The internment camps used to house Japanese Americans during World War II were crummy looking, make shift buildings which were built in a rush to detain the evacuees. Once in the camps, all class distinctions were blurred. People lived in the same shabby quarters, ate the same meals together in mess hall. The houses were separated only by narrow allies used for fire escape routes. The Camp Harmony Exhibit page in the online archive of the University of Washington gives insight into how demeaning the camps were to the incarcerated internees during this time and how such civil rights were denied. Armed guards patrolled the grounds surrounding each of the barracks and along the barbed wire fences enclosing the camps. In some cases the Japanese Americans were prohibited from bei

Sports were a major way of the camp’s residents diverted reality to something more bearable. Japanese Americans, many of whom were young adults, enjoyed friendly games of sumo, volleyball, golf, and mostly baseball. The allies between the housing buildings provided enough room for the internees to construct baseball diamonds. Especially for the younger people in the camps baseball was a very important part of their culture. In some camps teams played softball because of lack of equipment like Jack Kunitomi who spent the internment time in Manzanar. Kunitomi spoke with Tim Malloy of the Sacramento Bee about baseball in the relocation sites. Baseball was used by the internees to cure times of boredom and was the result of their determination to keep active. When there was nothing else the Japanese could turn to baseball to boost their morale. As for Kunitomi and the Manzanar camp players and teams were able to order equipment and formed more than 80 baseball teams. Teams played one another and even teams from nearby high schools. Many now believe that in a site being preserved for exhibits, the baseball diamonds should be included because of baseball’s essential influence on camp life (1-2).

Other means of keeping civil rights in check were curfew and lights out times. Internees were denied other liberties we, as Americans take for granted. Organizations were forbidden in the camps, except in seldom instances where permission was granted by camp authorities. Privacy was violated by camp authorities and by the general design of the camp’s buildings. Police were allowed to enter any room without warrant and many of the walls did not reach the ceiling. Also evacuees were requested to voluntarily hand in Japanese books, pamphlets, literature, and other records deemed suspicious by Americans. Religious freedom was also denied: Shinto, a major religion for the Japanese, was banned from many of the camps (1-4).

The Camp Harmony Exhibit also expresses the Japanese’s’ need to create some

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