Dorothea Lange's Censored Photographs of FDR's Japanese Concentration Camps

[mahatmakanejeeves]

CockedAndLoadedHat Retweeted

1) Dorothea Lange’s Censored Photographs of FDR’s Efforts at “Evacuation” & “Relocation” of Japanese-Americans in 1942. They were seized for the duration of WWII, some photographs even had the word “Impounded” written across the print. https://anchoreditions.com/blog/dorothea-lange-censored-photographs …

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Dorothea Lange’s Censored Photographs of FDR’s Japanese Concentration Camps

December 7, 2017 -- Tim Chambers

The military seized her photographs, quietly depositing them in the National Archives, where they remained mostly unseen and unpublished until 2006

Dorothea Lange—well known for her FSA photographs like Migrant Mother—was hired by the U.S. government to make a photographic record of the “evacuation” and “relocation” of Japanese-Americans in 1942. She was eager to take the commission, despite being opposed to the effort, as she believed “a true record of the evacuation would be valuable in the future.”

The military commanders that reviewed her work realized that Lange’s contrary point of view was evident through her photographs, and seized them for the duration of World War II, even writing “Impounded” across some of the prints. The photos were quietly deposited into the National Archives, where they remained largely unseen until 2006.

I wrote more about the history of Lange’s photos and President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 initiating the Japanese Internment in another post on the Anchor Editions Blog.
....

[SidDithers]

1. Could you imagine the reaction to EO 9066 in today's online world?...

No way would FDR be lionized the way he is today. He'd be seen as a civil rights villain, and that wouldn't be totally wrong.

Sid

[dalton99a]

2. No sabotage means sabotage

The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.
— General John L. DeWitt, head of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command

A truly shameful chapter in U.S. history.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. The very fact that I haven't died yet

is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.

[Hoyt]

3. One of my dad's assignments in WWII was guarding a north California camp.

He was an MP. He said it was so cold, and the people were so ill equipped, that he often spent whatever was left of his pay (after cigarettes, probably) on gloves and coats for them.

FDR didn’t do a lot for segregation in military, either. But Social Security helped a lot of people.

[ripcord]

5. The single worst executive action ever

It was racism pure and simple, if anyone should have been in concentration it was every single member of the German Anerican Bund who months before had been goose stepping around Madison Square Gardens throwing the nazi salutes and shouting Sig Heil. This and not resuppling our troops in the Philippines were the two worst decisions FDR ever made.

[fierywoman]

10. There were German concentration camps in the United States. My grandmother,

aunt, uncle and cousins were in it (grandmother in NYC; others in Texas.) None of them were the goosesteppers in Madison Square Garden.

[ripcord]

14. That is just as frightening

Only the very upper echelons of the Bund were imprisoned, the rest walked.

[ripcord]

16. And it was only the Japanese Americans in California

Not the rest of the country just California, even the Japanese Americans in the territory of Hawaii were spared this.

[mainer]

7. Heartbreaking.

The quote that sticks out as most appalling:

“The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.”
— General John L. DeWitt, head of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command

In 1984 speak, he says that innocence is evidence of guilt.

[Brother Buzz]

8. Sometimes the photographer gets photographed

[mountain grammy]

9. My mother talked a lot about this..

she spent the 30's working with groups to get Jews out of Europe and then her hero FDR imprisons American citizens. She was horrified.

All done with an executive order.. pretty scary.

[ripcord]

15. One of my mother's friends was imprisoned at Manzanar

I stop by there every so often on my way to the Sierras.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

11. At least the photos weren't destroyed or edited to reflect the current party line.

Winston Smith must not have been hired yet.

[keithbvadu2]

12. But those people have adequate food, housing, personal care and such - unlike some children in Trump

But those people have adequate food, housing, personal care and such - unlike some children in Trump's concentration camps.

Not fancy but adequate for family life.

[obamanut2012]

13. You have no idea what you are talking about

I know many, many people who were in these camps.

They did NOT have "adequate food, housing, personal care and such" -- not even close. This also destroyed the family unit in many cases, and that isn't even talking about how American citizens had they homes and personal property seized, their lives destroyed, their pets taken from them and killed, their schooling interrupted, their lives destroyed, and shoved into tarpaper hovels in the environmentally hostile part of the country.

And, not even all family were allowed to stay together.

AND THESE WERE INNOCENT AMERICAN CITIZENS.

Educate yourself -- there is so much info and personal accounts on these concentration camps. Your post is flabbergasting.

[keithbvadu2]

17. Still better treatment than Trump's concentration camps.

Still better treatment than Trump's concentration camps.

I'm not praising those WWll Japanese camps.

Just the relative comparisons.