About This Project

Supported by the National Parks Service Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants, Education and Memory at the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site celebrates America250 by uplifting active citizenship and the balance of rights and obligations to the country through the story of GHRS, one of three federal prisons that incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II and located at the base of Mt. Lemmon. Only foundations remain to attest to the experiences of Japanese Americans, alongside Hopi Indians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were imprisoned for objecting to military service in World War II on religious and ethical grounds. Renamed in 1999, the site especially honors Gordon Hirabayashi, a prominent detainee who protested relocation yet turned himself in to the FBI to serve his sentence as a “principled stand” against unjust laws targeting citizens on the basis of race without due process. His case demonstrates the dual role of civically engaged citizens to both challenge and adhere to the rule of law.

The most publicly accessible site of confinement in Arizona, one million tourists annually drive to and from Mt. Lemmon on Catalina Highway, past where imprisoned objectors served their time by building that very roadway infrastructure. The project will creatively interpret, document, disseminate, and bring this history to Tucsonans and the broader nation through (1) public educational programming (symposium, arts field trip and workshop, showcase); (2) undergraduate course curricula; and (3) a culminating publication (digital and print). This project expands interpretation of that past by creating experiential programming that brings present-day visitors, students and the broader public together to revive its lessons and tell new stories of the site for future generations of Americans.

At-a-Glance Timeline

Fall 2026
Planning and Public Launch SYMPOSIUM (November 19, 2027 - tentative)

Spring 2027
Public SITE VISIT & WORKSHOPS at Gordon Hirabayashi Campground during Day of Remembrance (Feb 19, 2027)

Fall 2027
Launch U of A Curricula Implementation

Spring 2028
Public SHOWCASE and PUBLICATION at the Tucson Desert Art Museum, Day of Remembrance (Feb 19, 2028)