Manzanar Committee’s 56th Annual Pilgrimage to be held April 25-27

Date:
April 12, 2025
Contact: Ed Standefer , 760-878-2194 ext. 3311

INDEPENDENCE, CA- Manzanar National Historic Site will host the 56^th Manzanar Pilgrimage the weekend of April 25-27. The annual pilgrimage, organized by the Manzanar Committee, is open to the public, including formerly incarcerated people and their families, and helps to ensure the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is neither forgotten nor repeated.

Throughout the weekend, the Manzanar National Historic Site Visitor Center will be open Friday to Monday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed Tuesday to Thursday).

The free events will begin on Friday, April 25, with a public reception at the Eastern California Museum at 155 Grant Street in Independence from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided by the Friends of Eastern California Museum. The museum is open daily, except Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The pilgrimage ceremony begins at noon, Saturday, April 26, at the Manzanar Cemetery. A free shuttle service from the visitor center parking lot to the cemetery will be available from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Kyodo Taiko, a student-run Japanese drumming ensemble from UCLA, will kick off the event with traditional Japanese drumming at 11:30 a.m., followed by a procession of camp banners at noon.

Dr. Satsuki Ina, a nationally recognized psychotherapist, filmmaker, and co-founder of Tsuru for Solidarity, will be the pilgrimage's keynote speaker. Ina has dedicated her career to addressing the psychological effects of racial injustice, displacement, and oppression. As a therapist, she has worked extensively with survivors of political persecution and other forms of historical trauma. The pilgrimage program concludes with a traditional interfaith service and ondo dancing, a traditional Japanese dance honoring ancestors.

For those wishing to pay tribute by placing flowers at the base of the cemetery, the Manzanar Committee requests that individuals bring their own flowers. Participants are asked to bring their own chair, water bottle, and snacks since there is no food available at the site. Wear sunscreen, a hat, comfortable shoes, and dress for the weather.

The Manzanar at Dusk program begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Lone Pine High School located at 538 South Main Street (Hwy. 395) in Lone Pine. The program offers participants opportunities for intergenerational discussions and sharing.

On Sunday, April 27, at 11 a.m. in the Manzanar Visitor Center west theater, Dr. Duncan Ryuken Williams, the Alton Brooks Professor of Religion and the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California, will discuss a project that addresses the erasure of the identities of individuals of Japanese ancestry who experienced wartime incarceration called The Irei Project: A National Monument to the WWII Japanese American Incarceration. After the talk, Williams will hold a book signing for his book American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War.

The Ireichō Book of Names, a monument to the Japanese American incarceration experience, will be at Manzanar on April 26 and 27. Book stamping appointments at: https://www.janm.org/exhibits/ireicho/venues.

From Friday, April 25 to Sunday, April 27, Memories Without Borders, a partnership between Manzanar, the Inyo County Free Library, and California Revealed, will help digitally preserve and share historic items related to Japanese American incarceration during World War II. The project will have a station set up outside the Manzanar Visitor Center 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment or learn more about the project email mwb@californiarevealed.org. Digitized items will be freely accessible online at https://californiarevealed.org/.

For more information about Manzanar National Historic Site, please call 760-878-2194 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/manz. Additional pilgrimage program information is posted on the Manzanar Committee blog at https://manzanarcommittee.org.