Current Exhibition
COMING OF AGE IN AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps explores the experiences of Japanese American youth who asserted their place as young Americans confronting the injustice of being imprisoned in World War II concentration camps.
Check out our resources including:
- A video about conserving a Boy Scout drum
- An activity guide created by JANM’s Education Unit to accompany the exhibition
- Related stories from Discover Nikkei
Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps explores the experiences of Japanese American youth who asserted their place as young Americans confronting the injustice of being imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II and embarking on the universal journey into adolescence.
During World War II, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were unjustly incarcerated in American concentration camps—approximately one third were children. Through photographs, personal stories, and artifacts, Don’t Fence Me In reveals the strength and ingenuity of young Americans who came of age in the ten War Relocation Authority camps and the Crystal City Department of Justice internment camp. From volunteer projects and color guards at memorial services to camping trips, social dances, scout troops, and sports leagues, they drew upon their own resilience and creativity to forge friendships and community in the face of abrupt upheaval and wrongful imprisonment in their youth.
For some, these activities were the continuation of their pre-war participation or became the foundation for a lifetime of dedication. For others, they were a brief experience that only lasted as long as their incarceration. But whether they were the most important thing or one of many things happening in their lives, their participation was an integral part of their unique wartime experience.
Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps is sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, and the State of California, administered by the California State Library, with additional support from the California Community Foundation.
Media Sponsor: 
Fusako “Jonie” Aizawa stands by a barbed wire fence in an American concentration camp. Christmas 1944. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of Myrtle Joyce Barley Ward, (2003.12.14).
Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps explores the experiences of Japanese American youth who asserted their place as young Americans confronting the injustice of being imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II and embarking on the universal journey into adolescence.
During World War II, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were unjustly incarcerated in American concentration camps—approximately one third were children. Through photographs, personal stories, and artifacts, Don’t Fence Me In reveals the strength and ingenuity of young Americans who came of age in the ten War Relocation Authority camps and the Crystal City Department of Justice internment camp. From volunteer projects and color guards at memorial services to camping trips, social dances, scout troops, and sports leagues, they drew upon their own resilience and creativity to forge friendships and community in the face of abrupt upheaval and wrongful imprisonment in their youth.
For some, these activities were the continuation of their pre-war participation or became the foundation for a lifetime of dedication. For others, they were a brief experience that only lasted as long as their incarceration. But whether they were the most important thing or one of many things happening in their lives, their participation was an integral part of their unique wartime experience.
Don’t Fence Me In: Coming of Age in America’s Concentration Camps is sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, and the State of California, administered by the California State Library, with additional support from the California Community Foundation.
Media Sponsor:
Fusako “Jonie” Aizawa stands by a barbed wire fence in an American concentration camp. Christmas 1944. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of Myrtle Joyce Barley Ward, (2003.12.14).
Exhibition Resources
UNBOXED: Conserving History
JANM’s Collections department provides a glimpse into the conservation process of one of its most cherished artifacts: Bob Uragami’s Boy Scout drum. Learn of the drum’s storied history, and uncover some of the work that happens behind-the-scenes to care for the unique artifact.
Activity Guide
This guide was created by JANM’s Education Unit to accompany Don’t Fence Me In and includes fun activities that encourages young visitors to reflect and engage with the exhibition.
Printed copies are available in the exhibition, but we invite you to download a PDF version. Although written for exploring the exhibition, the activities can be adapted for use at home.
Related Resources
Swing Dance and Music in Camp
Learn how Don’t Fence Me In explores the ways that preteens, teenagers, and young adults danced with one another, listened to jazz and big band music, and formed musical groups of their own that performed regularly in the World War II camps.
City Girls: The Nisei Social World in Los Angeles, 1920-1950
A 2014 interview with Valerie Matsumoto about her book, City Girls: The Nisei Social World in Los Angeles, 1920-1950, in which the author zeroed in on the lives of Nisei women in Los Angeles and their exploits of club and community involvements spanning three decades—prewar, World War II, and postwar.
An excerpt from Unforgotten Voices from Heart Mountain: As American As Apple Pie—Yellowstone
These are unforgettable voices of Japanese Americans, many of them young people who were imprisoned during WWII, as well as those who imprisoned them, and townspeople in the harsh high desert of Wyoming.