Jerome War Relocation Center
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Coordinates: 28°24′42″N 91°27′40″W / 28.41167°N 91.46111°W
The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas near the tiny town of Jerome. Open from October 1942 until June 1944,[1] it was the last relocation camp to open and the first to close;[citation needed] at one point it contained as many as 8,497 inhabitants.,[1] After closing, it was converted into a holding camp for German prisoners of war.,[1] Today, there are few remains of the camp standing, the most prominent being the smokestack from the hospital incinerator.[citation needed]
A 10-foot (3.0 m) high granite monument marks the camp location and history.[citation needed] The marker is located on US Highway 165, at County Road 210, approximately 8 miles south of Dermott, Arkansas.[citation needed]
Jerome is located 30 miles (48.3 km) southwest of the Rohwer War Relocation Center.,[1] Both camps were served by the same rail line.[citation needed]
On December 21, 2006 President Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law guaranteeing $38,000,000 in federal money to restore the Jerome relocation center along with nine other former Japanese internment camps. "H.R. 1492". http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061221-2.html.
The 2004 PBS documentary film "Time of Fear" outlines this history of this camp, and a similar camp in nearby Rowher, Arkansas. Due to the large number of Japanese Americans detained, these two towns were briefly the fifth and sixth largest cities in Arkansas.[citation needed]
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[edit] Notable Jerome internees
- Violet Kazue de Cristoforo (1917–2007), a Japanese American poet. Also interned at Tule Lake.
- Takayo Fischer (born 1932), an American stage, film and TV actress. Also interned at Rohwer.
- Lawson Fusao Inada (born 1938), an American poet. Also interned at Granada.
- Yuri Kochiyama (born 1921), a Japanese American human rights activist.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Japanese-American Internment Sites Preservation "Japanese-American Internment Sites Preservation", a report from the National Park Service.
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[edit] Jerome Relocation Camp – Jerome, Arkansas
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which declared the west coast of the United States a military zone. This allowed for the evacuation of 120,000 Japanese Americans. They were then rounded up and placed into Relocation Camps across the country. The Jerome War Relocation Camp was located in Southeast Arkansas in Chicot and Drew Counties. It was one of two relocation centers in Arkansas. The other center was Rohwer and it was located 27 miles north of Jerome. The Jerome site consisted of tax-delinquent lands situated in the marshy delta of the Mississippi River’s flood plain and was purchased in the 1930’s by the Farm Security Administration. The A.J. Rife Construction Company of Dallas, Texas, built the Jerome Camp at a cost of $4,703,347. The Jerome center was divided into 50 housing blocks surrounded by a barbed wire fence, a patrol road and seven watchtowers. The only entrances were from the main highway on the west and on the backside (east) of the central area. The camp was officially declared open (although it was not completed) in September 1942. It was the last center to open and the first to close and was only in operation for 634 days—the fewest number of days of any of the relocation camps. The constant movement of camp populations makes completely accurate statistics difficult; however, as of January 1943, with a population of 7,932 that was engaged predominantly in agricultural work before the war, thirty-three percent of the men and women in the Jerome Camp were aliens—fourteen percent over the age of sixty. Sixty-six percent were American citizens—thirty-nine percent under the age of nineteen. There were 2,483 school age children in the camp—a full thirty-one percent of the total population. The camp was closed in June 1944 and turned into a German Prisoner of War Camp. Upon closing, camp residents were sent to other camps including Heart Mountain, Gila River, Granada and Rohwer.
[edit] Shooting of Evacuees by Civilians at Jerome
Jerome was the site of the only known shooting of evacuees by local civilians. M.C. Brown, a tenant farmer on horseback on his way home from deer hunting came across three Japanese Americans from the Rohwer camp, on a work detail in the woods. He allegedly called on them to halt but when they began to run he said he fired one shot from his gun. One of the Japanese men was struck in the hip by a pellet and another was wounded in the calf of the leg. The Japanese were working in the woods under the supervision of a government engineer when the shooting occurred. Brown said he fired on the men because he believed they were trying to escape from the center and that the engineer was trying to aid them in getting away.
[edit] Camp Life and Social Clubs
Camp residents spent the day working, which consisted of mostly of either agricultural work, working at the saw mill or making soap. The houses were small and provided little insulation to the heat in summer and the cold in the winter. Sometimes several families would share a one room home that did not provide enough room for even one family. Residents were warned not to leave the center without permission. Project Director Paul A. Taylor warned residents that leaving the camp without permission and trespassing on private property was punishable. Having thousands of people live in such close proximity of each other caused several cases of sickness and disease to spread throughout the camp. In January 1944, a case of influenza spread throughout the camp for several months. However, the hospital at Jerome was acknowledged as the best equipped and best staffed in all of the Relocation Centers and provided enough medical assistance to alleviate most health problems.
Social and Culture Clubs were formed by residents of the relocation center. These clubs consisted of Cub Scouts, Phi Beta Society, Jovial Peppers and The Double X’s. The Jovial Peppers was a group of girls, ages 9 -12,who met to have fun. The Phi Beta Society consisted of a group of young women whose main purpose was improving their cultural background. Recreation and sports were very popular throughout the camp as well. Sports consisted of basketball, weightlifting, boxing, wrestling, and volleyball. Basketball drew the most attention from sports lovers. In one match noted as an “annihilation”, the Shamrocks defeated the commandos 19-2. Frank Horiuchi got credit for the lone loser’s basket. Art classes and piano lessons were offered. Adult Education classes including English, sewing, drafting, flower arrangement, commercial law, photography and art were offered to assist adults in the camp to further their education, skills and talents. Dances and movies were also available frequently in the camp. Shoe rationing during the early months of 1943 put a ban on high heels, as well as leather shoes and also limited the color of the shoes that could be worn by camp residents to black, white, army russet or brown.
[edit] Registration at Jerome
During the internment process, many of the Nisei (second generation Japanese American citizens) residents were asked to register for the armed forces and to fill out loyalty questionnaires. The first step in this process was to ask for volunteers who would be interested in joining a Nisei Combat Team. The Nisei Combat Team would consist of one unit of the army made up entirely of Japanese American citizens. Col. Scobey, executive to the Assistant Secretary of War, visited Jerome to persuade the internees to register, volunteer for the combat team, and fill out the loyalty questionnaire. He stated “I have nothing to gain or lose by this visit”. I am in a position to speak frankly and sincerely”. He also told the residents “You are not in the fortunate position to bargain; you are in a most difficult position and must let your friends help you”, referring to friends as the War Department. He stated that the War Department “believe volunteering for the combat team is the first step toward rehabilitation [and they] want to present the combat team as a symbol of loyalty”. He displayed his concept of public opinion as “Here is a Japanese American unit that is willing to fight for the principles of this country-a group that volunteered-didn’t have to be drafted”. Col. Scobey ended his speech by saying if the volunteer response was poor, the public will say “I told you so. They are not loyal; they won’t serve their nation”. An article by Galen M. Fisher was written to the Denson Tribune in an attempt to get more people to volunteer for the combat team. It was titled “What a Person Outside is Thinking”. It said that refusal to cooperate will poison the public mind and anti-oriental reactionaries would say “We told you so; they were disloyal all along”. He also gave other reasons why it was important to volunteer. He stated that not volunteering would give a most effective item of propaganda to the Axis. However, he also mentioned that cooperation would hamstring the Fair Play committee (a draft resistors organization) and hold fast the “ideal America”. Unfortunately only 31 out of an eligible 1579 volunteered for the combat team. Thirty percent of residents were classed disloyal. Paul A. Taylor highly praised the 31 volunteers for the Nisei Combat Team. He said “Every volunteer deserves the deepest admiration and respect of everyone in this camp” and “I believe the actions of these young men demonstrate a loyalty to the U.S.” The final report of registration at Jerome stated that out of the 5802 that were eligible 5798 registered. The lack of volunteers for the Nisei Combat Team as well as a few riots could be blamed on the large amount of confusion created by the registration and loyalty questionnaire. The greatest mistake the administration made was not having this registration and the voluntarily enlisting separated. A lot of misunderstanding could have been avoided if the whole thing about the mass registration and the Nisei combat team had been explained in the very beginning. The reasons for the confusion are explained by the War Relocation Authority. They include that many people did not get to listen to Col. Scobey’s address on March 4, 1943. Also, the Kibei did not understand enough English and the Issei did not understand hardly any. The majority of the Nisei were just out of high school, and if they had any education at all, they held jobs during the day and are too busy minding their own business. Also, if anyone tried to explain then they would have been the victim of a minority who opposed the registration. The reasons surrounding the riot involving Dr. Yatabe and Rev. Yamasaki (both JACL members)are explained by the War Relocation authority as: some of them had it “in for them” since the assembly center days, that JACL members are generally accused of being the cause of this evacuation, that too many things happened at once-the registration, the Nisei Combat Team, the new working hours, the high price of the canteen, etc., not enough explanation of the registration-the real meaning came too late, outside elements including riots at Mansanar, Gila, and Tule Lake relocation centers, and too many false rumors circulating around the center. One resident by the name of Mitsuho Kimura was one of six members of a committee for evacuees who conferred with Director Paul Taylor that they would protest against the W.R.A. Evacuee Registration Program. The committee stated that they refused to register because they were loyal to Japan. 781 evacuee’s inn the alleged disloyal group registered by writing across the face of the registration form that they wanted to be repatriated or expatriated to Japan. He was characterized by a Naval Intelligence informant as a “very dangerous type of individual”. Kimura was born in Hawaii on Aug. 10, 1919, attended high school in Japan from 1932 to 1935, and in Nov. 1935 returned from Japan and remained in Hawaii until Jan. 1943. He stated that he was loyal to Japan before Pearl Harbor, and that his loyalty to Japan had increased after Pearl Harbor. He said that he would not fight in the U.S. Army under any conditions, but would readily fight in the Japanese Army against the U.S. He organized group meetings at Jerome where they would sing the Japanese National Anthem and “banzais” for the Emperor of Japan would be given. He stated that “If I was in Japan I would fight for the Japanese army and kill some of these white bastards. I am not scared of any white man. Every time I speak to one I feel like beating hi up. Some day I would like to have a bunch of white servants working for me. Before this war is over you watch California will belong to Japan”. The Naval informant stated that if there was ever any violence in the Center it would spring from subject’s plans and “the powerful gang behind him.”
[edit] Leave Clearance at Jerome
Camp residents were allowed to leave the camp (with permission) to pursue jobs. However, many did not want to leave without the guarantees of food and a place to stay. One man was overheard saying “I wouldn’t go out there without the guarantees of food and place to stay. It’s better in here, where you get everything to eat and other necessities—that’s most important I think. Another draw back to leaving the center for work was the process of getting a leave clearance was incredibly slow, this caused some internees to not even consider getting a job on the outside. One Nisei girl stated “I’ve lost interest—now. I don’t care whether I go out or not.” Another girl said “It’s too slow. People like me, we don’t have a leave clearance, but if they don’t give us leave clearance, we can’t consider a job.” The draft and registration also complicated getting a leave clearance. A Nisei man stated that “The people in the center are getting discouraged. They are wondering if they will ever get to go out. Thee young men are wandering what to do-whether to wait for the draft or whether to enlist. Others that had planned to go out to resettle are canceling their plans since they have enlisted in the Army. Others are waiting for the draft.”
[edit] Camp Closing
The Jerome Relocation Camp closed in June 1944. After closing, it was converted into a holding camp for German Prisoners of War. Today, there are few remains of the camp standing, the most prominent being the smokestack from the hospital incinerator. A 10 foot high granite monument marks the camp location and history. The Jerome Relocation Center was in operation for a total of 634 days which was the fewest of any of the relocation camps. Although the registration process caused riots and stirrings of trouble in the camp, the Denson Tribune reported in June 11, 1944 that the “camp was free from juvenile delinquency”, “young girls and boys are well-behaved, well disciplined, well-trained, well-taught, and well led”, “Rowdyism, pranks, swearing, petty theft and juvenile vices are practically nil”, and “no reports of vandalism”. This is an important factor because the growing problem in the other camps was criminal behavior and delinquency. Once the camp was closed the remaining residents were transferred as follows: Heart Mountain received 507 residents, Gila River received 2, 055, Granada received 514 and Rowher received 2,522. Ultimately, the placement of Japanese Americans into the Jerome Relocation Center was the largest influx and incarceration of any racial or ethnic group in Arkansas’s history.
[edit] Other Resources
John Howard, "John Yoshido in Arkansas, 1943." Southern Spaces, 2 October 2008. http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2008/howard/1a.htm
Rosalie Gould:1610 North 3rd Treet, McGehee, AR 71654, Tel: 870-222-5355
Dr. Joann Lewis: Department of History, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 South University Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72204-1099. Tel: 501-569-3216.
[edit] Selected Books
Bearden, Russell. “Life inside Arkansas’ Japanese American Relocation Centers.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 48. 1989 169-196.
Friedlander, E.J. “Freedom of Press behind Barbed Wire: Paul Yokota and the Jerome Relocation Center Newspaper.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 44. 1985: 303-313.
Kim Kristine. Henry Sugimoto: Painting an American Experience. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2000.
McVoy, EdgarC. “Social Process in the War Relocation Center.” Social Forces 22. December 1943: 188-190.
Tsukamoto, Mary and Elizabeth Pinkerton. We the People: A Story of Internment in America. San Jose: Laguna Publishers, 1987.
Jeffrey F. Burton, Mary M. Farrell, Florence B. Lord, and Richard W. Lord. Confinement and Ethnicity An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites (Tucson, Arizona: Western Archeological and Conservation Center, 1999) 149-160.
