In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued on February 19th, 1942, Executive Order 9066--which designated military zones along the United States coast and directed the army to remove all residents of Japanese ancestry from these areas. The president then created the War Relocation Authority (WRA), a federal agency tasked with caring for the approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans uprooted by Executive Order 9066. The WRA saw to the planning and construction of long-term internment camps located in the interior of the country where the displaced population would be held for the duration of World War II. Two of the selected sites were located in the Arkansas Delta, one at Rohwer in Desha County--which operated from September 18, 1942-November 30, 1945--and the other at Jerome in sections of Chicot and Drew counties--which operated from October 6, 1942-June 30, 1944. The internment camps at Rohwer and Jerome would incarcerate over 16,000 Japanese-Americans between October 1942 and November 1945.
This collection exhibits materials from school administrators and superintendents, pastors, teachers, social welfare workers, and WRA administrators associated with the internment camps. Materials also source from the Homer Adkins’ gubernatorial papers, articles from the McGehee Times and Dermott News, and the official closing roster of the Rohwer Relocation Center.
All materials within this online exhibit are available for research at the Arkansas State Archives. These items were digitized by the Arkansas State Archives as part of a joint project entitled “Rohwer Reconstructed,” overseen by the University of Arkansas’ Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies and funded in part by a grant from the National Park Service through the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.
-
Block managers' meeting minutes
Minutes from a block managers' meeting at Rohwer Relocation Center on Jan. 3, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting minutes
Minutes from a block managers' meeting at Rohwer Relocation Center on Aug. 8, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting minutes
Minutes from a block managers' meeting at Rohwer Relocation Center on Dec. 19, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting report
Block managers' meeting minutes for the week ending December 27, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting report
Block managers' meeting minutes for the week ending December 6, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting report
Block managers' meeting minutes for the week ending December 5, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting report
Block managers' meeting minutes for the week ending October 10, 1944.
-
Block managers' meeting report
Block managers' meeting minutes for the week ending November 21, 1944.
-
Dance recital by Fujima Kansuma and her students
Program from a dance recital held at the Rohwer Relocation Center. The dance recital was conducted by Fujima Kansuma.
-
General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending February 5, 1944.
-
General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending January 28, 1944.
-
General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending January 16, 1944.
-
General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending February 12, 1944.
-
General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending April 8, 1944.
