Title

Letter, Ebenezer L. Compere, state director, to Governor Homer Adkins

Creator

Files

Date Original

1942 February 17

Description

This letter is from E.L. Compere, State Director for Selective-Service in Arkansas, informing Governor Homer Adkins about Adjutant General Adams asking for information regarding housing facilities for evacuees in Arkansas.

Biographical/Historical Note

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9022, creating the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The WRA selected ten sites in which to imprison more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, over two-thirds of whom were American citizens. Two of these centers were in the Arkansas Delta, one at Rohwer in Desha County, and the other at Jerome in sections of Chicot and Drew counties. Two of these centers were in the Arkansas Delta, one at Rohwer in Desha County, and the other at Jerome in sections of Chicot and Drew counties. Over 16,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in these two centers between October 1942 and November 1945. Brigadier General Ebenezer L. Compere served as the State Director for the National Guard, starting January 1941. He is the only man who has held the Arkansas post regularly from its commencement in 1940. He held the post until 1954, when he retried at 74 years of age. Homer Adkins was the thirty-second governor of Arkansas from 1941-1945.

Physical Description

Letter, 8" x 10.5"

Subjects

Evacuation of civilians; Adkins, Homer Martin, 1890-1964; Military assistance; Military camps; Camps; War; Japanese; Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945; Internment camps; World War, 1939-1945--Concentration Camps--United States--Arkansas--Concentration Camps--United States--Arkansas; Relocation camps

Contributor

Compere, E.L.

Geographical Area

Little Rock, Pulsaki County (Ark.)

Language

English

Identifier

MS.000404, Box 4, Folder 112, Item 2

Resource Type

Text

Collection

Homer M. Adkins papers, MS.000404

Publisher

Arkansas State Archives

Contributing Entity

Arkansas State Archives

Recommended Citation

Letter, Ebenezer L. Compere, state director, to Governor Homer Adkins, Homer M. Adkins papers, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Rights

Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.

Disciplines

United States History

Preview

Additional Content

Hazel Retherford papers, MS.000643; Amon Guy Thompson papers, MG04582-MG04586; Austin Smith papers, 1942-1945, MG04350; Beauty Behind Barbed Wire: The Arts of the Japanese in Our War Relocation Camps, MG01299; Community Analysis Reports and Community Analysis Trend Reports of the War Relocation Authority, 1942-1946, MG03846-MG03847; Japanese Camp papers, MG03848-MG03869