What We Do

The National Park Service preserves, protects, and shares our nation's special places and stories. Employees work in a variety of fields. Science, research, and restoration. Grants and partnerships. Planning and management. Interpretation, education, and beyond. Discover what we do.
Showing results 1-9 of 9

    • Type: Article
    3 photo collage: painting of Poston camp, photo of Munemitsu barn, and Mendez v. Westminster mural

    While often discussed in isolation, Japanese incarceration and school segregation unfolded concurrently within the lives of the Mendez and Munemitsu families. This project explores the entangled inequalities that brought the two families together. It also highlights some of the people and historic places that can speak to their story.

    • Type: Article

    The Munemitsu family had four children; Seiko, who went by Tad, Saylo, Akiko “Aki”, and Kazuko “Kazi.” The children were “Nisei,” second-generation Japanese Americans who were American citizens. In 1942 they attended their local schools in Westminster, California. After Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The Munemitsu children were forcibly relocated to Poston, Arizona. This lesson is based on articles from Entangled Inequalities.

    • Type: Article
    Alien registration card wwii

    During the war, the United States government incarcerated many people in camps and prisons across the home front. This included enemy aliens, prisoners of war, Japanese Americans and Native Alaskans, and conscientious objectors. In Hawaii, the military imposed martial law. Elsewhere in the Greater United States, enemy forces incarcerated American civilians during and after the capture of American territories.

  • Technical Preservation Services

    Case Study: Mā'alaea General Store, Hawaii

    • Type: Article
    A long building in front of a blue sky

    The Mā'alaea General Store, built in 1910, was operated by three Japanese families for 90 years at Mā'alaea Bay on Maui's south coast. It served a small population of workers at a nearby Wailuku Sugar Company camp and a small Japanese fishing fleet based in Mā'alaea Bay.

    • Type: News
    • Date Released: 2020-06-11
    Tadaima logo with barracks

    Manzanar National Historic Site will join other National Park Service (NPS) sites and Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (JAMP) as part of Tadaima: A Community Virtual Pilgrimage from June 13, 2020 to August 16, 2020. This pilgrimage will run continuously for nine weeks, with new content provided daily. It is free and open to the public and will be available online at www.jampilgrimages.com.

  • Minidoka National Historic Site

    Tadaima: A Community Virtual Pilgrimage

    • Type: News
    • Date Released: 2020-06-01
    People attend the 2018 Minidoka Pilgrimage

    From June 13, 2020 to August 16, 2020 the National Park Service and the Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (JAMP) will co-host Tadaima: A Community Virtual Pilgrimage. This pilgrimage will run continuously for nine weeks, with new content provided daily. The pilgrimage is free and open to the public and will be available online at www.jampilgrimages.com. Registration opens on June 1, 2020.

    • Type: News
    • Date Released: 2020-04-27
    Black and white photo of rows and rows of low, bare, one-story buildings.

    The National Park Service is pleased to announce more than $3.1 million in Japanese American Confinement Sites grants that will fund preservation, restoration and education projects throughout the country. The 22 projects funded will help tell the stories of the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan in 1941.

    • Type: News
    • Date Released: 2018-04-13
    Historical black and white photo of incarcerated Japanese American children in front of a school building

    The National Park Service today announced more than $1.3 million in grants to fund preservation, restoration, and education projects at World War II Japanese American Confinement Sites. These projects will help tell the story of the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, who were imprisoned by the U.S. government following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

    • Type: Article
    A group of people releasing butterflies.

    George Takei, actor and social activist, returns to Arkansas for the dedication of new interpretive exhibits at the Rohwer War Relocation Center.

Last updated: February 9, 2022