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Evacuation. More than a hundred thousand men women and children
all in Japanese and 3 removed from their homes in the Pacific Coast state
to wartime communities established in out-of-the-way places
Their evacuation did not imply individual disloyalty
but was ordered to reduce a military hazard at a time when danger of invasion was great.
Two-thirds of the evacuees are American citizens by right of birth.
The rest are their Japanese-born parents and grandparents.
The people are not under suspicion.
They are not prisoners, they are not internees.
They are merely dislocated people, the unwounded casualties of war.
The time: spring and summer of 1942.
The place: ten different relocation centers
in unsettled parts of California, Arizona,
Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado,
and Arkansas. The relocation centers are supervised by the War Relocation Authority
which assumed responsibility for the people after they had been evacuated and
cared for temporarily
by the Army. A relocation center, housing from seven to 18,000 people
Barrack-type buildings, divided into compartments
12 or 14 residence buildings
to a block, each block provided with a mess hall, bath house
laundry building and recreation hall
about 300 people to a block, the entire community
bounded by a wire fence and guarded by military police
symbols of the military nature of the evacuation
Each family, upon arrival at a relocation center
was assigned to a single-room compartment about twenty by twenty five feet
barron, unattractive, a stove,
a light bulb, cots, mattresses
and blankets. Those were the things provided by the government
The family's own furniture was in storage on the west coast.
Scrap lumber, perhaps some wall-board and a great deal on energy
curtains, pictures, drapes depending on the family's own ingenuity and taste
helped to make the place livable. some families built partitions
to provide some privacy. Others took what they received and made the best of it.
The 300 or so residents of each block eat in a mess hall, cafeteria-style
rough wooden tables with attached benches. The food is nourishing
but simple. A maximum of 45 cents a day per person
is allowed for food and the actual cost is considerably less than this
for an increasing amount of the food is produced at the centers. A combination
of Oriental dishes to
meet the tastes of the Issei born in Japan
and of American-type dishes to satisfy the Nisei,
born in America.Land that had never been occupied or farmed was chosen
for the relocation centers
Most of the land was covered with desert growth
or with timber, in the case of the Arkansas centers. It had to be cleared
before farming could start.
Then it had to be leveled and irrigation ditches laid out
or rebuilt in order that the people could produce a part of their own food.
then came the plowing
and preparation of the soil and planting
A few of the centers had crops in 1942;
in 1943, all of them
about half of the evacuated people were farm folk
skilled producers a vegetables, fruits, and other crops
They had made desert land productive before
and around the relocation centers they could and did do it again
by the application of hard work and water for irrigation
at the two centers in Arkansas they have introduced western-style irrigation
and succeeded in producing vegetables in the heat of midsummer
when ordinary production methods are not successful. Tomatoes,
peppers, cucumbers, corn, melons
and many other crops have been grown on land that a year or two years ago
was unproductive. Food production is aimed at
self-report for the relocation centers. It does go onto the open market. From
the fields
it goes to the center warehouse; from there it may go to the kitchen
or it may be shipped to other centers. The Arizona centers are most productive
in winter
The others produce only in summer or fall
so vegetable crops are exchanged. Besides the workers engaged in farming
it takes many others to handle food in the warehouses in transportation
in the kitchesn. To keep the rolling equipment,
trucks, cars and tractors in operation, it takes mechanics and machinists
Water mains have to be laid and repaired.
Roads, sanitation systems
and building have to be maintained
At the Arkansas center, the land is covered with trees and clearing process
provides lumber for construction
and firewood for heating
Those who work are paid. Wages by outside
standards are low, $12 a month for beginners,
$16 a month for most of the workers and $19 for
professional people such as doctors
and others on skilled or difficult work
the workers also receive a small cash allowance for clothing
the money received as wages lets an evacuee buy the things he needs
which are not provided by the government but most have had to draw on their
savings
to live as they would like to
In each center a cooperative business association operates stores which
handle clothing
toilet articles and the merchandise which would be needed in any community
The co-ops also run barbershops, beauty parlors
shoe repair shops and other services for the community
when the school bell rings its a signal for these students at Heart
Mountain in Wyoming
to change classes. The school curriculum meets the standards of the state where the
center is located
mathematics, American history, geography
the fundamentals of an American education This is a class in mathematics
And a rhythm class of fifth grade pupils. In the modern school many subjects
are added
to Readin', Ritin', and 'Rithmatic as a part of the school works
some of the teachers are caucasian, some are evacuees
Americans of Japanese ancestry
The first-graders in this class, taught by an evacuee teacher
are making colored drawings which will decorate the walls of their barrack-building classroom,
the same kind of
beautifully-clumsy drawings that can be found in almost any first-grade room
in the high school, vocational training get plenty of attention
scientific farming, studied in school and in the fields
and older boys are learning trades. They use them first
as part of the regular work of the relocation centers as welders
mechanics, machinists
frequently learning to do the necessary jobs in a relocation center
have led to better jobs outside
health protection as part of the obligation assumed by the government
Evacuee doctors and nurses serve in the hospitals under the supervision of
caucasians. Dentists, oculists and pharmacists also
The Japanese professional men and women
most of them American citizens, had their own practices on the west coast before
evacuation
many of them are now in the Army Medical Corps and others have replaced doctors
and other health workers in communities outside the centers
the health service in relocation centers, in proportion to population
is about like that of any other American community in wartime
barely adequate. The evacuees have a form of
community self-government which aids the appointed officials in administration
of the community
a community council of evacuees is elected to make rules and regulations
anyone 18 years old or older is eligible to vote in the elections
which are carried on in the democratic manner
a judicial commission sits in judgment on minor offenses
attorneys among the evacuees represent the prosecution and the defense
a serious crime would be tried in the regular courts outside the center
the crime rate among people of Japanese in the United States
always has been extremely low and it has proved to be the case
in the centers.
after working hours, over weekends, a relocation center is the scene of baseball
and softball games
by the dozen. The teams are counted by the hundreds
The evacuees have provided practically all of their own equipment
or little government money has been spent for strictly recreational purposes
in the fall touch football is in season
and more quiet forms of recreation. The relocation centers include many
well-known artists
amateur and professional artists and craftsmen have used their spare time in
creating beauty in many different forms
Sunday church services. Advanced preparations include carrying the benches into the
barracks building
Most of the alien Japanese are Buddhist but almost half their
American-born children belong to some Christian denomination
Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian
except for state Shinto, involving Emperor worship
there is no restriction on religion in relocation centers
Boy Scouts, who usually provide the color guard for the American flag which floats
over each center
are typical of the American organizations which are prominent in each relocation
center
There's a U.S.O. club to provide entertainment for the Japanese-american
soldiers who come to the center to visit their family or friends
Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls, Parent-Teacher Associations
the Red Cross, the evacuees belonged to these organizations in their former homes
and transplanted them for the centers. The Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corp here is
leading a harvest festival parade
marking the high point of the successful season the farm production
everyone turns out to view the beauty queen
to see the well-decorated floats and to join in the good time that goes with
a full day of celebration
while they have many things in common with ordinary American communities
in the really important things relocation centers are not normal
and probably never can be. Home life is disrupted
eating, living and working conditions are abnormal
training of children is difficult americanism
taught in the schools and churches and on the playgrounds
loses much of its meaning in the confines of a relocation center
When the War Relocation Authority was only a few months old
it was decided that relocation centers should not be maintained
any longer than necessary.
The first people to leave the relocation centers were volunteer workers
recruited to help and then later to harvest the sugar beet crop of the
western states
almost one tenth of the evacuees volunteered for the seasonal work in
1942
The result of their labors was a year's sugar ration for about 10 million
people
but work in the beet fields was temporary. Most of the people returned to
the centers
The War Relocation Authority has been more concerned with permanent relocation
getting me evacuees out of the backwaters of the relocation centers
into the mainstream of American Life
so their labor can help the win the war so the cost to the taxpayers may be reduced
so there can be no question on the Constitutionality of any part of the
action taken by the government to meet the dangers the war
so no law-abiding American need to fear for his own freedom
relocation of the evacuees is not being carried on at the sacrifice of
National Security. Only those evacuees whose statements
and whose acts leave no question of their loyalty to the United States
are permitted to leave. All information available from intelligence agencies is
considered
in determining whether or not each individual is eligible to leave
Those who are not eligible to leave have been moved to one
center to live presumably for the duration of the war
the others established as law-abiding aliens, or loyal Americans
are free to go whenever they like thousands already have gone
here are a few of them. Nobura Eramura is examining corn for insects
in a field in Illinois
Kenneth Sugioka used to operate his own Orchard in Hollister California
machine work was a hobby. Now it's his job
He's making precision parts for american bombers
Musako Takiyosho is assistant head nurse in a large hospital
She was teaching supervisor of nurses in a Seattle hospital before
evacuation
she has three brothers, all in the army
the tractor driver here is Ray Himoto who used to farm near Walnut Grove California
and was evacuated to the Tule Lake center
This young machinist learned a trade since he relocated to Chicago
and his boss says he's learned it well He's helping to make kitchen equipment
Mrs. Ayako Kasai paints miniature dolls in a Midwestern studio
She used to live at Talusa, California and then lived at the Granada Relocation
Center
in the background is Cecelia Miyamoto who divides her time now between working
and attending college
Kayi Nakadoi feeds the chickens on an Illinois farm and on the same farm is an Issei, Camago,
Shimatsu. Shinobu Shakuma
Joe Shihara and Yoshio Dogan
cultivate potatoes on a farm in the middle west
this is Ruth Nishi. Her father ran a fruit stand in Berkeley California and Ruth
helped him
after living in the Poston Relocation Center she moved to Chicago
and has become a skilled turret lathe operator
these young men, spraying potatoes, are from the Minidoka relocation center
this boy liked the printing trade but had no chance to learn it until after he had
left the relocation center
He's helping to print some of the nation's supply of magazines
American eggs are shipped all over the world to americans in the armed forces
and to our allies
Mary Haguchi breaks eggs which are to be dried
and in the same plant John Iamuri feeds the drying machines
Jim Kuriso used to be a clerk in Madera California
now he's a candy maker in Chicago
American flags, some of them for the armed forces
are turned out by Mrs. Yoshie Abe
she hopes that one of the flags she makes someday may be carried in triumph
down the streets of Tokyo
the produce business in Watsonville, California used to be home to these boys
now they're in the produce business in Denver
Henry Lagoro used to be a farmer at Fresno, California
from the Jerome Relocation Center he moved to the middle west
to make marshmallows. Threshing oats in the middle west is a new experience to Tets Shiota
who
used to grow vegetables near Venice, California
an artificial leg doesn't interfere with the way he handles a pitchfork
This young fellow operating a book binding machine is
typical of the evacuees who are adjusting to new communities
getting along with their employers fellow workers and neighbors
and finding satisfaction and becoming self-supporting once more
the Americanism of the great majority of America's Japanese
finds it highest expression in the thousands who were in the United States
Army
almost half of them are in a japanese-american Combat Team
created by order of the Secretary of War early in nineteen forty-three
some of the volunteers came from Hawaii some from the eastern part of the united
States mainland where there was no mass evacuations
hundreds of them volunteered while they were in relocation centers
volunteered to fight against the militarism and oppression of Japan
and Germany
they know what they're fighting against and they know what they're fighting for
their country and by the American ideals that are part of their upbringing
democracy, freedom, equality of opportunity
regardless of race, creed, or ancestry
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