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Color silent amateur footage of life in the World War II Japanese American detention facility in Tule Lake, California, made 1942-1945 by teacher Charles Palmerlee.

This segment shows the transition, in summer 1943, of Tule Lake from a relocation center to a maximum-security segregation camp (02:44). A title card reads, "Segregation! Cultural Disunity", showing graphics of the United States and Japan; a banner on a building reads "Hello Rohwer; Hello Granada; Hello Jerome" (other camps to which Tule Lake internees were relocated); people mill around covered trucks with red flags attached to their radiators; a truck pulls in, and people pass blankets into the truck; the Sakiyama family poses for the camera; people shake hands, bow goodbye; Mary Sakiyama (?) weeps; the Sakiyama family climbs into a covered truck; a view of a guard tower and fence at Tule Lake camp; a train about to depart with internees being relocated to other camps (02:44).

Credits: Charles Palmerlee Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Seward Palmerlee, Japanese American National Museum (96.47.8). Preserved and made accessible in part by a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

HNRC — Last modified Aug 25 2012 8:54 a.m.


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