During World War II, 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated in ten War
Relocation camps used to carry out the government’s system of exclusion and detention
mandated by Executive Order 9066. Tule Lake was the largest and most controversial. In
1943, Tule Lake became a high-security Segregation Center imprisoning 12,000 Japanese-
Americans deemed “potential enemies” of the United States based on their response to the
infamous and confusing “loyalty questionnaire” intended to distinguish those of Japanese
ancestry (most of them US citizens) into the categories of "loyal" or "disloyal".
The Tule Lake Committee will focus the 2008 Pilgrimage on stories about “The Segregation Center,” a little-known part of Tule Lake's history.
These stories include:
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what happened to those that were segregated
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the pro-Japan sentiments that arose from the injustice and harsh conditions under
segregation
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the complex reasons that drove the large majority of adult American citizens at Tule Lake to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
What can we learn from these stories of the past in order to protect the civil liberties and civil
rights of all of our communities today?
The Tule Lake Pilgrimage is a four-day
journey to the heart of the former Tule Lake
Segregation Center in the Northern California
town of Newell. On the bus ride to the
California-Oregon border, participants watch
videos to learn more about the history of Tule
Lake, meet their fellow pilgrims -- former
internees, family members, students, and
activists – and begin building a pilgrimage
community.
The 2008 pilgrimage will mark the 16th pilgrimage organized by the Tule Lake
Committee (TLC). This all-volunteer committee is comprised of former
internees, community members and community activists who are committed to
honoring the history and legacy of Japanese American families interned at Tule
Lake.
