RELATED RESOURCES
Related Resources
Explore the trove of related resources curated by authors Nina Wolpe and Gordon Hideaki Nagai based upon their years of teaching and presenting material about the World War II Evacuation and Internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Click on the categories below to learn more about this dark chapter in American history.
Amache National Historic Site
Amache was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1994, and later was named a National Historical Landmark in 2006. Survivors of Amache wanted it included as a National Park and petitioned Congress for this status. This required Amache to undergo a Special Resources Study which was completed and sent to Congress in October 2021. It passed both houses of Congress in February 2022 and was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 18, 2022. Plans for the new National Park are being prepared to present information about the historical importance of the site and preserve its role as a teaching site.
Learn about the park, as well as its history and creation. Learn more ⟶
Amache Pilgrimage
Over the years, Gordon visited four of the ten sites of relocation camps: a) Tule Lake in Northern California, where he participated in a pilgrimage of former internees from Oregon in 2008; b) Manzanar near Owens Valley in California; c) Heart Mountain in Wyoming; and d) Amache in Colorado. At the times of his visits, all had little more than the remaining concrete foundations, with perhaps a minor memorial plaque.
Beginning in 2006 federal monies were approved to build information centers at a number of the relocation camp sites as a way of preserving the lessons learned and some now have formal educational facilities for this purpose. For Amache, Gordon made a pilgrimage back to Southeastern Colorado in 1993 when he and his wife were in Boulder for the graduation of their daughter from the University of Colorado.
Gordon found the pilgrimage full of memories, powerful in his emotions tied with Camp Amache, and peaceful in resolving issues of his government’s actions against him and his family during the war.