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, "Jap [sic] Projects Bring Large Payrolls Here"
Article discussing the jobs being created by the building project at Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Jap [sic] Transfers Stepped Up"
Article discussing the transfer of evacuees to relocation centers at Rohwer and Jerome.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] Available for Farm Jobs May be Secured Under Certain Conditions"
Newspaper article discussing the arrival of evacuees at Rohwer and Jerome relocation centers.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] Enroute To Arkansas From California Camp"
Dermott News article discussing the movement of 20,000 Japanese Americans from an internment camp in California to internment camps in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] Expected to Improve County Tracts: Drainage Projects Will Create Rich New Farming Areas Here"
Article discussing the improvements Japanese Americans will make on the land while in Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] Headed for Rohwer: 248 Scheduled to Arrive This Week"
Article discussing the arrival of Japanese Americans at Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] May Not Leave the State"
Article discussing the potential use of Japanese-American evacuee labor for beet harvesting in South Dakota.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] Not So Hot As Cotton Pickers"
Article discussing the use of Japanese-American evacuees in agricultural labor in Arizona.
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Newspaper article, "Japs [sic] to Need 150 Teachers"
Newspaper article discussing the need for educators in Arkansas's Japanese relocation centers.
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Newspaper article, "Jerome and Rohwer Roads Will be Improved, Repaired"
Article discussing the repair of roads in McGehee and Dermott, Arkansas in preparation for the arrival of relocated Japanese Americans.
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Newspaper article, "Jerome Camp Nearly Ready for Japs [sic]"
Article discussing the readying of the Jerome Relocation Center for evacuees.
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Newspaper article, "Jerome Center Gets Japs [sic] Tuesday Morning"
Article discussing the travel and arrival of Japanese Americans to Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "John Trice To Be Superintendent At Rohwer Jap [sic] Center"
Newspaper article discussing John Trice's appointment as Supertintendent of Rohwer Relocation Center in McGehee, Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "Kansas to Use Japanese Labor"
Newspaper article discussing the use of Japanese-American evacuee laborers in Kansas.
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Newspaper article, "Large Groups of Japanese on Way Here"
Article discussing the Santa Anita relocation center in Arcadia, California.
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Newspaper article, "Leflar Lawyer For Japanese Colonies"
Article discussing Robert A. Leflar's appointment as the attorney for Rohwer and Jerome relocation centers.
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Newspaper article, "Material for Jap [sic] Center at Jerome is Being Shipped"
Newspaper article discussing the continued construction of Jerome Relocation Center and the arrival of materials and 500 workers.
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Newspaper article, "McClellan Visits Japanese Centers"
Newspaper article discussing a visit to Rohwer and Jerome relocation centers by Senator John L. McClellan.
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Newspaper article, "McGehee is Greeting New Residents"
Article discussing the population expansion in McGehee brought on by the construction crews that moved in while building Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Medic Dispute at Jap Colony of Wide Scope"
Article discussing the investigation regarding M.B. Lynch's medical license and his medical practice at Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Military Police, Japs [sic] To Arrive At Jerome Camp"
Newspaper article discussing the arrival of military police at Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Ministerial Alliance Host to Japanese"
Newspaper article discussing the combined meeting of McGehee and Rohwer Relocation Center Ministerial Alliances.
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Newspaper article, "Miss Beryl Henry to Jerome Post"
Article discussing Beryl Henry becoming the director of school curriculum for the War Relocation Board.
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Newspaper article, "M.P.'s To Arrive At Jerome Jap [sic] Camp Tomorrow"
Article discussing the arrival of military police at Jerome Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "Name Managers Jap Colonies: Ray D. Johnson at Rohwer, Paul Taylor at Jerome"
Article discussing the appointment of managers for Rohwer and Jerome relocation centers.