When the U.S. government incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans as "domestic enemy aliens" during World War II, most other Americans succumbed to their fears and endorsed the confinement of their fellow citizens. Ten "relocation centers" were scattered across the West. Today, in the crumbling foundations, overgrown yards, and material artifacts of these former internment camps, we can still sense the injustices suffered there.

Placing Memory is a powerful visual record of the internment. Featuring Todd Stewart's stunning color photographs of the sites as they appear today,...