2022 Pilgrimage Limited to 150 Participants
POSTON COMMUNITY ALLIANCE OPENS REGISTRATION
FOR OCTOBER 21-22 PILGRIMAGE
The Poston Community Alliance Annual Pilgrimage returns this year with an in-person event, October 21-22, hosted at the Blue Water Casino and other nearby sites in Parker, Arizona.
The discounted early-bird registration deadline is August 30.
New Exhibit
A new Poston exhibit created within donated space at the Museum of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) will be featured at this year’s gathering. The exhibit includes a map of Poston’s three camps for visitors to locate the exact barrack and apartment where their family resided. Exhibit viewings will be offered by timed entry only as part of attendees’ registration package. The pilgrimage will also feature educational workshops and bus tours of the Poston Monument and Camp 1 school sites. A banquet with keynote speaker Janice Munemitsu, author of The Kindness of Color, will conclude the weekend’s activities.
Poston was one of 10 military incarceration sites established in seven states that imprisoned people of Japanese ancestry for three to four years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Two-thirds of the prisoners were American citizens. This forced relocation of more than 120,000 Japanese people was the result of Executive Order 9066 issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.
Capacity Limited; Chance to Save
Pilgrimage capacity is limited to 150 attendees this year due to facility space. Early Bird registration is $150 through August 30. Regular registration is $225 from August 31 and will end on October 1. To register for the pilgrimage, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-poston-pilgrimage-tickets-326676537317. Attendees will select their workshops and timed exhibit entry during the online registration process.
About the Poston Community Alliance
The Poston Community Alliance is a non-profit organization. Their mission is to preserve Poston’s incarceration history to strengthen and expand efforts in upholding social justice for all Americans, regardless of race, religion and ethnicity. Through multimedia educational outreach and the preservation of stories, artifacts and historic structures, Poston’s unique multicultural history, involving Japanese Americans and Native Americans, will live on.
Learn more about the Poston Community Alliance here.
Connection to Buddhist Temple of San Diego
Many Temple families were relocated to Poston during the incarceration. Many Temple members are also members of the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego, which itself grew out of a Poston reunion that included many Temple members. In 1991, a committee of former Poston Camp III internees organized a Poston reunion in San Diego. That committee felt the need to create a historical society to capture and record stories of San Diego's Japanese Americans.