Displaced Japanese-American Senior Students at an Internment Camp, 1942

The infamous assault on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, triggered a dark chapter in American history: the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps along the West Coast. More akin to prisons than living quarters, these camps offered scant comforts, with bare rooms devoid of furniture save for army-issue metal beds and stoves.

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, a student uprooted to a camp near Death Valley, vividly described the stark conditions faced by those unjustly detained. The American government’s actions stemmed from fear, fueled by the specter of another surprise attack by the Japanese. Yet, this fear-based decision resulted in the mass violation of civil liberties and a stain on the nation’s conscience.