Until the late twentieth century, relatively few Americans knew
that the United States government forcibly detained nearly 120,000
Japanese Americans during World War II. At war's end, the nation,
including many of those who were confined to the ten Relocation
Centers-which President Roosevelt initially referred to as
"concentration camps"-wished to wipe this national tragedy from
memory. That Damned Fence, titled after a poem written by a
Japanese American held at the Minidoka camp in Idaho, draws on the
creative work of the internees themselves to cast new light on this
historical injustice. While in captivity, detainees produced moving
poetry and fiction, compelling investigative journalism, and
lasting work of arts to make sense of their hardships and to leave
a record of their emotional and psychological suffering. Heather
Hathaway explores the experiences of inmates in five camps-Topaz in
Utah; Granada/Amache in Colorado; Rohwer and Jerome in Arkansas;
and Tule Lake in northern California-each with their own literary
magazines, such as TREK, All Aboard, Pulse, The Pen, Magnet, and
The Tulean Dispatch. Conditions in the camps varied dramatically,
as did their environments, ranging from sweltering swamplands and
sun-blasted desert to frigid mountain terrain. So too did the
inhabitants of each camp, with some dominated by farmers from
California's Central Valley and others filled with professionals
from the San Francisco Bay area. This disparity extended to the
attitudes of camp administrators; some deemed the plan a mistake
from the outset while others believed their captives to be a
significant threat to national security. That Damned Fence reveals
the anger and humor, and the deep despair and steadfast resilience
with which Japanese Americans faced their wartime incarceration. By
emphasizing the inner lives of the unjustly accused and the myriad
ways in which they portrayed their captivity, Heather Hathaway
gives voice to Americans imprisoned by their own country for their
country of origin or appearance.
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