Caring for the Sites of Japanese American Incarceration

During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly removed 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast and imprisoned them, without trial, in some of the most desolate places in the country. In 1982 a congressional study concluded that the incarceration resulted from "racial prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership." Many of those sites are now preserved by the National Park Service (NPS) so that future generations can learn from them.

A working group for the incarceration sites

In 2022 Tom Leatherman, superintendent of Pearl Harbor National Memorial, received a Pacific West Region Cultural Resource Award for founding the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) Working Group. The internal group brings together NPS employees at every level — from each NPS incarceration site and from fields such as cultural resources, planning, education and interpretation — to lead on the sites, tackle shared problems, pass on lessons and improve how the NPS cares for them.

Leatherman has worked on this history since 2005, when he became superintendent of Manzanar National Historic Site, and stayed involved through later posts. In early 2022 he wrote the group's charter, which puts community-building and open sharing of knowledge, regardless of rank, at its center. A colleague described his "horizontal" style of leadership as one that invites the whole team to contribute, and the group has earned a reputation as approachable experts ready to help other NPS staff.

Tom Leatherman. NPS photo.

In his words

On why the history matters, Leatherman said: "I think it's important for everyone to understand that this is part of our history. It didn't happen to someone else. It happened to us as a country."

On representation: "I do think representation is important. Especially people who have a history and connection to these stories - for the healing and for the work that needs to be done to help educate people. But I can't in the same way represent the people who were incarcerated."

He hopes future leaders of the group will be younger and more diverse, and sees mentoring them as the job of today's leaders. Members with personal ties to this history or to other civil rights movements, he believes, help the NPS build relationships with communities and open the door for them to tell their own stories.

The Pilgrimages

From 2005 to 2022, Leatherman attended Pilgrimages at all ten War Relocation Authority sites. Each year, people who were incarcerated and their families gather at a site to heal by talking about the trauma in their lives and to keep the lessons alive — among them, that civil liberties, regardless of race, are fragile if they are not protected, and that every citizen has a role in holding the government accountable so it does not happen again.

Leatherman at a Manzanar Pilgrimage. NPS photo.

"If you are a leader in a park, and you're doing it right, you invest in learning and working with that community – whatever the community is, whatever the park is," he said. "When you invest in learning and getting to know the community around the Japanese American incarceration, you become part of that community at some level."

Of the group's progress: "It feels great, but we can always improve." He plans to stay involved after retiring, and credits Anna Tamura and Bernadette Johnson with helping formalize the group and edit its charter.

About the awards

The Pacific West Region's Regional Awards for Cultural Resources have been announced each spring for 50 years. Regional winners go on to compete for the NPS Director's Awards for Natural and Cultural Resources.

Sources

• National Park Service: "A Legacy to Uphold: Raising Awareness of Japanese American Incarceration in the NPS and Beyond," 2022 Pacific West Region Awards for Cultural Resources.