Japanese Evacuees, Portland Assembly Center

In May 1942, Portland area Japanese Americans, both issei, or first generation, and nisei, or second generation, were evacuated to hastily-constructed temporary living spaces in what had previously been the Pacific International Livestock Exposition building in the north of Portland. The building was partitioned into tiny apartments using thin plywood boards, and each family was assigned a room with a common toilet and little privacy. In this image, Japanese American residents are shown leaving the cramped North Portland Assembly Center with their few belongings to be relocated by train to one of the Japanese internment camps. Most internees from Portland were sent to the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho. Some internees went to Tule Lake in California, and a portion relocated to the internment camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming.