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.
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Newspaper article, "Between the Lines: Congressmen and Local Citizens"
Newspaper article about the public's reaction to the drainage work being done at Jerome Relocation Center by the War Relocation Authority.
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Newspaper article, "Case Against Desha Farmer Who Shot Evacuee Is Continued"
Newspaper article about the shooting of Shigeru Fukuchi, a Rohwer Relocation Center resident, by M.C. Brown, a tenant farmer outside McGehee.
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Newspaper article, "Center Resident Ends Own Life"
Newspaper article discussing the suicide of John Yoshida.
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Newspaper article, "Chandler for Abolition of Jap Centers: Would Put Disloyal Japs in Prison Camps"
Newpaper article discussing Senator Chandler's views on the abolition of Japanese-American relocation centers.
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Newspaper article, "Commercial Appeal Reporter Says Denson Relocation Center Torn By Suspicion, Waste, Strikes, Turmoil"
Newspaper article discussing a dispute among workers at the Jerome Relocation Center construction site.
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Newspaper article, "Committee to Visit Rohwer and Jerome: Fight to Hold Centers Under the WRA"
Newspaper article discussing a visit from the Senate Military Affairs Subcommittee to Rohwer and Jerome relocation centers.
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Newspaper article, "Congressman In Address Before Rotary Club"
Newspaper article about Congressman Oren Harris addressing the local Rotary Club about the status of Japanese-American internment in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Congressmen Inspect Jap Centers"
Newspaper article discussing Congressmen Oren Harris's and W.F. Norman's inspections of the Japanese American relocation centers in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Day Room at Rohwer Camp Completed"
Newspaper article discussing the completion of a Day Room at Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Demand Probe of Centers: Congressman Want Investigation"
Newspaper article discussing an investigation of allegations against Rohwer and Jerome Relocation Centers.
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Newspaper article, "Democracy at Home"
Newspaper article discussing the local response to the governor passing a law prohibiting Japanese-American land ownership in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Denson Resident Commits Suicide"
This article discusses the suicide of John Yoshida at the Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Denson Worker Killed By Train Monday Morning"
This article discusses the death of John K. Elam, Sr., an employee at Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Desha County Shows Huge Increase in Pop.: While State as a Whole Shows Decline of 147,919"
Newspaper article discussing the increase in Desha County, Arkansas population and the decrease in the total population in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Dies' Committee Group Makes Report on WRA"
Newspaper article discussing the House Un-American Activities Committee and papers published in Japanese.
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Newspaper article, "Disloyal Japanese will Leave Rohwer Camp September 21"
Newspaper article discussing the transfer of disloyal Japanese Americans to detention centers.
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Newspaper article, "Disloyal Japs [sic] To Be Removed From Centers"
Newspaper article discussing the removal of disloyal Japanese Americans to other relocation centers from Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Disloyal Japs To Go Back To California"
Newspaper article discussing the details of the removal of disloyal Japanese Americans to California from Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Disloyalty Low at Rohwer Senators Find: Recommend More Rigid Restrictions, However"
Newspaper article discussing the loyalty of Japanese Americans in the internment camps at Rohwer and Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Facts On Relocation In State Are Released By War Relocation Authority"
This article presents facts about the progress of the relocation center construction projects in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Final Witnesses Heard In Mote-Rife Case Here"
Newspaper article discussing a lawsuit between F.A. Mote and A.J. Rife Construction Co. coming to an end.
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Newspaper article, "First Military Funeral at Rohwer"
Newspaper article discussing the first military funeral held at the Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Food for Thought"
This is a newspaper article discussing the behavior of Japanese Americans in McGehee and the local response to the Japanese Americans.
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Newspaper article, "G.N. Stokes Joins WRA Staff at Denson Center"
Newspaper article about G.N. Stokes joining the War Relocation Authority Staff at Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Japanese Loyalty"
Newspaper column discussing the loyalty of Japanese Americans to the United States.