Ralph Meritt, Adams' associate, asked whether Adams would like to photograph the camp. Merritt was director for the War Relocation Authority (WRA) at Manzanar. Interested, Ansel Adams requested to visit the camp. He went as a private citizen, not working for the government. |
"When Ansel was born, his family had money, and they had a Chinese houseman or cook. His parents employed a man by the name of Harry Oye who was Japanese American... when the executive order came down from the president to imprison all the Japanese Americans on the west coast, Harry Oye was one of the first to be picked up and taken and Ansel had been very close to him and was left appalled." - Mary Alinder, (Interview)
Ansel Adams' goal in photographing Manzanar was to tell the world what was happening in a way that depicted internees as non-threatening American citizens, wrongfully imprisoned.
"I was trying to make the point of how these people were able to overcome their unfortunate situation and make a beautiful life for themselves. And I was criticized up and down because I showed people smiling. "How can they smile in the face of tragedy?" I said, "The tragedy existed, but they overcame it." - Ansel Adams (Oral History, 416) |
“I realize that a silent but most effective voice in the campaign was your book, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail. So long as that book is in existence, it will go on justifying the park.” - Arno Cammerer, National Park Service Director (anseladams.com)