Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams's Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration

by Elizabeth Partridge Narrated by June Angela

Overview

Three months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the incarceration of all Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Families, teachers, farm workers-all were ordered to leave behind their homes, their businesses, and everything they
owned. They were forced to live in incarceration camps, under hostile conditions, their futures uncertain. How did they endure it? How do we honestly remember this critical time in our history?

Three photographers set out to document life at Manzanar, one of the ten bleak incarceration camps built and operated by the War Relocation Authority specifically for imprisoning Japanese Americans.

Dorothea Lange was a photographer from San Francisco best known for her haunting Depression-era images. Dorothea was hired by the US government to record the conditions of the camps. Deeply critical of the policy, she wanted her photos to shed light on the harsh reality of incarceration.

Toyo Miyatake was a Japanese-born, Los Angeles-based photographer who lent his artistic eye to photographing dancers, athletes, and events in the Japanese community. Imprisoned at Manzanar, he devised a way to smuggle in photographic equipment, determined to document what was really going on
inside the barbed-wire confines of the camp.

Ansel Adams was an acclaimed landscape photographer and environmentalist. Hired by the director of Manzanar, Ansel hoped his carefully curated pictures would demonstrate to the rest of the United States the resilience of those in the camps.

Three photographers. Three perspectives. And through the lenses of their cameras, three different views of one bitter chapter of American history.

In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Elizabeth Partridge weaves together firsthand accounts to reveal the history, heartbreak, and injustice of the Japanese incarceration.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Any kid into graphic novels and comics is going to fall naturally into reading this factual history. The transition is almost seamless. As books about this moment in history go, Seen and Unseen has gotta be one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever encountered…a pleasure to read. The mix of illustration and photography is expertly done, the text never thick and dull. You are sucked into Partridge’s telling and Tamaki’s art from the get go…. History, photography, comic art, and a distinctly contemporary take on telling kids the truth about the past. What could be better?” - Betsy Bird, School Library Journal

“Any kid into graphic novels and comics is going to fall naturally into reading this factual history. The transition is almost seamless. As books about this moment in history go, Seen and Unseen has gotta be one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever encountered…a pleasure to read. The mix of illustration and photography is expertly done, the text never thick and dull. You are sucked into Partridge’s telling and Tamaki’s art from the get go…. History, photography, comic art, and a distinctly contemporary take on telling kids the truth about the past. What could be better?” - Betsy Bird, School Library Journal

“Accessible main text and primary-source quotes combined with remarkably creative use of contemporary illustrations and archival photographs results in a uniquely crafted and engaging historical narrative.” - The Horn Book

“Powerful visuals…accompanied by clear, straightforward text, this arresting work brings history to vivid life. A bold combination of art, media, and records create a compelling read.” -Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2022-07-13
The incarceration of Japanese Americans through a different lens.

Partridge and Tamaki spotlight three photographers who documented the experiences of those of Japanese descent who were imprisoned at Manzanar, California, during World War II. Though Dorothea Lange was commissioned by the government to show that the imprisonment was humane, she was adamantly opposed to the incarceration and instead captured images that showed that “what the government was doing was unfair and undemocratic.” Many of her images were impounded only to be released years later. Toyo Miyatake, who was imprisoned with his family, took great personal risk to build his own camera and documented things Lange had been forbidden from photographing. He eventually became the official photographer and captured more intimate and celebratory events. Finally, Partridge and Tamaki examine Ansel Adams, who “had not been against the incarceration” and “wanted to photograph mostly loyal Nisei” (those of Japanese descent born in the United States). He largely took portraits and posed photos. Aside from the work of the photographers, the book also touches on the Manzanar Riot and the loyalty questionnaire. Powerful visuals blend photographs, reproduced primary source documents, and smudgy, paint-lined illustrations and make dynamic use of color. Accompanied by clear, straightforward text, this arresting work brings history to vivid life.

A bold combination of art, media, and records create a compelling read. (map, further information on the period and on civil liberties, biographies of the photographers, discussion of the model minority myth) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175103695
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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