Look Toward the Mountain: Stories from Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp

Latest Episodes:

Who We Are Today Jul 16, 2021

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Something Lost and Something Found Jul 09, 2021

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Thanks to the support of the Embassy of Japan in the United States, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is presenting a special three-episode series exploring the Japanese American experience beyond Heart Mountain, and our relationship to Japan. This second episode explores the postwar resettlement of Japanese Americans. Some kept their heads down and tried to assimilate into the broader society while others turned to activism that would birth the pilgrimage movement, that would ultimately help fuel a national reckoning with the injustice of wartime incarceration.

Issei Pioneers of the Old West Jul 02, 2021

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Thanks to the support of the Embassy of Japan in the United States, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is presenting a special three-episode series exploring the Japanese American experience beyond Heart Mountain, and our relationship to Japan. This first episode tells the stories of Japanese immigrants who achieved great success in the California agriculture industry, others who settled rural parts of the West as railroad laborers or miners, and the undercurrent of racism and xenophobia that ultimately restricted further immigration after 1924.

Sports and Leisure Apr 09, 2021

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The tenth episode titled “Sports and Leisure” looks at how the Heart Mountain incarcerees embraced both modern American and traditional Japanese types of entertainment and sports in camp. Although this helped Japanese Americans endure their time as prisoners and brought different people together inside the camp, it was also part of the government’s plan to assimilate them into the broader American society in the postwar era.

The Artists Apr 02, 2021

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The ninth episode titled “The Artists” will examine the dozens of professional and amateur artists who emerged from Heart Mountain with compelling bodies of work that informed their later careers. And almost 75 years after the end of the incarceration, a fight over the future of art made in camp would help define a new wave of Japanese American activism.

Crime and Punishment Mar 26, 2021

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The eighth episode titled “Crime and Punishment” will explore how Japanese Americans incarcerated at Heart Mountain established their own system of self-governance, complete with elected officials, a legal system, and police force to maintain the law and order within the prison camp. Content warning: sexual assault.

Doing Their Bit Mar 19, 2021

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The seventh episode titled “Doing Their Bit” will explore the many ways Heart Mountain incarcerees demonstrated their loyalty to the United States, and how they supported the war effort from behind barbed wire.

Organizing Resistance Mar 19, 2021

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The sixth episode titled “Organizing Resistance” will explore how the Japanese American tradition of organizing evolved in camp to become a powerful resistance movement that dominated much of the Heart Mountain experience in its later years.

Commerce in the Camp Mar 12, 2021

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The fifth episode titled “Commerce in the Camp” will explore how Japanese Americans incarcerated at Heart Mountain developed their own prison economy, with incarceree-run businesses that helped make life inside camp into something that resembled their past lives on the West Coast.

Prison Food Mar 05, 2021

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The fourth episode titled, “Prison Food” explores how the more than 10,000 Japanese American incarcerated at Heart Mountain coped with the distasteful army rations they confronted when they first arrived in camp, and the important role that food played in their daily lives during the incarceration.