America's concentration camps

Michael Balter 9/16/2008 12:21:00 PM History
A note from Rick Pettigrew, head of The Archaeology Channel:

Friends and colleagues: Historical archaeology takes on special relevance and visibility when it covers times and events of unique importance to the public. The tragedy of Japanese-American internment camps in World War II still touches the nerves of Americans—especially Japanese-Americans—today, as you will note when you see Camp Amache, the latest video feature on our nonprofit streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel (http://www.archaeologychannel.org).

Camp Amache in Southeastern Colorado was one of 10 War Relocation Authority, or internment, camps where US authorities forced Japanese-Americans to live after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II. Home to nearly 7,300 internees from 1942 to 1945, it now is a National Historic Landmark. In 2008, Dr. Bonnie Clark of the University of Denver led a field school at the site, which is threatened by bottle-collecting and cattle-grazing. One highlight of the season was a visit by a former internee who found there a poignant memento of his past.

This and other programs are available on TAC for your use and enjoyment. We urge you to support this public service by participating in our Membership (http://www.archaeologychannel.org/member.html) and Underwriting (http://www.archaeologychannel.org/sponsor.shtml) programs. Only with your help can we continue and enhance our nonprofit public-education and visitor-supported programming. We also welcome new content partners as we reach out to the world community.

Please forward this message to others who may be interested and let us know if you wish to be removed from our mailing list.

Richard M. Pettigrew, Ph.D., RPA
President and Executive Director
Archaeological Legacy Institute
http://www.archaeologychannel.org


Photo: Camp Amache, Colorado/Dept of Defense

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Michael Balter

Posted by Michael Balter

I have been a working journalist for more than 40 years, beginning in Los Angeles as an investigative reporter and then in Paris as a travel, food, and science writer. For more than 20 years I have covered anthropology and archaeology writer for Science, Audubon, Scientific American, SAPIENS, and other publications. I have also covered sexual misconduct for The Verge, Scientific American, and others; I write about mental health, especially schizophrenia; and I engage in occasional media criticism. I returned to the USA in October 2017 after 30 years in Paris, and now live in the New York City area, where I currently teach journalism at City College of New York (I previously taught journalism at Boston University and New York University.) For more about me and what I do, copies of my articles, information about my book, and other goodies, please visit MY WEB SITE

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1 Comments

Anne Gilbert said…
This is one of the most shameful moments in American history. Really. Interestingly enough, I went to a high school where there were a lot of Japanese-American kids. They were as American as they could be, being Japanese kids. What was weird, though, is my parents told me before I went to high school, even, about the Japanese internment. But I didn't connect this with the kids I knew, until years later, when it occurred to me that at least some of them could have been born in those awful places. Or their older brothers and sisters could have. I'm glad people are now speaking out about these things. It's terribly easy to forget about them.
Anne G
September 18, 2008 at 2:59 AM
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