WRA resettlement image

Free re-use available This object is protected by copyright, but the rights holder has allowed us to make it available to you for non-commercial, educational projects.

Learn more...

ddr-densho-7-6 (Legacy UID: denshopd-p7-00006)

Kaneko Collection

Original WRA caption: "Here is a corner view of the spacious living room in the home of the Kaneko and Isoda families who have resettled in Milwaukee. Mrs. Tei Kaneko is opening her knitting bag while on the floor (left to right) are Robin Isoda, 2-1/2, son of Mr. and Mrs. Georg[e] Isoda, and Wayne Kaneko, 2-1/2-year -old son of the Kanekos. The Kanekos are formerly from Hunt Relocation Center and before evacuation lived in Seattle, Washington." Beginning in summer 1942, the War Relocation Authority (WRA) began to release incarcerees and encouraged them to resettle in areas of the United States other than the West Coast. However, many Japanese Americans were reluctant to leave (incarcerees did not depart in large numbers until 1944). The Issei in particular, many of whom were sixty or older, had little with which to start a new life after losing their farms and small businesses. Incarcerees also feared for their safety; reports and rumors of hostile treatment by outsiders were common in camps. The WRA started a campaign to show how good life was outside the camps and away from the West Coast. The agency took photographs of the Kaneko and Isoda families for that purpose. Tei Kaneko and her family joined her sister, Sachiko Isoda, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where a church had helped them find a furnished home. Incarcerees from various camps informed Kaneko that they had seen the WRA photographs posted on camp blackboards.

1944

Photographs

Still Image

Densho

Courtesy of the Kaneko Family Collection, photo by the War Relocation Authority

Copyright restricted
Copyright restricted

API