Some 30 years ago, Douglas County teacher Robert Harvey wrote “Amache,” an extraordinary book about the World War II relocation camp near Granada. At the time Harvey did his research, few Coloradans had heard of Amache or, indeed, knew anything about the federal government’s policy to incarcerate West Coast Japanese-Americans in prison camps.“Amache” helped to inform them. And thanks to interest in the book and the Colorado camp itself, the site was recently designated a national monument.
The Amache evacuees tell about life in the camp, where they were consigned to shoddy barracks, an entire family occupying a single small room, ate in a mess hall and were paid $7 a month for their labor in the camp. They talk about the kindness of their white neighbors as well as their prejudice. In 1944, Amache stood in the way of a local high school football team completing a perfect season. The Amache team was a powerhouse and likely to beat the local boys.
Each excerpt is preceded by a description of the location as well as the source of the excerpt and something about the author.