Just north of Cody lies the site of a former Japanese internment camp used during World War II. The U.S. government forcibly relocated more than 14,000 Japanese Americans to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center between 1942-1945. On July 23-25, the nonprofit foundation is hosting the Japanese ambassador to the U.S. among many other Japanese artists and educators who will help commemorate this part of Wyoming history. Guests will hear from Ambassador Shigeo Yamada as well as members of the Japanese embassy, artists such as Kenji Fujita and David Ono, beekeeper Deb Furukawa DeWitt, and a speaker from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Heart Mountain was just one of 10 concentration camps built in the United States during the war. After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, anxiety boiled in the states, and more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent were rounded up and sent to one of these camps for forced labor. The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a Smithsonian affiliate, now operates to keep the historic site intact.
The Heart Mountain Pilgrimage takes place annually at the end of July. This year it will run July 23-25 at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and the Cody Holiday Inn. Attendees will also tour the camp’s grounds, which feature some of the original structures from the 1940s.
According to the website, guests at the pilgrimage will be asked to consider this question: What does it mean to be an American? For Ray Locker, the foundation’s director of communications and strategy, this question will be particularly important to the survivors of the camp, and the guests who are experiencing this history for the first time.
“There are multigenerational discussions between different groups of Japanese Americans and their families,” Locker said. “Those are very emotional. People are talking about things that they didn't often talk about."
He said the event helps connect older generations to their untold histories. This kind of communal experience—where survivors are given the chance to tell their stories—can be emotionally cathartic. He added that older descendants of survivors will have an opportunity to discuss how this affected their lives. For younger generations, the trip could be an eye-opening experience to history that they may not have ever learned about. Ambassador Yamada’s speech may be the way to connect every generation to their Japanese heritage.
Yamada is the second ambassador to speak at the event. Shinsuke Sugiyama was the first in 2019. Locker said Yamada’s speech is a chance for people in Japan to learn more about what happened here during the war.
Locker also said the event helps connect Wyomingites to the history of their land. Between 1947-1950, the Bureau of Reclamation opened much of the Heart Mountain land for homesteading to veterans of the war.
“Five years after the war, there were no signs of the camp,” Locker said. “Over time, the local homesteaders realized that more Japanese Americans were coming back to this area. They said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, there’s a greater story to tell. Let’s help tell that story.’”
He added that what happened at Heart Mountain more than 80 years ago might even tell a story about what’s happening in the United States today. As of July 11, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was holding almost 66,000 people. Locker says this event may challenge attendees to reflect on the current political environment in the country, and the way they see immigration enforcement practiced.
“What happened to Japanese Americans has extra currency now with what’s going on with ICE and the treatment of immigrants,” Locker said. “As a group that commemorates what we believe was the mistreatment of 125,000 people, the relevance now is something that we can’t ignore.”
The weekend will conclude with a “sayonara banquet,” where attendees will take time to reflect on the difficult history they learned about at Heart Mountain.
