Tule Lake Relocation Center

The bronze gives Tule Lake the sentence it could give any of the ten camps, and Tule Lake was not like the others. In 1943 the government made it the segregation center for people it called disloyal, most of them for answering no, or refusing to answer, two questions on a loyalty questionnaire. It was the only camp with a stockade, a jail inside the camp. Under that pressure 5,461 people held here renounced their American citizenship. The camp opened on May 27, 1942, the date this plaque was dedicated thirty-seven years later, and closed last, in March 1946.

What the plaque says

May 1942 Tule Lake March 1946 Tule Lake was one of ten American concentration camps established during World War II to incarcerate 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, of whom the majority were American citizens, behind barbed wire and guard towers without charge, trial or establishment of guilt. These camps are reminders of how racism, economic and political exploitation, and expediency can undermine the constitutional guarantees of United States citizens and aliens alike. May the injustices and humiliation suffered here never recur. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 850-2 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Northern California-Western Nevada District Council, Japanese American Citizens League, May 27, 1979.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

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