Capital Campaign for the Visitor Center

The Story of a Place That Changed the Nation — And Why We Need Your Help Now

On March 30, 1942, with only six days’ notice, every Japanese American living on Bainbridge Island — 276 men, women, and children — was forced from their homes under Executive Order 9066 and Exclusion Order No. 1 during WWII. They walked down a narrow road to the Eagledale ferry dock, escorted by armed U.S. Army troops, bringing only what they could carry. They were not told where they were going or whether they could return. They were the first community in the nation to be removed and incarcerated in American concentration camps.

Today, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial stands on that same ground. It is a quiet, powerful place that honors the individuals — two-thirds of whom were American citizens  — and the neighbors who stood beside them and welcomed them home. More than 30,000 visitors come each year to walk the curved, cedar-planked “story wall,” to learn, to reflect, and to consider what it means to say Nidoto Nai Yoni — Let It Not Happen Again.

For more than two decades, survivors, descendants, and the community have worked to build a Memorial that honors and teaches. The last phase is a Visitor Center that will finally allow this history to be taught year-round, with exhibits, oral histories, classroom and lecture facilities, and a safe, accessible space for all.

We reached our original $4.5 million fundraising goal. But a two-year delay in permitting — combined with inflation, tariffs, and new infrastructure requirements — has created a painful, unexpected $2 million shortfall. Construction has already begun. We cannot turn back.

And we are running out of time. Several survivors have passed away in the last months alone. Those who remain are in their 80s and 90s. Our greatest hope is that they will be able to stand inside the completed Visitor Center — to see, with their own eyes, that their stories will be protected, taught, and remembered.

This is the final stretch of a 20-year effort. Every gift now goes directly into construction and exhibit fabrication already underway. With your help, we can finish the project while our survivors are still here to witness it.

Please join us. Help us cross the finish line. Never has this history been so relevant and urgent. Help us open the doors to a place that will teach, heal, and remind future generations that our country must never repeat this injustice.