In 1942, over 1,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were sent from the Yakima Valley in the State of Washington to the Portland Assembly Center and then onto their final destination of the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp in Wyoming.
The Emmy-Award-winning documentary The Legacy of Heart Mountain captures the essence of incarceration in one complete package. At the heart of the film are striking photos taken between 1943 and 1945 from inside the Heart Mountain camp by George and Frank C. Hirahara, who were from the Yakima Valley. The family—once a part of the vibrant Yakima Valley Japanese community with Japanese centers in Yakima and Wapato, a Buddhist and Methodist Church as well as a Japanese Language School, and farms spreading across the Yakima Valley—saw this area destroyed due to the incarceration with only 10 percent of the population returning after WWII.
A free screening of The Legacy of Heart Mountain, a documentary film by David Ono and Jeff MacIntyre, will be held on Sunday, March 15 at 1:00 p.m. at the NVC Memorial Hall at 1212 S. King Street, Seattle, WA 98144. David Ono will be present to answer questions after the showing.
For more information, visit http://www.seattlenvc.org or contact Debbie Kashino at [email protected].
