WWII Internee Propaganda Pics

[Charles]

[SIZE="3"]War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement, 1942-1945[/SIZE]



Via the ever-informative MetaFilter, another amazing collection of historical images, depicting the Japanese-American internees as the WRA wanted the public to see them.

...more inside...

[Charles]

This is truly a historical collection, with thousands of high quality images, unfortunately hindered by a poor search mechanism. But it's worth it. I spent an hour or so searching through images, I thought I'd look for some images of the evacuations from Los Angeles, which I heard departed from a railhead at the junction of Traction Avenue and San Pedro, where I used to live. And I swear this photograph was taken right in front of my former home. There are the usual heartbreaking photos of families ripped from their homes on the way to camps like Manzanar, although the photographers tried their best to present it in a way that would make it look humane.
I was particularly interested in photographs of my old turf in Lost Angeles' Little Tokyo. There are fascinating pictures that look totally unchanged from when I lived there in the 1980s, the buildings are the same, only the signs have changed. Some of the places I recognize, I used to eat at this Chop Suey place, the sign still existed last time I was in LA. One tragic picture stood out, a toy store with little traditional dolls in the window, everything half price. There will be no little girls left in town to play with these dolls.
But to me, most fascinating of all, a little known aspect of Little Tokyo history. After the Japanese moved out, the area was taken over by African-Americans, it became known as "Bronzeville." This particular photo shows Japanese-American internees who returned to the area, trying to re-establish the Japanese stores in the area. And eventually they did. There is extensive documentation of evacuated properties and stores, this is a rich historical record of the WWII era in LA.
The collection has far too much to even comment on here, but I was struck with the propagandistic aspects. There are hundreds of photos of evacuees who were relocated away from the West Coast, publicity pictures show them in new jobs in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. There are pictures of internees returning to their former cities, they all smile for the camera, showing no signs of the indignities they suffered. And there are even a few girlie pics.

In closing, I will recommend some of the astute comments and interesting related links in this story at MetaFilter. There are a few dedicated Japan-related story hunters at MeFi, and they deserve full credit for these amazing finds. Also worthy of credit are the librarians and curators who presented these pictures, as well as the photographers who took the images.