Last week I wrote about the Peninsula Museum of Art and the history of the mall where it is located. The Shops of Tanforan in San Bruno was built on the grounds of a former racetrack used as the assembly center for almost 8,000 mostly Japanese-Americans during World War II.
To remember this injustice the Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee (TACMC) is in the midst of building the Tanforan Memorial, located just outside the San Bruno BART station. The bronze sculpture will picture two of the children that were detained at Tanforan based on a photograph by Dorethea Lange.
Already available is the photo exhibit: They wore their best… Inside the BART station. Photos by Dorothea Lange inspired Paul Kitagaki Jr. to search out survivors and relatives of previously detained Japanese-American. Pictures of Lange and Kitagaki Jr are side-by-side with explanations of their origins and current life. There are also photographs of historic documents and five information panels condensing the history.
While Dorothea Lange is now widely recognized for her striking images of the people in the Dust Bowl and the Internment camps, many of her photographs were deemed too honest and therefore impounded by the federal government.
If you are not a BART rider you can either ask the BART attendant to let you in or you can go to the virtual exhibit, plus additional materials, on the Tanforan Memorial website.
If you’d like to learn more about the Japanese-American internment you can visit the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.