Files
Download Full Text (504 KB)
Date Original
1943 June 16
Description
This letter, written by Governor Homer Adkins, was in response to a letter from Edward Meeman, editor for the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Meeman had previously written to Governor Adkins asking if the Y.W.C.A. could hire a young interned Japanese-American woman as an arts and craft teacher for their camp in Hardy, Arkansas. Governor Adkins' response explains that the rules do not allow internees to leave the internment camps, which is for everyone's protection. He says he has refused all requests for employment of Japanese Americans outside the camps.
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. The Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) is an organization that works to advocate for women's leadership, peace, human rights, and Christian values. The organization worked on behalf of interned Japanese-American women and girls during World War II and after.
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; labor; Employment
Contributor
Adkins, Homer M.
Geographical Area
Memphis, Shelby County (Tenn.); Little Rock, Pulaski County (Ark.)
Language
English
Identifier
MS.000404, Box 4, Folder 112, Item 87
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 Mr. Edward J. Meeman, 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