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{
    "url_title": "Camp reunions",
    "title_sort": "campreunions",
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        "json": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Camp%20reunions/?format=api",
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    "modified": "2013-03-19T17:39:35",
    "title": "Camp reunions",
    "body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <p>\n  Gatherings dating back to the 1980s of mostly\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei/\" title=\"Nisei\">\n   Nisei\n  </a>\n  who were incarcerated in WWII American concentration camps as a way of reuniting with friends and acquaintances made during camp years. Popularized during the time of the\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Redress_movement/\" title=\"Redress movement\">\n   redress movement\n  </a>\n  , camp reunions formed primarily as social events, featuring such activities as banquets, dances, golf tournaments, and art exhibitions. In this way, they differed from\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Camp_pilgrimages/\" title=\"Camp pilgrimages\">\n   camp pilgrimages\n  </a>\n  that were more overtly political and intergenerational in nature and held at the site of the camps to demonstrate the harsh conditions found there.\n </p>\n <div aria-labelledby=\"mw-toc-heading\" class=\"toc\" id=\"toc\" role=\"navigation\">\n  <input class=\"toctogglecheckbox\" id=\"toctogglecheckbox\" role=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" type=\"checkbox\"/>\n  <div class=\"toctitle\" dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n   <h2 id=\"mw-toc-heading\">\n    Contents\n   </h2>\n   <span class=\"toctogglespan\">\n    <label class=\"toctogglelabel\" for=\"toctogglecheckbox\">\n    </label>\n   </span>\n  </div>\n  <ul>\n   <li class=\"toclevel-1 tocsection-1\">\n    <a class=\"\" href=\"#Background\">\n     <span class=\"tocnumber\">\n      1\n     </span>\n     <span class=\"toctext\">\n      Background\n     </span>\n    </a>\n   </li>\n   <li class=\"toclevel-1 tocsection-2\">\n    <a class=\"\" href=\"#Purpose\">\n     <span class=\"tocnumber\">\n      2\n     </span>\n     <span class=\"toctext\">\n      Purpose\n     </span>\n    </a>\n   </li>\n   <li class=\"toclevel-1 tocsection-3\">\n    <a class=\"\" href=\"#Current_Status\">\n     <span class=\"tocnumber\">\n      3\n     </span>\n     <span class=\"toctext\">\n      Current Status\n     </span>\n    </a>\n   </li>\n   <li class=\"toclevel-1 tocsection-4\">\n    <a class=\"\" href=\"#Footnotes\">\n     <span class=\"tocnumber\">\n      4\n     </span>\n     <span class=\"toctext\">\n      Footnotes\n     </span>\n    </a>\n   </li>\n  </ul>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Background\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Background\">\n    Background\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <p>\n    In the early 1980s, more than a decade after the first Manzanar Pilgrimage in 1969, several camps, including\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Manzanar/\" title=\"Manzanar\">\n     Manzanar\n    </a>\n    ,\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Heart_Mountain/\" title=\"Heart Mountain\">\n     Heart Mountain\n    </a>\n    , and\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Tule_Lake/\" title=\"Tule Lake\">\n     Tule Lake\n    </a>\n    , held their first camp reunions in such urban centers as Las Vegas and Sacramento. Even though largely social in nature, camp reunions began shortly after the formation of the\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Commission_on_Wartime_Relocation_and_Internment_of_Civilians/\" title=\"Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians\">\n     Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians\n    </a>\n    (CWRIC) in 1980, at a time when those who were held in WWII camps began to speak out against the injustices they endured. Since 1982, former inmates from\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Amache_(Granada)/\" title=\"Amache (Granada)\">\n     Amache\n    </a>\n    ,\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Crystal_City_(detention_facility)/\" title=\"Crystal City (detention facility)\">\n     Crystal City\n    </a>\n    ,\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Gila_River/\" title=\"Gila River\">\n     Gila River\n    </a>\n    ,\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Poston_(Colorado_River)/\" title=\"Poston (Colorado River)\">\n     Poston\n    </a>\n    ,\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Topaz/\" title=\"Topaz\">\n     Topaz\n    </a>\n    , among others, have held semi-regular events. In 1990, former inmates from the Rohwer camp in Arkansas gathered in Los Angeles for its first reunion; with 1,200 in attendance it was felt to be the largest gathering of its kind.\n   </p>\n  </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Purpose\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Purpose\">\n    Purpose\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <p>\n    For camp reunion organizers, these events are not just a time to greet old friends, but an opportunity to reflect on the struggles they all faced while in camp. In rebuttal to claims by writer Lillian Baker (\n    <i>\n     Dishonoring America: The Falsification of World War II History\n    </i>\n    ) that camp reunions demonstrated that time spent in camp was remembered fondly, reunion attendees point out that the camps were unforgettably harsh experiences that managed to bring them closer together. \"It created a strong bond within the residents of the camps that has lasted since the end of the war,\" according to the introduction in the Amache reunion program booklet.\n    <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n     <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n      [1]\n     </a>\n    </sup>\n    \"Great friendships developed under extremely trying circumstances,\" reiterates a Poston reunion program.\n    <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n     <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n      [2]\n     </a>\n    </sup>\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Heart Mountain reunion organizer Bacon Sakatani noted that by putting together an exhibition for the first Heart Mountain reunion in 1982 he realized the grave injustice he suffered that he only came to realize as an adult, commenting on \"how the government had fooled us, had misled us.\"\n    <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n     <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n      [3]\n     </a>\n    </sup>\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    For the most part, reunions are festive and commemorative by nature. Gila River Reunion Committee chair Sei Dyo noted in 1992, \"There is no bitterness here this weekend—something we can all learn from. There is, instead, a monument to the triumph of the human spirit.\"\n    <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n     <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n      [4]\n     </a>\n    </sup>\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Though camp reunions share similarities with high school reunions since many Nisei were of high school age while in camp, they are not limited by age. High schools (e.g., Manzanar High School and Topaz High School) and prewar committees (e.g.,\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Terminal_Island,_California/\" title=\"Terminal Island, California\">\n     Terminal Island\n    </a>\n    ) have been known to hold separate reunions.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Oftentimes, monies were raised through reunions to place permanent memorials at the sites of the camps. In 1989 the Poston camp reunion generated the embryo of the idea to build the Poston Memorial, which was constructed in 1992. Two stone monuments in a cemetery at Rohwer resulted from the proceeds of the Rohwer camp reunion. In 2012 the Heart Mountain reunion, typically held in Las Vegas, traveled to Wyoming to attend the opening of the newly constructed Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (HMWF) Interpretive Learning Center.\n   </p>\n  </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Current_Status\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Current_Status\">\n    Current Status\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <p>\n    As the Nisei population ages and diminishes, camp reunions are approaching obsolescence. For example, a camp reunion in Portland that began with 1,000 attendees in 1990 announced its last event just ten years later. Other camp reunion organizers have vowed that each gathering will be the final one due to the dwindling number of attendees and the difficulties faced by aging organizers. It is possible that in the future camp pilgrimages, organized primarily by younger\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Sansei/\" title=\"Sansei\">\n     Sansei\n    </a>\n    and\n    <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Yonsei/\" title=\"Yonsei\">\n     Yonsei\n    </a>\n    committee members, will eventually replace camp reunions.\n   </p>\n   <div id=\"authorByline\">\n    <b>\n     Authored by\n     <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Sharon_Yamato/\" title=\"Sharon Yamato\">\n      Sharon Yamato\n     </a>\n    </b>\n   </div>\n   <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n    Yamato, Sharon\n   </div>\n  </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n    Footnotes\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n    <div class=\"mw-references-wrap\">\n     <ol class=\"references\">\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Amache reunion program booklet, October 28-30, 1994.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Poston III reunion program booklet, Bally's Reno, May 1988.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        <i>\n         Los Angeles Times\n        </i>\n        , August 21, 2011.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Sei Dyo, Gila River 50th Reunion Program Booklet welcome, 1992.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n     </ol>\n    </div>\n   </div>\n   <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20230622224614\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.014 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.019 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 118/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 504/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 48/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 5/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 1319/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n   <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00%   13.490      1 -total\n 20.02%    2.701      1 Template:Reflist\n 10.45%    1.409      1 Template:Published\n 10.13%    1.366      1 Template:AuthorByline\n-->\n   <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:46-0!canonical and timestamp 20230622224614 and revision id 8639\n -->\n  </div>\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"toplink\">\n <a href=\"#top\">\n  <i class=\"icon-chevron-up\">\n  </i>\n  Top\n </a>\n</div>",
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