Interior View of Japanese-American Citizens League Headquarters, Centerville, California

The assembly and internment of 100,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of them born in the United States, began in the spring of 1942 after President Roosevelt issued executive Order 9066 "to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he [the Secretary of War] or the appropriate Military Commanders may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with such respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the Military Commander may impose in his discretion." The West Coast—California, Oregon, and Washington—was designated Military Area No. 1, a place from which Japanese Americans (resident aliens and native born, families and orphans) were to be excluded. This area was also of course, where the majority of them lived. Voluntary relocation was briefly attempted, then assembly centers and internment camps were quickly established to move people out of state or confine them to concentration camps within state lines.

Dorothea Lange was hired by the War Relocation Authority to photograph this process, a new migration that her second husband, the economist Paul Schuster Taylor, described in a 1942 Survey Graphic article as "the largest, single, forced migration in American history." She took her job very seriously and made pictures such as this one before the packing, tagging, and transporting of people actually began. Her still life concisely illustrates a part of the creed of the Japanese American Citizens League as stated in 1940: "Although some individuals may discriminate against me, I shall never become bitter . . . I am firm in my belief that American sportsmanship and attitude of fair play will judge citizenship and patriotism on the basis of action and achievement, and not on the basis of physical characteristics." Ironically, the organization initially backed the evacuation order and encouraged its members to cooperate—to give up property and livelihood—so that the nation could be secured.

Judith Keller, Dorothea Lange, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002), p. 52. © 2002 J. Paul Getty Trust.