Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Heart Mountain stands sentinel near Cody.
HEART MOUNTAIN RELOCATION CENTER
Situated between the towns of Cody and Powell, in the midst of some overgrown bar-
ley fields, stand a few dilapidated buildings. Utterly abandoned, they strike an odd
picture in the high desert. These shells are remnants of a dark period in U.S. history.
With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, war hysteria and anti-
Japanese fervor reached new heights in the United States. There had been anti-
Asian sentiment along the West Coast for decades, primarily directed at hard-work-
ing Chinese laborers who would work anywhere, doing anything, for nearly nothing.
When the government virtually stopped Chinese immigration, Japanese immigrants
quickly became the targets of racism. For many Americans, the attack on Pearl Har-
bor somehow justified this racial prejudice. President Roosevelt signed Executive
Order 9066 in February 1942, authorizing the roundup and removal of all people of
Japanese ancestry, regardless of their U.S. citizenship status.
