Title

Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to California's Secretary of State

Creator

Files

Date Original

1942 December 03

Description

Letter from Governor Adkins to California's Secretary of State requesting a copy of the California Alien Land Law, which prevents individuals with Asian ancestry from owning land in that state.

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 persons of Japanese ancestry, 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. Over 16,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in these two centers between October 1942 and November 1945. California had enacted an Alien Land Law that prohibited the purchase of land, or long-term leasing by Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Korean immigrants. This law was the blueprint for Homer Adkins's Alien Land Act in Arkansas, which prohibited any Japanese-American, citizen or alien, from owning or leasing land in Arkansas. This law was later ruled unconstitutional.

Physical Description

Letter, 8" x 10"

Subjects

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

Contributor

Adkins, Homer M.

Geographical Area

Sacramento, Sacramento County(Calif.); Little Rock, Pulaski County (Ark.)

Language

English

Identifier

MS.000404, Box 4, Folder 112, Item 55

Resource Type

Text

Collection

Homer M. Adkins papers, MS.000404

Publisher

Arkansas State Archives

Contributing Entity

Arkansas State Archives

Recommended Citation

Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to California's Secretary of State, 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