As part of a philanthropic initiative to make history that is at risk of being forgotten available to everyone for free, Ancestry announced yesterday it has published and made freely available the collection, US, WWII Japanese Americans Incarcerated in Confinement Sites, the first comprehensive list of over 125,000 persons of Japanese descent who were unjustly imprisoned by the US Army between December 1942 and January 1948.
Originally compiled by the Irei Project, the list of names was first published in a 1,000-page book at the Japanese American National Museum and as an online monument (The Ireizō).
“We’re proud to partner with Ancestry to make this accurate and comprehensive list of every person of Japanese heritage incarcerated during WWII available to everyone,” said Duncan Ryuken Williams, director of the Irei Project. “By honoring their names, we proudly represent their individuality, their personhood, and their dignity, not afforded to them in their unjust incarceration.”
Dr. Lisa Pearl, head of Ancestry’s US Content and Philanthropic Initiatives, said, “Ancestry has a unique opportunity to preserve the stories of our country’s history, even the challenging ones, and to make that information available to the descendants of those who experienced it firsthand.”
