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Date Original
1943 April 06
Description
John Byers, resident of Huntington Beach, California, had written to Governor Adkins to inform him that Japanese immigrants, or Issei, had discovered a way to own land in California, despite California's laws against non-citizen ownership. In this letter, Governor Adkins' secretary Joe Martin writes back to Mr. Byers thanking him for the interest he showed in the Alien Land Act passed by Arkansas's State Legislature and saying that the act prohibits any Japanese, citizen or alien, from purchasing or owning land 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 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; Law & legal affairs; Land; Landlord & tenant relations
Contributor
Martin, Joe N.
Geographical Area
Little Rock, Pulaski County (Ark.); Huntington Park, Los Angeles County (Calif.)
Language
English
Identifier
MS.000404, Box 4, Folder 112, Item 83
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Homer M. Adkins papers, MS.000404
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Letter, Joe N. Martin, executive secretary for the Governor of Arkansas, to John L. Byers, 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