1942-1944 Japanese-American Relocation Camp.

Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/04/10

SUMMARY

Relocation centers for Japanese Americans known as Issei (first-generation Japanese in America), Nisei (second generation Japanese in America) and Sansei (third-generation Japanese in America) were the result of a culmination of nativist panic in the aftermath of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. Anti-Asian tensions in the United States had been palpable since the mid-nineteenth century arrival of Japanese immigrants on the West Coast. Most Japanese immigration occurred between 1885 and 1924. However, even in 1941, the effects of Alien Land Laws and a cultural aversion to non-white citizens bringing economic competition resulted in government-sponsored evacuation and detention of West Coast and Hawaiian residents hailing from Japan or descending from those Issei.[1]

Arkansas was chosen by the War Relocation Authority as one of the states that would be home to these internees. Two camps were established in 1942; Rohwer in Desha County and Jerome in Chicot and Drew counties. Rohwer was opened first in September of that year and the site was placed on the National Register in 1974. The Rohwer Cemetery was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

At the time of its listing Rohwer had seven buildings on site, foundations and a water storage tank in addition to the cemetery. In comparison, Jerome retains a water storage tank, a concrete sewage system, a fire hydrant, a deteriorating smokestack and some concrete slab foundations, some of which have modern farm structures on them. Two administrative houses remain but one has been moved from its original location and both have been altered. These resources are scheduled for demolition. The Jerome campsite is a working farm; the many blocks of streets and barrack foundations that were in place in 1953 when it reverted to agricultural use, have been destroyed and two wells have been in-filled leaving onlyraised clumps of dirt. U.S. Highway 165 was moved east of the railroad tracks in 1946. This has resulted in a physical disconnection of the original point where the internees disembarked from the train cars and entered directly into the camp. A complex of 20^th century farm buildings is located at the original entry to the camp off U.S. Highway 165. No preservation plan is in place for those objects and buildings that remain. A monument dedicated to the internees was erected at the former entrance in 1992.

The planting of crops and elimination of road beds and foundations has made the boundaries of the original camp almost impossible to discern. The site is important to the state of Arkansas as a symbol of the World War II-era treatment of Japanese Americans. It embodied the fears and beliefs of America as that generation dealt with real and perceived threats to freedom. Change in the land and the current discontiguous relationship of historic resources has negatively impacted the integrity of the campsite. Therefore, the Jerome Japanese American Relocation Center is being nominated to the Arkansas Register under Criterion A for its association with the movement by the Roosevelt Administration and the military to secure America’s borders from within. The War Authority Board and President Franklin Roosevelt saw these relocation camps as the best way to prevent sabotage efforts by severing contact between the nation of Japan and the stateside Issei, Nisei and Sansei.

ELABORATION

On the Pacific Coast, prejudice against Asians began long before December 7, 1941. Its roots can be traced back to the Chinese immigrants who arrived in California in 1849, during the Gold Rush. Like all other new arrivals to the West at that time, the Chinese headed for the mines and at first the labor they provided was a necessity. However, by 1870 Chinese immigrants comprised about 10 percent of California’s population, and were viewed by white miners as competition. In an effort to stem the increasing tide of Chinese immigration, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. This banned any further immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years; it was extended in 1892 for an additional ten years and made permanent in 1902. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first federal law to discriminate against any immigrant group and it provided the basis for further prohibitions.

The arrival of Japanese immigrants to the United States coincided with the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and anti-Japanese movements followed closely. Discrimination took the form of anti-Japanese organizations and an increasing number of violent attacks on individuals and businesses. Attempts at segregation of Asian children by the San Francisco school board resulted in a protest by the Japanese Government. The possibility of war with Japan had been raised over exclusion laws and other discriminatory acts by the United States; in addition, American farmers were angry about the influx of Japanese agricultural workers infringing on their business, so in 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt initiated the “Gentlemen’s Agreement.” According to this arrangement Japan agreed to limit immigration of laborers and their families to those who were already in the United States or who had been there before. For his part Roosevelt convinced the school board to revoke segregation orders and he restrained the California legislature from passing more anti-Japanese legislation. The respite was short-lived because in 1913 California passed the Alien Land Law, prohibiting “aliens ineligible to citizenship” from owning agricultural land.[1]

The Alien Land Act followed in 1920, which prohibited leasing and sharecropping as well. While these laws did not specifically state that Japanese immigrants were the target, it was widely accepted that this was the case. The Immigration Act of 1924 allowed two percent of the total of some nationalities already in the United States since 1890 to continue to enter the country – except for Japanese.[2]

Just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Munson Report was released by the State Department. It stated that there was no imminent threat of Japanese American collusion and those who lived on the West Coast were no danger to security. The same year the Ringle Report offered a similar conclusion but both fell by the wayside after the attack. In contrast to these earlier reports General John DeWitt, head of the army’s Western Defense Command, reported to President Franklin Roosevelt that the Japanese American presence on the West Coast was a great danger to the nation. In DeWitt’s earliest opinion all aliens fourteen years and older, should be removed; however, he felt that there could be an effort made to eliminate those who were loyal rather than restrain every Japanese American individual.

Concern for the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans by Attorney General Francis Biddle stayed De Witt’s hand for awhile. DeWitt agreed to the removal of enemy aliens and their children born in the United States from small prohibited zones adjacent to restricted areas. “Aliens” initially included Germans and Italians but public opinion was not in favor of the exclusion of European races. Congressional committee hearings on the West Coast also determined that loyal Japanese Americans would be impossible to separate from the disloyal so wholesale evacuation was best. In response General DeWitt began to advocate a larger military zone that included California, Oregon and Washington. Over Biddle’s objections Roosevelt cleared the army to do what it considered right. DeWitt advanced his removal policy by arguing that just because the Japanese had not actually followed up Pearl Harbor with subsequent acts of sabotage it didn’t mean they weren’t going to and the United States should be prepared.[3]

Secretary of War Henry Stimson agreed that a policy of removal was appropriate. When Stimson conveyed the argument to the president that Japanese “racial characteristics” made them inherently dangerous, Roosevelt concurred and provided for potential threats from Japanese Americans and other ethnic groups by signing Executive Order 9066 on February 16, 1942. After the signing of the order General DeWitt issued a series of Public Proclamations, creating prohibited zones, announcing curfews and restricting travel in designated military areas for Japanese Americans and their families. Exclusion orders were posted in Japanese American communities within the zone ordering evacuees to report to assembly centers after disposing of their property. Evacuations took place approximately seven days after the orders were posted, giving families little time to make arrangements for their belongings. The first steps toward removal after evacuation notices were dispersed, was the movement of the Japanese Americans into several assembly centers in California. Residents of the camps would spend about one to four months in the centers before they were sent to War Relocation Authority centers, or relocation camps. The Executive Order resulted in 120,000 people, out of whom two-thirds were American citizens, being sent to relocation centers in the interior of the United States.[4]

In March 1942, Executive Order 9102 called for the establishment of the War Relocation Authority (WRA). Supervision of the camps and direction of construction and maintenance and provision of security by the Military Police guard would be under the jurisdiction of the WRA. The first director of the agency was Milton S. Eisenhower, who oversaw the forced relocation of the Japanese Americans to the camps. Initially he had been in favor of voluntary relocation but he soon came to realize that forced relocation was a train that could not be stopped. [5]

Arkansas was chosen as the location for two camps because of its position deep in the interior far from the West Coast. There were also nine abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the state that could potentially be utilized. Governor Homer Adkins accepted the military action but made no secret of the fact that he would rather not have to deal with it. Preliminary actions toward construction of Arkansas camps by the Federal government began on February 16, 1942. Emory S. Adams, United States Adjutant General radiogrammed the commanding general of the 7^th Corps Area for information on locations in Arkansas that could house multiple evacuees. The Chairman of the House Committee Investigating National Defense Migration wired the governor inquiring how many aliens Arkansas could accommodate, whether they could be employed and how the residents of the state would feel about the camp.[6]

In April of 1942, Adkins and his advisors met with the regional supervisor of the WRA, E.B. Whitaker.It was reported to Eisenhower by Whitaker that Adkins was “not enthusiastic.” The governor did realize that the state had no choice in the matter but it was clear to the WRA liaison that he was tolerating it out of deference to the military. Adkins set forth several stipulations for his cooperation. He required a formal request from the War Department that Arkansas accept the evacuees as its patriotic duty; he asked that the Japanese Americans be returned to their homes immediately after the emergency; he wanted no state responsibility for the internees and their safety and discipline and he wanted assurance that the Japanese Americans would not be paid more than Arkansas laborers for any work they might perform.

Adkins received a telegram from U.S. Senator Lloyd Spencer in June 1943, stating that the WRA had purchased 12,000 acres of land from the Farm Security Administration in Desha County. Also in that month General DeWitt informed Adkins that a camp site at Jerome had been selected. Both parcels had been forfeited for nonpayment of taxes.A third proposed site in Otwell, Craighead County was ultimately rejected because the numbers of evacuees had been reduced. Transfer from the assembly centers to the camps began in late June and lasted until the end of October 1942, with movement to the relocation centers via train.[7]

Construction on the relocation center at Jerome began in late July 1942, and the first group of evacuees arrived October 6, 1942. The camp was also known as Denson as that was the name of the post office. Although Japanese Americans were arriving at the camp in October, it was only half-finished. Construction continued through January of 1943. Even when the construction company left the camp it was still not complete, the jobs of drilling wells, laying water and sewage pipes and building roads were left for the Japanese Americans to finish. Jerome was the last of the centers to be completed so by the time internees began arriving from assembly centers in Stockton, Fresno and Santa Anita, California, they had already been in custody for at least four months. It took four days to reach Arkansas from those assembly centers, traveling on trains with blackened or shaded windows and armed guards. Upon arrival at the camp the Japanese Americans discovered that the residential barracks were not furnished, some had no heating stoves and none had room divisions.Environmental conditions were muddy and cold and they were plagued by mosquitoes and snakes.[8]

Unlike prisoners the internees were able to approximate a semblance of their former life at the center. They busied themselves at center jobs, studies and sports. Tofu was produced at the center, a cannery was constructed and janitorial and mechanic positions were offered to internees. Efforts to put the Japanese Americans to work outside the center in the state soon proved a sore point with the governor and the general public. Like other Americans the residents in the camp planted victory gardens and worked to supply as much of their own necessities as possible. The WRA had written Governor Adkins in July 1942 that the main occupations of the internees were to be agriculture, land reclamation and conservation work. The Jerome Japanese American Relocation Center grew 85 percent of their own vegetables in crops outside the fence. When the camp opened, 630 acres were under cultivation and by 1944 that number had grown to 718 acres. The residents of Jerome also raised more than 1,200 hogs. The wooded areas to the east of the camp provided ample material for a sawmill, which from July 1943 to February 1944, produced 281,900 board feet of lumber and over 6,000 cords of firewood.

In October 1942, the governor received a letter from H.K. Thatcher, Executive Director of the state Agricultural and Industrial Commission regarding an effort by the WRA to develop industrial jobs for the internees at Rohwer and Jerome. Thatcher was alarmed over local plans to provide the Japanese Americans with jobs gathering crops, assembling equipment, building furniture and sewing clothing, tents and awnings. The WRA planned to pay them wages comparable to those in California, which were higher than Arkansas wages and they suggested that they could leave the centers to go to work. Thatcher’s primary concerns were adding a “jap problem” to the “negro problem” and giving the internees advantages that the resident population did not currently enjoy. Adkins sent a strong message to John McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War reminding him of their original conversations regarding movement of internees out of the centers. He stated “I must insist with all of the emphasis at my command that this agreement must not be violated. It cannot have but one effect and that would be to create trouble and confusion and it would be a complete repudiation of our agreement.”[9]

Adkins continued to stick by his earlier stipulations to the Federal government over subsequent attempts by concerns in the state to hire out Japanese American internees. The Utah Construction Company requested the loan of 36 center men for work on Norfork Dam in Baxter County. Adkins wired the company to inform that that “under no consideration can I alter my position in this matter.” Another inquiry from the Hardy YWCA camp for a crafts teacher from one of the relocation centers was denied by Adkins as well. The governor insisted that his position was not based on prejudice; rather that he was concerned for the safety of the internees.[10]

Before camp construction was begun, the Japanese American Student Relocation Council had notified H.L. McAlister, president of Arkansas State Teachers College (now University of Central Arkansas) that the Federal government had chosen his school to receive qualified Japanese American students after relocation. The intent was to allow them to finish their education so they could be more readily absorbed into American life. Adkins was resistant to this effort though, and wired McCloy to say that allowing Japanese American students in Arkansas’s schools would be an insult to the parents of Americans who were serving in the military. This would also provide inroads to African Americans who wanted to enroll in college. He offered that the Japanese American students would be more at home in other states where minorities were already accepted.[11]

No major uprisings against the presence of the Japanese Americans in Arkansas were recorded although there was record of a shooting involving a local tenant farmer and three Japanese Americans on work duty. A truck driver from the Rohwer center was assaulted by another motorist who claimed he had forced him off the road. The governor also received a few letters from people concerned about the Japanese Americans being at liberty within the state. Another common complaint was that the Japanese Americans were being indulged by providing them with sewage systems that were better than those found on Arkansas farms. National issues over the rations provided for the internees arose when it was alleged that they were wasting and stockpiling food.This resulted in a WRA reduction in rations, which trickled down to Jerome and Rohwer.[12]

The WRA seems to have generally respected Adkins’ wishes that the internees not supplant local labor but a national agricultural leave program was formed by the agency in the summer of 1942. This was primarily organized to assist with beet production in Malheur County, Oregon. Labor shortages and a step-up in beet crops as a source for sugar inspired the ironic plea to bring the Japanese Americans back to the West Coast. The program was also designed to combat boredom and unrest fomented by confinement. The Jerome Center newsletter, Denson Communique, contained mention of opportunities for outside work in government radio interpretation, map translation, poster design and assembly of ship models for the Navy. A representative of the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago came to Jerome to hire help in July 1943. In that month a report from the Midwest chronicled relocation prospects in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. Emphasis was placed on the good attitude of the residents toward evacuees and the offer of good wages, a tenant house, cow and garden area. William Gehrig of Madaryville, Indiana, advertised in the Jerome newsletter for two couples or eight single men to assist with farm work. Internees at Jerome were encouraged by Dr. Frank Herron Smith of the Protestant Commission for Japanese Service to relocate and the camp relocation committee reported in June 1943, that around 725 internees from Jerome were out on indefinite and seasonal leaves.[13]

The population of Jerome fluctuated over the 21 months it was in operation because of internees that joined the military or relocated for jobs. At its peak, Jerome held 8,672 evacuees; however, by February 1944, that number had dropped to 6,554, making Jerome the smallest of all the camps. In that year Allied forces had defeated Japan’s air force and navy, eliminating the threat of a West Coast offensive. A movement against the unconstitutional nature of the relocation centers had gained momentum and Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior appealed to the president for closure of the centers. In February 1944, internees at Jerome were read a teletype from Ickes regarding the shutdown of the camp in June. Jerome was chosen as the first to be shuttered because it was the last in the nation to be built, thus it was not as developed as the others, which made it an easy location to close.

Internees that were not moved out of the camp by the first of June were to be absorbed into other camps such as Rohwer, Granada in Colorado and Heart Mountain in Wyoming. After the internees were removed from Jerome, German prisoners of war were moved in. The prisoners remained in the camp until the end of the war in Europe. Rohwer was closed in November 1944, and at that point the Japanese Americans had to surmount the task of starting their lives over and facing those anti-Japanese holdovers that were intent on maintaining hostility against them.[14]

[2] “The Immigration Act of 1924” (The Johnson-Reed Act), Information fromhttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/id/87718.htm.Accessed March 15, 2010.

[3] Roger Daniels, Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II, (Hill and Wang: New York, 1993), 7; Ng, 14; Diane Yancey, Life in a Japanese American Internment Camp, (Lucent Books: San Diego, CA, 1998), 25, 28-29; Burton,Confinement and Ethnicity, 29-30.

[4] Ken Story, “Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery,” National Historic Landmark nomination, on file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, AR: 1992, Section 8, p. 6; Burton, Confinement and Ethnicity, 29, 32; Ng, Japanese American Internment, 32, 37; Caroline Chung Simpson, An Absent Presence: Japanese Americans in American Culture, 1945-1960, (Duke University Press: Durham and London, 2001), 49.

[5] Story, “Rohwer Relocation Center,” Section 8, p 6; General John DeWitt, letter to Homer Adkins, June 17, 1942, Information from Governor Homer Adkins Papers, on file at Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, AR.

[6] War Department Radiogram from Emory S. Adams to CommandingGeneral, 7^thCorps Area, Omaha, NE, February 16, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC;John H. Tolan, telegram to Homer Adkins, February 26, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Stephen Steed, “Return to Rohwer,” Spectrum Weekly, July 8-14, 1992, 10.

[7] E.B. Whitaker Report to Milton Eisenhower, regarding meeting with Homer Adkins, April 27, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Lloyd Spencer, telegram to Homer Adkins, June 3, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers; General John DeWitt, letter to Homer Adkins, June 17, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Michael Dougan, Arkansas Odyssey: The Saga of Arkansas from Prehistoric Times to Present, (Rose Publishing Co.: Little Rock, AR, 1994), 468.

[8] Russell Bearden, “Life Inside America’s Japanese American Relocation Centers,”Arkansas Historical Quarterly XLVIII, no. 2 (Summer 1989), 172, 176.

[9] Dillon S. Myer, letter to Homer Adkins, July 2, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers; Burton, Confinement and Ethnicity, 155; H.K. Thatcher, to Homer Adkins, October 23, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Homer Adkins, telegram to John McCloy, N.D., Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Denson Tribune, Denson, AR, Vol. I, No. 43, (July 27, 1943), 1; Denson Communique, Denson, AR, No. 24, (January 5, 1943), 1; Denson Tribune, Denson, AR, Vol. I, No. 35, (June 29, 1943), 3.

[10] B. Williams, telegram toHomer Adkins, December 2, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Homer Adkins, telegram to B. Williams, December 2, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; Homer Adkins, letter to Edward Meeman, June 16, 1943, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

[11] Robbins W. Barstow,letter to H.L. McAlister,June 17, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC; HomerAdkins,telegram to John McCloy,July 8, 1942, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

[12] Burton, Confinement and Ethnicity, 150; Russell Bearden, “The False Rumor of Tuesday,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. XLI, (Winter 1982), 338, Bearden, “Life Inside Arkansas Relocation Centers,” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. XLVIII, (Summer 1989), 186.

[13] Yancey, Life in a Japanese American Internment Camp, 67, “Life on the Home Front: Oregon Responds to World War II,” Information fromhttp://www.sos.state.or.us/archives/exhibits/ww2/threat/labor.htm., accessed April 01, 2010; Denson Communique, Denson, AR, no. 24, (January 05, 1943), 1; Denson Tribune, Denson, AR, vol. 1, No. 43, (July 27, 1943), 1, 4; Denson Tribune, Denson, AR, Vol.I, No. 35, (June 29, 1943), 1, 4; Denson Tribune, Denson, AR, Vol. I, No. 33, (June 22, 1943), 4.

[14] Yancey, Life in a Japanese American Internment Camp, 85; Denson Tribune Bulletin, Denson, AR, (February 22, 1944); Russell Bearden, “World War II Prisoner of War Camps,” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture,http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2399, accessed March 5, 2010.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Jerome Japanese American Relocation Center was one of two temporary Arkansas homes to over 8,000 Japanese American internees during World War II. The extensive grounds of the center were contained within barbed wire and post roads with watchtowers. As was typical, after the war was over and Japanese American evacuees and subsequent German POW’s were removed, camp materials were utilized elsewhere or buildings were moved to other areas. Physical remains like foundations, warehouses and the outline of common areas and residential blocks remained on site until circa 1953. At that time the Ellington family of Jerome re-introduced commercial farming activities on the land. Fifty-seven years later little is left of the resources that were used on the camp or its boundaries. The deteriorated condition of the most prominent feature - the smokestack - and the uncertainty of the other resources as well as the elimination of defining boundary lines preclude the Jerome Japanese American Relocation Center from listing on the National Register.

Jerome’s part in the cultural history of America and Arkansas during World War II should not be forgotten even if there is not enough physical fabric remaining to provide a perceptible picture. The site of Jerome serves as a symbol of the fear, anger, attitudes and beliefs of 1940s Americans and can continue to provide a lesson for the future. For these reasons the Jerome Japanese American Relocation Center is being nominated to the Arkansas Register under Criterion A, statewide significance for its role in the World War II relocation effort instituted by the American military and the Franklin Roosevelt Administration after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Emory S. War Department Radiogram to Commanding General, 7th Corps Area, Omaha, NE, February 16, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, Arkansas History Commission, (AHC) Little Rock, AR.

Adkins, Homer. Telegram to John McCloy, N.D. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

_____.Telegram to B. Williams, December 2, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.
_____. Letter to Edward Meeman, June 16, 1943, Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.
_____. Telegram to John McCloy, July 8, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Barstow, Robbins. Letter to H.L. McAlister, June 17, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Bearden, Russell. “Life Inside America’s Japanese American Relocation Centers.”Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. XLVIII, no. 2. (Summer 1989).

_____. “The False Rumor of Tuesday.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. XLI. (Winter 1982).
_____. “Life Inside Arkansas Relocation Centers.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. XLVIII. (Summer 1989).
_____. “World War II Prisoner of War Camps.” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2399. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Burton, Jeffrey, et al. Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites. Washington, DC: US Department of the Interior, 1999.

Daniels, Roger. Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II, New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.

Denson Communique. Denson, AR, No. 24. (January 5, 1943).

_____. Denson, AR, no. 24, (January 05, 1943).

Denson Tribune. Denson, AR, Vol. I, No. 43. (July 27, 1943).

_____. Denson, AR, Vol. I, No. 35. (June 29, 1943).
_____. Denson, AR, Vol. I, No. 33. (June 22, 1943).

Denson Tribune Bulletin. Denson, AR. (February 22, 1944).

De Witt, General John. Letter to Homer Adkins, June 17, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, on file at Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, AR.

Dougan, Michael. Arkansas Odyssey: The Saga of Arkansas from Prehistoric Times to Present, Little Rock, AR: Rose Publishing Co., 1994.

“Life on the Home Front: Oregon Responds to World War II.” Information from

https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ww2/Pages/default.aspx

Accessed April 01, 2010.

Myer, Dillon S. Letter to Homer Adkins, July 2, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Ng, Wendy. Japanese American Internment During World War II: A History and Reference Guide, Greenwood, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.

“President Theodore Roosevelt and the Gentlemen’s Agreement.” Information fromwww.homepage3.nifty.com. Accessed March 12, 2010.

Simpson, Caroline Chung. An Absent Presence: Japanese Americans in American Culture, 1945-1960. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.

Spencer, Lloyd. Telegram to Homer Adkins, June 3, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Stephen Steed. “Return to Rohwer.” Spectrum Weekly, (July 8-14, 1992).

Story, Ken. “Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery.” National Historic Landmark nomination, on file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, AR, 1992.

Thatcher, H.K. Letter to Homer Adkins, October 23, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

“The Immigration Act of 1924” (The Johnson-Reed Act), Information fromhttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/id/87718.htm. Accessed March 15, 2010.

Tolan, John H. Telegram to Homer Adkins, February 26, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Whitaker, E.B. Report to Milton Eisenhower, regarding meeting with Homer Adkins, April 27, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Williams, B.Telegram to Homer Adkins, December 2, 1942. Homer Adkins Papers, AHC.

Yancey, Diane. Life in a Japanese American Internment Camp. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1998.