Heart Mountain Relocation Center Designated a Historic Landmark
The Heart Mountain Relocation Center, which held almost 11,000 Japanese-Americans interned during World War II, was designated a National Historic Landmark on this day, to be maintained by the National Park Service.
The evacuation and internment of the Japanese Americans, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized on February 19, 1942, is widely regarded as the greatest single civil liberties tragedy in American history.
The closest town to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center is Ralston, Wyoming, with a population of less than 300 people, about 76 miles from Billings, Montana.
The Manzanar Relocation Center, meanwhile, was designated a National Historic Site on March 3, 1992.
Visit the Heart Mountain NHL Web Site: http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?resourceId=1164118837&ResourceType=District
Learn more about the Japanese American evacuation and internment: Peter Irons, Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese-American Internment Cases (1983)
Visit the Japanese-American Museum: http://www.janm.org/
Read: Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (2001)