After Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans were forced to sell their property and move to what the Supreme Court later called "concentration camps." They were never adequately reimbursed for their losses, and it took many years for them to collect even token amounts.
Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian, met her future husband Arthur Shigeharu Ishigo, a San Francisco-born Nisei, when they were both students at Otis Art School in Los Angeles, California. They were married in 1928 in Tijuana because Caucasians were not allowed to marry non-Caucasians in California at that time. In 1942 she accompanied her husband to the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp between Cody and Powell, Wyoming, where they were interned for nearly four years. When the Ishigos were released in 1945, they moved to a house trailer near Los Angeles, California. Arthur Ishigo worked at the Los Angeles airport for ten years until he died in 1957. Estelle Ishigo then moved from place to place working in odd jobs and supplementing her income with her art work. Her book of recollections and sketches called Lone Heart Mountain was published in 1972.
From the guide to the Estelle Ishigo photographs, ca. 1928-ca. 1972, (University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.)
