Mike Breiding's Epic Road Trips ~2017~

Gordon Hirabayashi Area

Catalina Mountains - Coronado National Forest

Facimile of USFS brochure and PDF of "CATALINA PRISON CAMP HISTORY" Summary

http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Gordon_Hirabayashi/

Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area
Catalina Mountains - Coronado National Forest

Several years ago the US Forest Service web address was modified by changing fs.gov to fs.usda.gov in effect making the Forest Service digitally subordinate to the US Department of Agriculture.
Apparently the IT people who implemented this change could not quite figure how to update links with the addition of "USDA" to the web address.
The result? Pages formerly available at fs.gov could no longer be accessed at fs.usda.gov.
The USFS web page for the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area was one of the victims of this sloppy and inept transition from "fs.gov" to "fs.usda.gov".
When I found this out I took it upon myself to scan the USFS "Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area" brochure and post it here along with this PDF of additional information.


The name Prison camp came from the Federal Honor Camp begun in 1937 to house federal prisoners supplying labor to build a road providing access into the Santa Catalina Mountains. Prisoners had been convicted of federal crimes ranging from immigration law violations to tax evasion to bank robbery.

During World War II, many of the prisoners were conscientious objectors whose religions prohibited them from serving in the military. Some were Japanese Americans protesting the “Japanese American Relocation,” the largest forced removal and incarceration in U.S. History. After the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, over 100,000 Japanese Americans, many American Citizens, were imprisoned in crowded internment camps for fear they would conduct espionage and sabotage along the west coast.

Gordon Hirabayashi was a senior at the University of Washington in 1942. He challenged the constitutionality of internment based on race or ancestry. He turned himself in to the FBI rather than report for relocation. He was convicted and sentenced to serve at the honor camp in the Santa Catalina Mountains.

In 1987 Hirabayashi’s case was overturned. A federal commission determined that the internment had been motivated by racial prejudice and wartime hysteria. In 1988 the Civil Liberties Act was signed by President Ronald Reagan, which acknowledged the injustice and apologized for the internment.

In 1999 the Coronado National Forest renamed the site in honor of Dr. Hirabayashi and the other resisters of conscience who were imprisoned there. Dr. Hirabayashi and others attended the dedication ceremony.

Source: USFS


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Location of the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area in the Catalina Mts

Click the map for the big picture.

GPS data for the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area to Sycamore Dam hike is here.


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