New Illinois Holocaust Museum exhibit explores Japanese American incarceration during WWII

SKOKIE, Ill. - A new exhibit at the Illinois Holocaust Museum is shining a light on a lesser-known chapter of American history: the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. 

What we know:

"Resilience – A Sansei Sense of Legacy" highlights the forced relocation and imprisonment of thousands of families, mostly from the West Coast, under Executive Order 9066.

Among the exhibit’s powerful pieces is an installation made of tags bearing the names of those sent to internment camps across the country—each individual reduced to a number.

Dr. Roy Wesley, a former internee, was an infant when his family was forced from their home in Portland, Oregon, and sent to a camp in Idaho. His father, an ophthalmologist, lost his practice, and his entire family was uprooted.

"My parents and my grandparents, my family were all interned at the same time under the Executive Order 9066, which was a continuation of the Enemy Alien Act of 1798 which was recently reenacted again, even though when Roosevelt signed it, it was wartime. This today is not wartime," said Dr. Wesley.

Dr. Wesley, an advocate for preserving Japanese American history, has worked with the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) to document and share these experiences. He did not fully understand what had happened to his family until his 30s, when he began uncovering the tragic details.

"I did not know anything about this until I got into my 30s, when I finally discovered what actually happened. It was eye-opening because I didn’t realize all this tragedy had occurred to my grandparents, to my parents, to myself and my brother," said Dr. Wesley.

The exhibit includes artwork, photographs, and videos, as well as a quilted kimono created by JASC members in honor of those imprisoned.

"They that put the quilt together to memorialize the people who were in the incarceration camps — fhey were prisoners of the US government," said Dr. Wesley.

What's next:

Dr. Wesley hopes visitors will take the time to learn about this painful yet important history. 

He draws a connection between past injustices and the present, echoing the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s mission to remember and learn from history.

"It’s very timely, and it’s something that people should pay attention to because, as in the Illinois Holocaust museum itself, with a slogan ‘Never forget, always remember’ what happened and if we forget, this period of time, worse atrocities will happen in the future," he said.

The exhibit is open through June 1 at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie.