Porterville College’s Cultural, Historical, and Outreach Program Lecture Series, CHAP, will return with a lecture on the World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans in the Mojave Desert.
“10,000 Lives, 10,000 Stories” will cover the story of the Manzanar War Relocation Center starting at 11:30 a.m. at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22. The Manzanar Team Leader for Interpretation and Visitor Services will be the guest speaker. The conference will be available via Zoom at the following link:
https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/99362117317?pwd=bkhPMDR0RGY5TzlnUWNsc21kanhuZz09
Lynch will give those attending the conference a chance to take a “virtual” tour of Manzanar. Lynch began working at Manzanar in 2001. She oversees visitor services, education, publications, exhibits, social media and the site’s history.
Twenty years ago she met Professor PC Richard Osborne. Their meeting sowed the seeds of what became PC’s CHAP program. Hundreds of Porterville students have visited Manzanar through field trips and service projects.
In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 Japanese American men, women, and children from their homes and detained them in military-style outpost camps. They only had days or weeks to prepare. Businesses closed, classrooms emptied and friends were separated.
The US government incarcerated 11,070 people at Manzanar in the Mojave Desert between 1942 and 1945. The National Park Service now retains much of what was the Manzanar War Relocation Center.
Although most of the buildings are gone, many features remain and others come to life through historic photos, artwork, archives and interviews.
For more information about Manzanar, visit www.nps.gov/manz.
