Minidoka Pilgrimage 2023: We the Ancestors
Minidoka Pilgrimage 2023: We the Ancestors
By Camille Daw, Program and Outreach Manager
Every year, about 200 people joined at the Minidoka National Historic Site for the Minidoka Pilgrimage. This time together under the July sun in the high desert of Idaho often brings up difficult, and at times confusing emotions as pilgrimage attendees reflect on their families’ experiences in the place and space they gather.
This year’s pilgrimage proved no different as faces, new and familiar, greeted each other. A sense of community welcomed attendees at Koto Brewing for the opening dinner. A shared history that knit people together. Friday’s educational gathering at the College of Southern Idaho offered opportunities for pilgrimage participants to learn about the important work individuals and organizations are doing to preserve Minidoka’s legacy through books, research, and films about Minidoka and Japanese American confinement. Friends of Minidoka presented their current work with the Stop Lava Ridge Committee to preserve the site from a proposed industrial wind farm, drawing on the long-time connection to the power of place.
On Saturday, pilgrims experienced the power of place. National Park Service rangers and interns provided tours, each tour stopping at the historic mess hall and barrack. The barrack, with its bare-boned structure, offered no relief from the warming sun, and instead yielded memories, passed down from generations. The mess hall inspired descendants to share stories about their ancestors who survived what was known as “camp.”
After the tours, the cool air conditioning at CSI allowed pilgrims to reflect on their pilgrimage experience, and the impressions left upon them. As explained in this “talk session,” by early adulthood, many descendants finally knew what “camp” was after asking their grandparents more questions, often for a “school report.” Their grandparents shared memories, explaining what they knew, what their parents experienced, and how their family forever changed because of the incarceration. The descendants shared how “camp” now became a place they visited, in honor of their family who experienced the trauma of incarceration at Minidoka.
At the closing ceremony on Sunday, two members of the Crow Tribe, Hubert B. Two Leggins, Original member of the Whistling Water Clan from the Black Lodge District and Noel Two Leggins "LHBC" Greasy Mouth, Member of the Black Lodge District, explained how Minidoka represented parallel stories of removal, confinement, and assimilation in the United States. The father and son offered a blessing for survivors at Minidoka NHS, reconciling with the past at the sacred space. Behind them, stood a new Honor Roll, with 140 names added to include women and those who served in the Military Intelligence Language Service. Emily Teraoka spoke to how each name represented a story, with multiplicities to the character and personalities that made up each.
Many participants attended their first Minidoka pilgrimage this year, citing the need to learn more about their grandparents or parents with the legacy they left. Others wanted to learn for their children. While Minidoka’s story remains unforgettable, the sense of place solidifies the reality of the site and what the historic site continues to preserve. As our elders grow older, some already passing, we remember this legacy to honor them and those who came before, confronting the trauma of incarceration and its impacts on the Japanese American community by purposefully remembering Minidoka’s story.
