The former Santa Fe Civilian Conservation Corps Camp was converted to a camp for 4,555 civilian men of Japanese descent from 1942 to the spring of 1946. Initially, men of Japanese descent who were brought to the camp had been denied U.S. citizenship even though they had worked in America for two decades or more. Their age averaged 52 years. They were removed from the West Coast because their leadership roles in their communities had a perceived potential to support the enemy, yet they were innocent of wrong doing. This talk describes, through archival photos, how the internees spent their waiting hours while being separated from family while some had sons serving in the U.S. Army.
The Santa Fe Internment Camp (1942-1946) | Santa Fe Public Library
The Santa Fe Internment Camp (1942-1946) in the Shadow of Los Alamos. A presentation by Nancy Bartlit, in the Main Library Community Room of the Main Library, at 145 Washington Ave, in Santa Fe on Thursday, May 18, 2023, 6:00pm – 7:00pm.
I was reminded of participating in a worldwide Zoom relay (Oct 2020) for tea.
One of the tea practitioners chose the Santa Fe monument where the camp had been to make tea. It was touching to see this lone person prepare tea, see the monument in the background as everyone who joined the Zoom moment enjoy the quiet together.
That’s a moving moment.