Manzanar National Historic Site Walking Stick Medallion

Fear and prejudice reared their ugly heads in America after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Located in California’s remote, wind-swept Owens Valley, Manzanar was one of 10 U.S. concentration camps where more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated by a government that believed they posed a wartime threat. The once-sprawling facility’s remnant and replica structures and an excellent visitor center offer insights into a time when America wrongfully imprisoned its own.