazaki
Robert Katsumasa Okazaki was incarcerated in Canada.
Sam H. Ono
Sam H. Ono was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Wilbur Sato
Wilbur Sato was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Saburo Sasaki
Saburo Sasaki was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Bo T. Sakaguchi
Bo T. Sakaguchi was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Mary M. Teramoto
Mary M. Teramoto was incarcerated at Jerome and Rohwer.
Tadashi Tatsui
Tadashi Tatsui was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Hikoji Takeuchi
Hikoji Takeuchi was incarcerated at Manzanar and Tule Lake.
Bill Susumu Taketa
Bill Susumu Taketa was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Hayao Hy Shishino
Hayao Hy Shishino was incarcerated at Gila River.
Lawrence Kiyoshi Shinoda
Lawrence Kiyoshi Shinoda was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Mas Segimoto
Mas Segimoto was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Daisy Uyeda Satoda
Daisy Uyeda Satoda was incarcerated at Topaz.
Arthur Loren Williams
Arthur Loren Williams lived at Manzanar.
Kinichi Watanabe
Kinichi Watanabe was incarcerated at Manzanar and Tule Lake.
Hank Umemoto
Hank Umemoto was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Yaeko Munemori Yokoyama
Yaeko Munemori Yokoyama was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Harry Kiyoto Yasumoto
Harry Kiyoto Yasumoto was incarcerated at Gila River.
Homer Yasui
Homer Yasui was incarcerated at Tule Lake.
Lilian Bannai Yamamura
Lilian Bannai Yamamura was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Kazuyuki Yamamoto
Kazuyuki Yamamoto was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Jun Yamamoto
Jun Yamamoto was incarcerated at Manzanar.
Shigeru Yabu
Shigeru Yabu was incarcerated at Heart Mountain.
Buddhism Under Japanese Incarceration During WWII
Religion is crucial to the history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Many Japanese Americans turned to their beliefs for comfort in a time of upheaval. Buddhists faced particular challenges. Many American authorities considered Buddhism to be alien, suspicious, and potentially disloyal. Nevertheless, Buddhists held on to their traditions. Their beliefs helped support them through the hardship and injustice of their wartime experience.
White obelisk with Japanese characters in front of mountains
Series: Women's History in the Pacific West - California-Great Basin Collection
Biographies from Northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada
Map of northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada
10 Camps, 10 Stories: "Beyond the Barbed Wire"
This series will look beyond the historical facts relating to E.O. 9066 and explore the human side of the story. One incarcerate from each of the 10 camps with be highlighted in this year long series.
Incarcerated Japanese Americans at Death Valley
A lesser-known part of Japanese American history took place right here in Death Valley National Park where the government moved 60 people from the incarceration camp at Manzanar – about 100 miles west – into the abandoned Civilian Conservation Crew (CCC) camp at Cow Creek.
Women and children on the steps of a makeshift infirmary.