An eye-witness account of the Los Angeles Japanese-Americans when they were detained at Santa Anita racetrack prior to their transfer and subsequent incarceration at Manzanar, California.
“There are more than 6,000 Japanese housed in the stables which once accommodated 2,000 horses…Each stall has had a room built on in front with doors and windows and the floors have been covered with a layer of asphaltum which seems to have killed the odors.”
This article, laced throughout with some not terribly subtle undertones of condemnation, was written by a Hollywood screenwriter named Alfred Cohn (1880 – 1951) who is largely remembered for having written the adaptation for the Al Jolson movie “The Jazz Singer” (1929).
Click here to read more articles about the Japanese-American internment…
KEY WORDS: before Manzanar there was Santa Anita racetrack 1942,Los Angeles WPA employed to organize Nisei internment 1942,Alfred Cohn magazine WW2 news article 1942,screenwriter/journalist Alfred Cohn magazine article regarding WW2 Japanese-American incarceration 1942
