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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Pacific Citizen: The National Publication of the Japanese American Citizens League
This newspaper, entitled the Pacific Citizen, covers a wide range of topics including the Japanese-American community in the United States.
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Rohwer Center Memorial: List of service man killed in action
This document is a list of Japanese Americans who voluntarily enlisted in the United States military from the Relocation Camp in Rohwer and who died overseas fighting in World War II. This list was taken from the monument built to honor those individuals.
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Speech, "A Place Called Rohwer" by Joseph Boone Hunter
Speech given to the Rotary Club in Little Rock, Arkansas, in May 1981 by Joseph Hunter. Hunter, who was part of a documentary called, "A Place Called Rohwer," talked about his participation in the film and about the people who lived in Rohwer during their relocation. The film is housed at the Arkansas State Archive in the Joseph Boone Hunter papers supplement II, MS.000653.
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Postscript by Joseph Boone Hunter
This document describes what happened to the land on which Rohwer Relocation Center sat after the center closed down.
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Historic monuments
Document discussing the need for the care of historic monuments in Rohwer, Arkansas.
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Newspaper article, "A Monument Recalls Hatred Born of War"
Newspaper article detailing the condition of the Rohwer Center Cemetery in Desha County in 1972.
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Letter, Mike Masaoka to Dr. Joseph B. Hunter
Letter from Mike Masaoka of the Japanese American Citizens League informing Dr. Hunter that very little progress has been made on the Rohwer Center Cemetery and Nisei GI Memorial project.
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Photograph of Phillip, Henry Sugimoto, Sumile, and Susie at Easter
Photograph of Phillip, Henry Sugimoto, Sumile (daughter of Henry Sugimoto), and Susie (wife of Henry Sugimoto) at Easter 1965. Henry Sugimoto is a notable Japanese American artist.
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Article, "Early Reaction In Arkansas To the Relocation of Japanese in the State"
The information in this article describes the conditions under which the Japanese Americans lived during their time in the interment camps and how they were perceived by other Americans.
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Letter, A.C. Stratton to Dr. Joseph B. Hunter
This letter is informing Dr. Hunter that the National Park Service decided that the Rohwer Center Cemetery and Nisei GI Memorial does not fit the criteria for a National Park.
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Letter, acting assistant director of the National Park Service to Mike Masaoka
This letter is informing Mike Masaoka, of the Japanese American Citizens League, that the Rohwer Center Cemetery and Nisei GI Memorial does not qualify as an addition to the National Park system.
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Letter, Chester C. Brown to Joseph B. Hunter
Letter from Chester C. Brown with the Chief Division of National Park System Studies thanking Dr. Hunter for the kind letter to A.C. Stratton, Associate Director of the National Park Service. Brown is offering to help in insuring the preservation of the Japanese Memorials at Rohwer.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph B. Hunter to Senator William Fulbright
Dr. Hunter is thanking Senator Fulbright for meeting with him and Mike Masaoka of the Japanese American Citizens League about the possibility of the Rohwer Center Cemetery and Nisei GI Memorial qualifying for National Park status. Dr. Hunter states that he knew some of the young men who went from the relocation camps to the battlefields of Europe.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph Hunter to A. Clark Stratton
Letter from Dr. Hunter thanking A. Clark Stratton, associate Director National Park Service for meeting with him and Mike Masaoka with the Japanese American Citizens League about the possibility of Rohwer Center Cemetery and the Nisei GI Memorial qualifying for National Park status. Dr. Hunter wants the thirty-one Japanese American men that fought and died for the United States to receive recognition of their service.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph Hunter to A. Clark Stratton
This letter to A. Clark Stratton from Joseph Boone Hunter discusses the possibility of the Rohwer Relocation Center Cemetery becoming part of the National Parks Service.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph Hunter to A.C. Stratton
Dr. Hunter thanks A.C. Stratton, associate director of the National Park Service, for his time and consideration of the Rohwer Center Cemetery and the Nisei GI Memorial project.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph Hunter to Mike Masaoka
Letter from Dr. Joseph Hunter to Mike Masaoka with the Japanese American Citizens League informing him that Mickey Nakamura of Scott, Arkansas, is going to be assisting them in their struggle to provide adequate care for the Rohwer Center Cemetery and the Nisei GI Memorial. The American Legion in Chicago will be providing funds for the cemetery and memorial in Rohwer. Dr. Hunter believes that the American Legion will be strong allies in this undertaking.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph Hunter to Mike Masaoka
Dr. Hunter is writing to Mike Masaoka with the Japanese American Citizens League in Washington, D.C. to thank him for his time and effort with the Rohwer Center Cemetery and the Nisei GI Memorial project. Hunter also requests that Masaoka stop by the office of Mr. Ansel Cleary, apprentice training in the Department of Labor.
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Letter, Dr. Joseph Hunter to Mike Masaoka
Letter from Dr. Joseph Boone Hunter to Mike Masaoka, Washington representative of the Japanese American Citizens League, requesting meeting with Masaoka and Senator William J. Fulbright to discuss the possibility of a WRA cemetery and memorial monument at Rohwer, Arkansas.
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Letter, Joseph Boone Hunter to Mike Masaoka, Japanese American Citizens League
Letter between Dr. Hunter and Mike Masaoka, who had been trying to get the Rohwer Center Cemetery and Nisei GI Memorial declared a National Park.
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Letter, Mary Toda to Dr. Joseph B. Hunter
Letter from Mary Toda, secretary of Mike Masaoka with the Japanese American Citizens League, acknowledging a letter sent by Dr. Joseph Hunter to Mr. Masaoka on May 18, 1964.
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Letter, Mary Toda to Dr. Joseph Hunter
Letter informing Dr. Hunter that Mr. Masaoka is out of the office and as soon as he returns, he will address the letter Dr. Hunter sent to his office.
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Letter, Mike Masaoka to Dr. Joseph B. Hunter
This letter from Mike Masaoka with the Japanese American Citizens League is informing Dr. Joseph Hunter from the First Christian Church in Massachusetts, that the Acting Assistant Director of the National Park Service decided that the Rohwer Center Cemetery and the Nisei GI Memorial did not fit the criteria for a National Park.
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Letter, Mike Masaoka to Dr. Joseph Hunter
Letter from Mike Masaoka, the Washington representative of the Japanese American Citizens League to Dr. Joseph Hunter attempting to schedule a meeting time to discuss the possibility of having the National Park Service designate and care for a WRA cemetery and memorial monument at Rohwer, Arkansas.
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Letter, Mike Masaoka to Dr. Joseph Hunter
Letter from Mike Masaoka to Dr. Joseph Hunter making plans for a potential meeting between Dr. Hunter, Senator William J. Fulbright, the Arkansas Congressional Delegation, and the Japanese American Citizens League, in order to discuss the possibility of a WRA cemetery and memorial monument at Rohwer, Arkansas.