HISTORY: Politics and prejudice

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visits a Japanese internment camp in Maricopa’s backyard April 23, 1943.

The controversial camp housed Japanese-Americans forced by politics, prejudice and paranoia to live in barracks built by the U.S. government on the Gila River Indian Reservation. It is widely regarded as a dark point in American history.

The Gila River camps, built on the reservation despite loud objection from the tribe, had a capacity of 10,000 people but housed more than 13,000 prisoners of war. There was no barbed wire or guard tower, just a single sentry on duty. The desert heat and lack of surrounding resources were enough security.