New monument to honor Japanese Americans imprisoned in North Dakota

United Tribes Technical College will dedicate the Snow Country Prison Japanese American Internment Memorial on Sept. 5 to honor nearly 2,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated at Fort Lincoln during World War II, according to the North Dakota Monitor. Fort Lincoln later became the site of the college in the late 1960s.

The memorial, designed by MASS Design Group and funded by private donations and a National Park Service grant, features the names of 1,850 prisoners, a drum circle shaped like an Indigenous medicine wheel and walls made from slate tiles salvaged from the former prison buildings. The dedication ceremony begins at 1 p.m. in the Education Building courtyard and will include remarks by Satsuki Ina, whose father was imprisoned at Fort Lincoln, a blessing by the Rev. Duncan Ryūken Williams and performances by Native and Japanese American artists, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

The memorial dedication on Friday afternoon and a performance by TaikoArts Midwest’s Ensō Daiko Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m., are among special events featured at the UTTC International Powwow at the Lone Star Veterans Arena in Bismarck.