Manzanar

It’s hard to imagine a city with 10,000 people was once located in the Owen’s Valley. Harder still to imagine — they were mostly American citizens, detained by their own government.

Camp Manzanar was authorized following Pearl Harbor. In early 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, calling for people of Japanese ancestry to be placed in relocation camps.

Soon it had rows of barracks surrounded by barbed wire fences, eight guard towers and newly relocated residence. It eventually included an auditorium, cemetery, airport, sewage treatment plant and a hospital.

Manzanar Historic Site is located on U.S. 395, jus’ south of Independence, California. And while not much more than an open 6,000 acre space remains of the camp, it stands as a stark reminder to a dark chapter in U.S. history.