Manzanar to host pilgrimage events, April 26 and 27

Event celebrates 55 years in 2024

Manzanar National Historic Site invites visitors to participate in a weekend of special events in conjunction with the Manzanar Committee’s 55th Annual Pilgrimage.

All are welcome and the events are free.

Pilgrimage weekend begins Friday, April 26, with a public reception with light refreshments hosted by the Friends of Eastern California Museum from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Eastern

California Museum is located at 155 Grant Street in Independence. The museum is open daily, except Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Manzanar National Historic Site Visitor Center is open Friday to Monday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed Tuesday to Thursday). On Saturday, April 27 only, the center will extend hours to 9:a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It features extensive exhibits and audio-visual programs. A special art show, “Portraits of the People of Payahuunadü,” honors indigenous people whose connections to this valley stretch back to time immemorial.

Just outside the visitor center, Block 14 features two reconstructed barracks and a women’s latrine, as well as a restored World War II-era mess hall.

The barracks exhibits offer an in-depth exploration of the challenges and changes people faced in their daily lives at Manzanar. An exhibit on schools is featured in the north end of Barracks 8. The women’s latrine powerfully evokes the humiliation people endured during private moments in public spaces. The

Manzanar Committee’s 55th Annual Pilgrimage Ceremony begins at noon, Saturday, April 27, at the Manzanar Cemetery. A free shuttle service from the visitor center parking lot to the cemetery will be available from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

UCLA Kyodo Taiko will kick off the event with traditional Japanese taiko drumming at 11:30 a.m., followed by the procession of camp banners at noon.

Don Tamaki will be the keynote speaker at the 55th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage. Tamaki is bestknown as co-counsel for Fred Korematsu during his Coram Nobis court case in which he appealed his 1944 conviction for violating the order that forcibly removed Japanese/ Japanese American from the West Coast and incarcerated them in American concentration camps and other confinement sites. Tamaki helped lead a successful effort to get

Korematsu’s conviction vacated in U.S.District Court in 1984.

The Pilgrimage program concludes with a traditional interfaith service and ondo dancing. The Manzanar Committee requests that those wishing to pay tribute by placing flowers on the base of the cemetery monument please bring their own flowers.

The Manzanar At Dusk program begins at 5 p.m. Saturday at Lone Pine High School located at 538 South Main Street (Hwy. 395) in Lone Pine.

The program offers participants opportunities for intergenerational discussions and sharing.

For more information on Manzanar National Historic Site, call 760-8782194 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/manz. Additional Pilgrimage program information is posted on the Manzanar Committee blog at https:// manzanarcommittee.org

Photo courtesy of National Park Service/Manzanar People from diverse backgrounds participate in the Manzanar Pilgrimage interfaith ceremony during the Manzanar Pilgrimage. This year’s pilgrimage marks the event’s 55th year, which started in December 1969 when a group of about 150 people journeyed to Manzanar, though others had been making the trek unofficially for years before that. The pilgrimage and Manzanar National Historic Site emphasizes the protection of human and civil rights for all by preserving the stories from the site’s dark past.