Japanese Relocation
Dorothea Lange’s Library of Congress Exhibit
“Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry” - 1942
Chronology of 1942 San Francisco War Events
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Dorothea Lange at Raphael Weill School — 1942
Dorothea Lange’s tremendous body of work for the War Relocation Authority, contains four chilling frames that may be among the most powerful photographs of wartime San Francisco.
Superficially, they are simply pictures of children at Raphael Weill School, O’Farrell and Buchanan streets, then in the heart of “Little Tokio.” Raphael Weill was a famed San Francisco business leader who founded the White House department store.
These photographs document an innocent warmth, friendship, and patriotism — set against great world events sweeping around these children, and the exile of the Japanese from San Francisco that would be complete one month after Lange visited the school.
It is the subversive nature of Lange’s photography at Raphael Weill School that is so compelling.
The neutrality of the lens allows her to clearly show contempt for placing children in internment camps as enemies of the American people.
It is this jarring juxtoposition of human values — and errant public policy — that makes Lange’s photographs at once riveting, chilling — and heartbreaking.
Lange’s photographs speak to a shameful, infamous moment of American history as few others can.
Historical Context for the Photographs
The first 644 Japanese had been evacuated by Gen. DeWitt’s Wartime Civil Control Authority from San Francisco April 7, 1942, and sent to Santa Anita Race Track in Southern California.
Lange, according to WRA records, began photography at the school Thursday, April 16, 1942. She took more photos the following Monday, April 20, two days after Doolittle’s raid on Japan.
April 27, 1942, seven days after Lange left Raphael Weill School, registration began for another wave of internments, and the next day, Friday, April 28, half of the Japanese were removed from San Francisco and housed in converted horse stalls at Tanforan Race Track in San Mateo County. By May 20, they were all gone, including every Japanese child in Dorothea Lange’s photographs.
The WRA captions locate the school at Geary and Buchanan streets. It is actually still on O’Farrell at Buchanan, and is currently named Rosa Parks School. One block away is the original “Japanese YMCA.” All Japanese housing in the area was long ago demolished, and replaced with subsidized low-income projects, as part of a redevelopment plan that followed the Japanese evacuation.
The WCCA used Raphael Weill School as a collection point for the last registered Japanese. On the morning of May 20, 1942 the last 274 Japanese in San Francisco were loaded onto six Greyhound buses at the school, and taken, with a military escort, to the Tanforan Assembly Center.
Admirers of Lange’s photographs, who visit the school, will quickly recognize the buildings and the courtyard where these pictures were taken. The school has changed little during the past 58 years.
Gladys Hansen
March 1999
The Four Photographs
These are the original WRA captions for Dorothea Lange’s Raphael Weill School photographs:
“Lunch hour at the Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets, in the
so-called international section. Many children of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents from this neighborhood. Educational facilities will be established at War Relocation Authority centers where evacuees will spend the duration.”
“Pals at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Yuichi Sumi (left), of Japanese ancestry, and Tommy Wong, of Chinese descent, on one of the last days before evacuation. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for duration.”
“Flag of allegiance pledge at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Children in families of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents and will be housed for the duration in War Relocation Authority centers where facilities will be provided for them to continue their education.”
“Flag of allegiance pledge at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Children in families of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents and will be housed for the duration in War Relocation Authority centers where facilities will be provided for them to continue their education.”
Prints of the Dorothea Lange Raphael Weill School photographs may be found in the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Division.
Tanforan Assembly Center and Manzanar Photographs
PowerPoint Presentations showing the Tanforan Assembly Center and the Manzanar Relocation Center are available from the Museum. The Tanforan presentation contains 20 photographs, with original WRA captions, taken by Dorothea Lange in early 1942. This photo essay closely examines the horse stalls used to house San Francisco internees and the primitive living conditions.
Also available are 20 views of the infamous Manzanar Relocation Center in California's high desert. These photographs include arrival at the camp, internees moving in, and general views of this desolate, dusty, inhumane, location. WRA photographers Clem Albers and Dorothea Lange shot the photographs between April and July 1942. Each file is approximately 1.2 megs. A PowerPoint reader is required, and freely available from Microsoft.com. These PowerPoint presentations were produced by the Museum, are in copyright, and contain WRA photographs from the National Archives. They may be freely distributed for non-commercial private, educational or classroom use only.
Go to the Japanese Internment page.
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