Displaced: Manzanar 1942–1945: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans

Edited by Evan Backes. Foreword by Pico Iyer. Introduction by Nancy Matsumoto. Dorothea Lange was hired by the WRA to photograph the mass evacuation; she worked into the first months of the internment until she was fired by WRA staff for her "sympathetic" approach. Many of her photographs were seized by the government and largely unseen by the public for a half century. More than a year later, Manzanar Project Director Ralph Merritt hired Ansel Adams to document life at the camp. Lange and Adams were also joined by WRA photographers Russell Lee, Clem Albers and Francis Stewart. Two Japanese American internees, Toyo Miyatake and Jack Iwata, secretly photographed life within the camp. These images express the dignity and determination of the Japanese Americans in the face of injustice and humiliation. Today the tragic circumstances surrounding displaced and detained people around the world only strengthen the impact of these photos taken 75 years ago. Hardbound: 176 pp.  Also available; Print Manzanar Street Scene by Dorothea Lange (8x10)   Reflecting on WWII, Manzanar and the WRA