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Date Original
1943 February 05
Description
Letter to Arkansas Governor Homer M. Adkins in Little Rock from E.W. Moffatt in in Hamburg, Ashley County. Moffatt is a farmer in Hamburg and he is asking Governor Adkins if it would be possible for him employ a few Japanese-American families at his farm. Moffatt is explaining to the Governor that there is a shortage of laborers in Hamburg and they could use the help.
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.
Transcription
E.B. Whittaker [sic]
Hamburg, Ark.,
Feb. 5 1943
Gov. Homer T.[sic] Adkins
Little Rock, Ark,
Dear Sir.,
Some time ago I wrote
you about getting a few Familes
of "Japs" [sic] I never did get any
satisifaction answer I under Stand [sic]
there is a big lot of them
not working in this state
just wonder what chances
there would be to get a few
Family [sic] of them to farm this
year. We have reasonable good
up land farms in this section
and have no labor.
we was some short of labor
last year. But we have been
cut half into from a labor
stand paint [sic] from last year
to this year.
Labor from the farm in
this section begin last fall
having farm going to puplic [sic]
jobs after un-reasonable prices
per Day.
The chances at present for
farming look bad.
Hope to hear from on [sic] this
soon
Yours Truly
E.W. Moffatt
RT. Hamburg Ark
Physical Description
Two page letter, 7" x 8.5"
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
Contributor
Moffatt, E.W.
Geographical Area
Hamburg, Ashley County(Ark.); Little Rock, Pulaski County (Ark.)
Language
English
Identifier
MS.000404, Box 4, Folder 112, Item 65
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Homer M. Adkins papers, MS.000404
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Letter, E.W. Moffatt to Governor Homer M. 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
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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
