America's newest national park honors 'painful chapter' in history

America has a new national park.

One of 10 Japanese incarceration camps located in a remote corner of southeastern Colorado, the Amache National Historic Site was designated as a national park Thursday.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland made the formal establishment after the Town of Granada’s acquisition and donation of the land, which was needed to establish the site into a park. In March 2022, President Biden signed the Amache National Historic Site Act, which entered the site into the National Park System.

As a national park, the site will be protected for future generations to learn more about the history of Japanese American mass incarceration during World War II.

“As a nation, we must face the wrongs of our past in order to build a more just and equitable future. The Interior Department has the tremendous honor of stewarding America’s public lands and natural and cultural resources to tell a complete and honest story of our nation’s history,” Secretary Haaland said in a statement.

“Today’s establishment of the Amache National Historic Site will help preserve and honor this important and painful chapter in our nation’s story for future generations.”

The announcement came a few days before the Day of Remembrance of Japanese Incarceration During World War II, observed each year on Feb. 19. It is the seventh internment camp to be established as a national park in the U.S. Other sites that preserve this history include Minidoka in Idaho, Manzanar and Tule Lake in California.

Learn more about Camp Amache: Camp Amache survivors want the world to remember their experience

Also known as the Granada Relocation Center, Amache was a place where more than 10,000 people were incarcerated between 1942 and 1945. In 1943 at its peak population, there were 7,310 incarcerees at Amache, making it the 10th largest city in Colorado at the time.

During World War II, the U.S. created 10 incarceration sites to detain Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast under Executive Order 9066. The order deemed them a threat to national security following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Under the order, 122,000 people, including children, were taken to these isolated and fenced internment camps. Over half of those incarcerated were American citizens. They lost their personal liberties, homes, businesses and property, according to the National Archives.

With original building foundations and the historic road network, Amache is one of the most intact World War II internment camps, thanks to the preservation work by Amache survivors and their descendants. Visitors can see a historic cemetery, a monument and several reconstructed and restored structures such as a barrack, recreation hall, guard tower and water tank. There is no fee to visit Amache, which is located about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Denver.

“Amache’s addition to the National Park System is a reminder that a complete account of the nation’s history must include our dark chapters of injustice,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in a statement.

Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former Japanese internment camp Amache is the newest national park