Title

Letter from an ex-United States soldier interned at Rohwer, to Homer M. Adkins, Governor of Arkansas

Creator

Files

Date Original

1942 December 07

Description

This is a letter from an ex-United States soldier that had been relocated to Arkansas due to his Japanese ancestry. The soldier is angry that the Governor will not allow Japanese Americans to work outside the camps. He refers to the Governor as "Hitlerian" and a "saboteur" of his own country, by denying other Americans the right to help with the war effort. He does not sign his name to the letter, but calls himself, "Ex. U.S. Soldier."

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.

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

Geographical Area

McGehee, Desha County (Ark.); Little Rock, Pulaski County (Ark.)

Language

English

Identifier

MS.000404, Box 4, Folder 112, Item 58

Resource Type

Text

Collection

Homer M. Adkins papers, MS.000404

Publisher

Arkansas State Archives

Contributing Entity

Arkansas State Archives

Recommended Citation

Letter from an ex-United States soldier interned at Rohwer, to Homer M. Adkins, Governor of Arkansas, 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