Join the Puyallup Valley Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and the curatorial staff at TAM on Thursday, May 2 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. to learn about the Remembrance Gallery, and to see rare and emotional artworks in TAM’s collections by artists imprisoned at the PAC.
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which authorized the military to create an exclusion area along the West Coast. This order led to the forced removal of more than 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans from their homes and businesses. Over 7,400 individuals were sent to the “Puyallup Assembly Center” (PAC) on what was then the Puyallup Fairgrounds. This was a temporary site, while ten permanent camps were being built.
In honor of those who were imprisoned during WWII, the Puyallup Valley JACL is creating a Remembrance Gallery at the Washington State Fairgrounds on the site of the largest temporary concentration camp in Washington State. This new gallery will feature interactive displays, a replica of a barrack, and the names of the more than 7,400 people incarcerated at the PAC.