FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A new memorial at the Fresno Fairgrounds commemorates the experience of more than 5,300 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the racetrack before being sent to permanent internment camps during World War II.
The memorial, to be dedicated on Oct. 5, highlights so-called assembly centers where detainees were held for up to five months.
Thirteen centers were created in 1942 in California racetracks and fairgrounds to hold 110,000-plus detainees, the majority U.S. citizens. Three others opened in Arizona, Oregon and Washington.
The centers were patrolled by guards with machine guns. Conditions were stark, sometimes unsanitary. Anxiety about the future reigned. But detainees also organized their own schools, council and sports teams.
The memorial contains family stories on 10 boards designed like photo albums, framed with wood from the center barracks.
