Yesterday I wrote about two very inspiring men who lived through the forcible relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War 2. Today I’m continuing that theme with this episode of California’s Gold from 2005. Manzanar War Relocation Center was located in the Owens Valley of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, and although the camp barracks were dismantled long ago, the past has not been forgotten, as annual memorial pilgrimage has been held each April since 1969 (sadly, the event had to be cancelled in 2020). In this episode, Huell learns about two particular residents of Manzanar, one of whom was Henry Fukuhara, a world-famous watercolor artist (1913-2010).

During the years of the detainment in Manzanar War Relocation Center, one of ten camps at which Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II, music provided a rare solace for the internees. Huell visits with Mary Kageyama Nomura known as the “Songbird of Manzanar” who performed there as a teenager.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)