First to be removed, San Francisco, CA. April 16, 1942 
Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. April 16, 1942
This week in Topaz Stories we read about the forced removal of Japanese American families from their San Francisco Bay Area homes in the spring of 1942.
As the ‘evacuation‘ shattered Japanese communities, friends desperately tried to stay in touch by mail. In “Left Behind,” Ruth Sasaki shares excerpts from letters her mother saved from Nisei friends as families were incarcerated, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Roy Iwata was 13 years old when their family was “Uprooted” by the evacuation order. Roy describes his Sacramento family’s preparations for their impending ‘relocation.’
The initial evacuation instructions stipulated that no pets were allowed. In a separate story, Roy remembers his dog, “Brownie.”
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Note: The images on this page are cropped versions of Dorothea Lange’s photos taken for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). “First to be moved” is in the National Archives, #536417; “Young Evacuee” on Van Ness Ave. is #536418.
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