Protests by Japanese-American groups and Star Trek's George Takei have led an East Coast auction house to cancel a sale of 450 photos and artifacts from World War II internment camps. Thousands of Japanese-Americans, groups and sympathizers posted their opposition to the sale on social media and the auction house's Facebook page, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday. The items from the collection of 'dean of American crafts' Allen Eaton were slated for public auction on Friday at the Rago Auction House in Lambertville, New Jersey. Stopped the sale: Star Trek actor George Takei helped halt the action of 450 photos and artifacts from World War II Japanese-American internment camps . The collection includes 63 photos of people of Japanese descent who were imprisoned over fears they were spies and dozens of arts and crafts they made. The auction was halted thanks, in part, to the efforts of Takei, who lived in an internment camps in Arkansas as a child. 'Greetings from Australia,' Takei wrote to followers on the Japanese American History NOT for Sale Facebook. 'Thank you all for mobilizing on this important issue. It took a few calls today here in the wee hours, and I'll be issuing a formal statement later, but we can all celebrate a bit today at this news.' Also leading the charge against the auction was the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (HMWF), which threatened to sue the Rago Arts and Auction Center over the sale. Outcry: Takei and a group called the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation helped stop the sale of items like these panels carved in the internment camps . Not just art for sale: Families forced into the internment camps during WWII were not allowed to take photos and the officials photographers were barred from snapping the barbed wire and guard towers that became a part of these families' lives . Critics of the auction say these works aren't just art but expression of the sorry the disenfranchised families felt . 'I am heartened by the solidarity shown among the Japanese American community to bring this issue to light,' Executive Director Brian Liesinger said in a release. 'It spurred us on in our effort to do right by the collection and the incarcerees who created the artworks.' Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation runs a museum dedicated to educating the public about the wartime relocation of Japanese Americans, including the background history of anti-Asian prejudice in America. According to a Change.org petition that aimed to stop the auction, Allen Eaton would himself have been opposed to the sale. 'These items were given -- not sold -- to the original collector, Allen Eaton, because he wanted to display them in an exhibition that would help tell the story of the incarceration of 120,000 innocent people,' reads the petition. 'These items were given -- not sold -- to the original collector, Allen Eaton, because he wanted to display them in an exhibition that would help tell the story of the incarceration of 120,000 innocent people,' reads a Change.org petition . 'Dean of American crafts': The pieces were from the collection of 'dean of American crafts' Allen Eaton . 'Eaton opposed the incarceration and this sale goes against his intent for a public exhibition that received official support,' opponents of the sale claimed . 'Eaton opposed the incarceration and this sale goes against his intent for a public exhibition that received official support.' According to NBC News, Rago Arts and Auction Center acknowledged the 'uncertain ethical landscape' of the sale. Their statement said, in part: . 'There is an essential discussion to be had about the sale of historical items that are a legacy of man's inhumanity to man. 'It extends beyond what is legal. It is something auction houses, galleries and dealers are faced with regularly. We hope this controversy will be the beginning of a discourse on this issue.' George Takei (pictured) was taken with his family to a Japanese internment camp in Arkansas for he duration of WWII starting at the age of 5 . Roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at 10 relocation camps after the December 7, 1941, Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The ten camps were located in: . Amache, Colorado; Gila River, Arizona; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Jerome, Arkansas; Manzanar, California; Minidoka, Idaho; Poston, Arizona; Rohwer, Arkansas; Topaz, Utah; and Tule Lake, California. A third of those in the camps had been born in Japan and were not allowed to own land in some states or become naturalized U.S. citizens, writes History.com. Rumors fueled by racial prejudice spread following the Pearl Harbor and suggestive a sabotage plot among Japanese-Americans. President Roosevelt signed, Executive Order 9066, which forced families and Japanese-Americans young and old out of their homes and into the cramped camps. Among them was 5-year-old George Takei, who was kicked out of his Los Angeles home along with his family in . 'We were in the living room - my brother and I - looking out the window and we saw two American soldiers marching up the driveway,' Takei recalled on The Daily Show. 'We were literally ordered out of our home at gunpoint.' The family was taken to the Rohwer, Arkansas camp. They were forced to live there for the duration of the war, according to NBC News. Years later, Takei would still remember something his father said after the harrowing experience. 'Our democracy is a people's democracy,' he said. 'And it can be as great as people can be, but it is also as fallible as people are.' Forced into camps: Roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at 10 relocation camps after the December 7, 1941, Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor . The ten camps were located in:Amache, Colorado; Gila River, Arizona; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Jerome, Arkansas; Manzanar, California; Minidoka, Idaho; Poston, Arizona; Rohwer, Arkansas; Topaz, Utah; and Tule Lake, California.
The Star Trek star helped pressure a New Jersey auction house to cancel a sale of 450 photos and artifacts from World War II internment camps .