Contact sheet of negatives by George Wakiji documenting the United States Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Hearings in Washington, D.C. Name stamp of George Wakiji on back; an address label (George M. Wakiji/5820 Iron Willow Court/ Alexandra, VA 22310) affixed to back covering another, perhaps previous address. Photo label of those depicted affixed on rever.
The CWRIC was a bipartisan commission formed by President Jimmy Carter to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066 (EO 9066) and the incarceration of American citizens, as well as the mistreatment of the Alaskan natives of the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands.
The following contact sheet documents the hearing held on July, 16 1981. It features members of commission and captures the testimonies from Jack Greenberg of the NAACP Legal & Education Fund, Ed Nakawatase of the American Friends Service Committee, and influential Japanese American civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama. Kochiyama, whose family was incarcerated at Santa Anita and Jerome, worked during the civil rights movement in forging an alliance between Asian American and African American communities. She is most known for being with Malcom X on the night of his assassination.
The people depicted in the highlighted cells are as follows:
On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City collapsed after being struck by hijacked commercial airplanes in a terrorist attack. Witnessing the unfolding tragedy on television, Dennis Quinn, of the Local 1 ironworker’s union in Chicago, Illinois, recognized his specialized skills in erecting and demolishing steel structures could be vital to the rescue and recovery efforts.
Six days after the attacks, on September 17, Quinn drove from Chicago to New York City with four colleagues, including his younger brother, Leo. For the next six weeks, working the 4 PM to midnight shift, seven days a week, Quinn and his team dedicated themselves to untangling and removing the immense debris pile at Ground Zero.
The experiences of ironworkers like Quinn became an essential part of the historical record collected by curators documenting the September 11 attacks. Initially, there was hope of finding survivors, but as time passed and the likelihood of rescue diminished, the focus shifted entirely to debris removal. Ironworkers frequently paused their work when potential evidence for the post-attack investigation was discovered, halting all operations until investigators could examine the findings.
Dennis Quinn recalled that first responders, such as fire rescue and police, expressed gratitude for the ironworkers' presence. He described the massive debris pile, simply as the "Pile," as resembling a warzone, with hazardous conditions and widespread destruction. The contributions of ironworkers were crucial to making the area safer and more navigable for all those involved in the recovery operation.
