History Colorado

A young girl arrives at the Grananda Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado.

Japanese Relocation

The Aftermath of Amache

Once Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps, they were not allowed to leave without special permission. If they did leave, they needed to carry travel permits and tags.

A Life in Paperwork

The Granada Relocation Center, also known as Amache, was one of ten internment camps for Japanese Americans built during World War II and the only one in Colorado.

The Granada Relocation Center

Here is the sequence of events from the Granada Relocation Center’s opening in 1942 to its closing in 1945, and the events that occurred after.

 Amache Timeline

Explore Ralph Carr’s desk to find out more about his life.

Stand for Justice

Executive Order 9066 was signed in 1942 by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt and authorized the internment of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and Japanese immigrants.

Democratic Principles in Conflict 

The federal government tore down or relocated the buildings that once made up the Amache-Granada Relocation Center, which at its peak housed 7,318 people.
The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Restoration and preservation efforts, along with archaeological research, have been ongoing since 2007.

The Amache-Granada Relocation Center: A  Historic Landmark

Ralph Carr was the Governor of Colorado from 1939 to 1943.

The Ralph Carr Story

By April of 1945, WWII was winding down. Hitler died on April 30, and victory in europe was formally declared on May 9. Amache officially closed in October, 1945, though Public Proclamation No. 21 was officially issued on January 2, 1945, allowing Japanese Americans to return home.
But where was home?
People had left homes, businesses, and farms behind. Now they were given very short notice that they had to leave Amache. They were given $25 and a train or bus ticket. Some people returned to California and the west coast and tried to rebuild their previous lives. They often returned to face more prejudice. Others, invited to stay in Colorado by Governor Ralph Carr, started over again in the only western state that welcomed them.

After the War: Leaving Amache

Objects can tell us a lot about a story from the past. Take a look at a few items that might have been brought to Amache from the perspective of a family who lived there. What do they tell us about daily life at Amache? 

Taking Personal Objects to Amache

Become acquainted with several democratic principles and consider the degree to which Coloradans throughout our history have accepted and demonstrated these principles. This list of principles is not complete. These simply represent a sample of key principles. As you review the definition of each principle, think about examples that show up in your own life.
During World War II, many of these principles came into conflict with one another when people of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes and forced to live in Internment Camps. Think about these principles as you learn more about Japanese Internment through the story of Amache in Colorado.    

Democratic Principles: An Introduction

Circle the objects that the father would have taken to Amache, star the objects that the mother would have taken, and put a square around the objects the children would have taken. What do you think some of these items could be used for? What would you take from your home if you suddenly had to move? How do these objects connect to Japanese-American culture?

Packing for Amache

The federal government tore down or relocated the buildings that once made up the Amache-Granada Relocation Center, which at its peak housed 7,318 people. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Restoration and preservation efforts, along with archaeological research, have been ongoing since 2007.

The Amache-Granada Relocation Center: A Historic Landmark

During World War II, 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps—including one in Colorado called "Amache." Explore the story of Amache through the lens of democratic principles and discover how they came into conflict in this historic case study.

Additional Resources, Books, Articles, and Photos

Teacher Resources, Colorado Biographies, and Secondary Level Books on Japanese Internment and Relocation

Japanese American Internment in Colorado Teacher Online Resources and Curriculum

Power of Words Handbook A Guide to Language about Japanese Americans in World War II

Letter from the Amache Historical Society 

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

1. d. Identify and describe how major political and cultural groups have affected the development of the region.

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

2. c. Describe both past and present interactions among the people and cultures

3.  Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

4. c. Analyze how people use geographic factors in creating settlements and have adapted to and modified the local physical environment.

Japanese Internment in Colorado

Civics and Government

Social Studies

U.S. History

World History

These flowers are from my family’s flower shop.  We were finally allowed to leave Amache, and we moved to Denver.  My father grew some of my mother’s favorite flowers and sold them at our store in Denver.

Bouquet of flowers made of shells with pink flowers and buds, green wire stem, paper mache (?) leaves.

From 1942 to 1946, more that 110,000 Japanese-Americans living in California were interned at camps in the western United States including at Granada, Colorado during WWII. This tragic episode of American and Colorado history is represented in the core exhibition, "Colorado Stories" at the History Colorado museum.

Jean Higashi and her sister Gail Tamaribuchi were both at Amache as children. Their family had been displaced along with many from the San Francisco/Oakland area and they spent two years at Amache and experienced life in an internment camp at the ages of 2 and 6? with Jeanne being the elder. Jeanne remembers the camp but Gail was too young to remember internment. When the family was released they moved to the north area of Denver where predominately Jewish families resided and as they expressed, felt accepted and among friends by the Jewish community of Denver who had great empathy for the plight of Japanese-Americans after internment. Japanese-Americans continued to face prejudice and discrimination well after WWII.
Along with the photographs and written documentation about the Amache internment camp from the sisters' return reunion visit to Amache in 1998, an extraordinary group of handmade jewelry made at Amache was donated by Jeanne Higashi. The jewelry is referred to as the "Art of Gaman." Gaman is a Japanese term of Zen Buddhist origin which means "enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity." The term Gaman is generally understood to indicate perseverance, patience, tolerance, or self-denial. Handcrafts and artworks made from found materials at internment camps are a testimony to the perseverance and grace with which those who were interned endured their hardships.

The jewelry are in the form of pins (some with fasteners and some without) and are made of painted wood, shells, and pipe cleaners in shapes of birds, flowers, and whimsical figures as well as painted landscape scenery on small flat wooden substrates. There is one industrially made metal pin from their reunion visit to Amache in 1998. Of the handmade items, similar wooden painted bird pins were shown in the traveling Smithsonian exhibition titled,"The Art of Gaman: Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946," and shown from March 5, 2010 -- June 30, 2011. The bird pins appears to be possibly the work of Himeko Fukuhara and/or Kazako Matsumoto both interned at Amache as shown in the exhibition. Another particularly poignant object given by Jeanne Higashi is a white cotton handkerchief with a printed design of a blue star with rays that reads, "Blue Star Mothers, Amache, CO," to recognize women interned at Amache who had sons serving in the US military during WWII.

Flower Pin

Flower Pin*

My father wanted to pack his camera, but that was against the rules.

Camera, Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor

My father packed a hammer.  I didn’t understand why that was so important.  But when we got to Amache he used it to build a shelf for all my treasures near my bed.

Hammer

My little brother carried this baseball everywhere.  He was excited when we started playing baseball at Amache.  He wants to be just like Joe DiMaggio, his favorite player, when he grows up.

Colorado Rockies baseball.
Inscription: Rawlings/official ball/national league/pres//cushioned cork center/ ro-n

Baseball, Colorado Rockies

My mother found this coffee can in the garbage and kept it beneath my little brother’s bed. He was scared of our new home, and didn’t like to go to the bathroom alone at night.

These geta (sandals) were made by my father out of scrap wood. They helped keep my feet clean when using the latrine.

My little brother loves this carp kite. Every year on Boy’s Day (now called Children's Day), May 5th, we hang it outside to show that a happy and strong boy is living inside.

My mother brought these bowls for our meals. She is such a good cook. My favorite thing she made were onigiri, or rice balls. Her cooking was much better than what we ate at the Mess Hall.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Japanese Internment in Colorado

Taking Personal Objects to Amache

Background Knowledge

Flowers