The American Heritage Center (AHC), a primary archive for the University of Wyoming, is currently hosting an exhibit titled Japanese American Girl Scouts at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp 1942-1945.
Between 1942 and 1945, due to rising tensions and suspicion towards Japan following the Pearl Harbor bombing, Japanese individuals, along with their spouses and families, were forcibly relocated to internment camps in the United States.
“They were required to start this whole new community together,” said Patty Kessler, a history professor at the University of Wyoming.
“These people were doctors, lawyers, nurses, and teachers,” said Kessler.
During the war, a group of Japanese American Girl Scouts from Troop 101 were held at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. Despite facing discrimination, the Girl Scouts continued to meet, learn new skills, and maintain a sense of normalcy and community through scouting.
The Japanese American Girl Scouts at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp exhibit is part of a traveling exhibit that pays tribute to these people who were there by showing photos from the camps and first hand excipients for people who were Girl Scouts and lived in the camp.
“This particular exhibit has traveled a little broader than most. I mean, it’s gone around to a number of libraries and schools in the state, but it also has been exhibited at the Girl Scout national headquarters in Tennessee, Kentucky,” said Paul Flesher, Director of the American Heritage Center.
“People in the camp, wanting to demonstrate their patriotism, but here it’s an outlet for the adults to be in the leadership group,” said Flesher.
The exhibit aims to shed light on the fact that those in the camps were not a threat to Americans and sought to be recognized as such.
“They identify as American. They are not identifying with Japan, they really weren’t a threat in any sense. And being a Girl Scout, like being a Boy Scout, was a way of demonstrating your patriotism,” said Flesher.
Despite the difficult conditions in the camps, the internees found ways to contribute to their communities and maintain connections with other troops and national organizations.
“Both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts are connected with the troops around them,” Flesher noted.
“You know, that was one of the first things that they would talk about or mention, you know, how strong this program was,” Kessler said.
While the AHC hosts many traveling exhibits, Kessler believes this particular one carries a profound meaning.
“The traveling exhibits look pretty simple but really there’s some pretty complex ideas and there were things that were two dimensional,” said Kessler.
