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.
-
Newspaper article, "WRA Official In Answer To Press Charges"
This article discusses allegations made against the War Relocation Authority and Director E.B. Whitaker's response to the allegations.
-
Newspaper article, "You do have a Future"
Article reviewing the history of the Japanese in America, the progress the Japanese community was making, and their struggle against prejudice.
-
Notice of Jurisdiction filed by Dillon Seymour Myer, War Relocation Authority director, to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Dillon Seymour Myer, War Relocation Authority (W.R.A.) director, filed a notice with the Governor's office compelling the State of Arkansas to comply with the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section B, paragraph 17, as well as the Revised Statutes, Section 355 40, United States Code, Section 255. These state that the Federal government has the authority and the jurisdiction to hire and license physicians, surgeons and practitioners of other professions to work for the W.R.A. or any organization sponsored by the W.R.A.
-
Project director report from Jerome Relocation Center
project director report from Jerome Relocation Center on Nov. 9, 1943.
-
Project director report from Rohwer Relocation Center
project director report from Rohwer Relocation Center on Nov. 28, 1943.
-
Project director report from Rohwer Relocation Center
project director report from Rohwer Relocation Center.
-
Questions asked on registration
The following questions were asked at a meeting of block mangers, councilmen, and the Issei advisory body, which was held Saturday, February 6, for the purpose of explaining the general registration.
-
Report on segregation program at Rohwer Relocation Center
Report on the progress of the segregation program at Rohwer Relocation Center.
-
Results from internee questionnaires
Special report detailing the evacuee response from questionnaires.
-
Revision of general registration for Rohwer Relocation Center
Document outlining revisions to general registration for Rohwer Relocation Center.
-
Senate Bill No. 11 Act 47, Alien Land Act
This is the original Senate Bill passed by the Arkansas State Legislature that banned all Japanese and their descendants from owning land in Arkansas.
-
Special report concerning negative answers to question 26 by male citizens
Special report concerning negative answers to Question 26 from the loyalty questionnaire by male citizens at Rohwer Relocation Center, February 4, 1943.
-
Special report concerning the evacuee attitude toward registration program
Special report detailing the evacuee attitude toward the implemented registration program, February 12, 1943.
-
Special report on the evacuee reaction to the announcement of segregation
Special report describing the evacuee reaction to the announcement of evacuee segregation.
-
Special report on the evacuee reaction to the announcement of segregation
Special report describing the evacuee reaction to the announcement of evacuee segregation.
-
Summary of Block managers' monthly reports
Summary of the monthly reports submitted by block managers from Rohwer Relocation Center on Oct. 31, 1943.
-
Summary of Rohwer Relocation Center monthly reports
Summary of monthly reports submitted from Rohwer Relocation Center on Aug. 31, 1943.
-
Telegram, Cha. Acornell to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Telegram from Cha. Acornell to Governor Adkins that Acornell is interested in hiring Japanese Americans detained in Arkansas relocation camps.
-
Telegram, Dr. W.B. Grayson to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Telegram from Dr. W.B. Grayson informing Governor Adkins of a rumor he had heard, the rumor being that all relocation camps would soon be sending active tuberculosis patients to Arkansas for isolation and treatment. Dr. Grayson warns against such action. He states that Western states are better suited for treatment of tuberculosis.
-
Telegram, Governor Homer Adkins to Char. A. Cornell
Char. A. Cornell is writing to express interest in hiring Japanese Americans being detained in Arkansas's relocation camps. Governor Adkins is referring Cornell to Paul McNutt, who is with the War Manpower Commission in Washington, D.C.
-
Telegram, Kentucky Senator Albert Benjamin Chandler to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Kentucky Senator Albert Chandler is informing Governor Adkins that he will be arriving in Little Rock on Saturday morning to investigate the Japanese-American internment camps and he will be staying at the Hotel Marion.
-
Teletype message confirmation from Leland Barrows to all War Relocation Authority project directors
Teletype message confirmation from Leland Barrows to all War Relocation Authority project directors.
-
Weekly general comment by project director
Weekly general from Rohwer Relocation Center project director Austin Smith on Sept. 18, 1943.
-
Weekly general comment by project director
Weekly general comment from Rohwer Relocation Center project director Austin Smith on Dec. 4, 1943.
-
Weekly general comment by project director
Weekly general from Rohwer Relocation Center project director Austin Smith on Aug. 7, 1943.