In the months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order calling for the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. The War Department hired Dorothea Lange to photograph the process. During the Depression, Lange had shared the government’s desire to help refugees. Now that same government was rounding up American citizens on the basis of their race. At odds with her employers, Lange’s instincts led her to photograph the tragic and disgraceful effects of the order. In response, many of her photographs were censored and remained unseen for decades.
“We have a disease. It’s Jap-baiting and hatred. I went through an experience I’ll never forget when I was working on it and learned a lot, even if I accomplished nothing.” — Dorothea Lange
“On February 19, President Roosevelt delegated to the Secretary of War the power to exclude any person, alien or citizen, from any area which might be required, on the grounds of military necessity.” — Dorothea Lange Field Notes
“Entering Town, More than a Year After Evacuation of Japanese.” — Dorothea Lange
A caption for the original negative at the National Archives reads, "Turlock, California. Families of Japanese ancestry arrive at Turlock Assembly Center. Evacuees will be housed later at War Relocation Authority centers for the duration."