Oral Histories

The Importance of Oral History

While Masumi Hayashi's panoramic photo collages document the physical landscapes of the camps as they exist today, these oral histories capture what those landscapes cannot show: the human experience of incarceration.

The voices in these recordings describe the shock of the evacuation orders, the indignity of the assembly centers, the harsh conditions of the remote camp locations, and the resilience that allowed communities to survive. They speak of maintaining cultural traditions, creating gardens and schools, and forming the bonds that would sustain families for generations.

These testimonies complement the Family Album photographs—visual records taken by internees themselves—to provide a more complete picture of life within the camps than any single medium could offer alone.