Lange defers her Guggenheim Fellowship to photograph Japanese American incarceration camps.
In February 1942, Dorothea Lange took the extraordinary step of deferring and eventually relinquishing her prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship to undertake a significant project for the War Relocation Authority. She photographed the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Her work provided a critical visual record of this dark chapter in American history, challenging prevailing narratives and highlighting the injustices faced by these communities. Lange leveraged her skills in service of truth and justice, despite censorship challenges imposed by wartime authorities.