JANM Questions the Rewriting of US History in National Archives Exhibition Plans

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) questions the National Archive and Record Administration’s plan, as reported in the Wall Street Journal last week, to remove references to historical events—including Dorothea Lange’s photographs of Japanese American incarceration during World War II, the federal government’s displacement of indigenous tribes, and Martin Luther King Jr. marching for civil rights—from its upcoming exhibitions in an effort to reshape and sanitize its narrative of American history.  

“In 1942 the federal government forcibly removed, dispossessed and incarcerated over 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry. The US government’s apology in 1988 for what was one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in this nation’s history was also an act of atonement for a great wrong. In this climate of discrimination, hyper-partisanship and ideological divides, the lessons of this history are more relevant and urgent than they have ever been. We are destined to repeat history if we dim the light of its lessons. We cannot ignore what may be considered to be uncomfortable truths simply because they are ‘too negative and controversial’ and might cause discomfort for some, and as the repository of this nation’s documented history, neither should the National Archive,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO. 

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