Jerome and Rohwer: Memories of Japanese American Internment in World War II Arkansas
Not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II, the federal government rounded up more than a hundred thousand people of Japanese descent—both immigrants and native-born citizens—and began one of the most horrific mass-incarceration events in US history. The program tore apart Asian American communities, extracted families from their homes, and destroyed livelihoods as it forced Japanese Americans to various “relocation centers” around the country. Two of these concentration camps—the Jerome and Rohwer War Relocation Centers—operated in Arkansas.

This book is a collection of brief memoirs written by former internees of Jerome and Rohwer and their close family members. Here dozens of individuals, almost all of whom are now in their eighties or nineties, share their personal accounts as well as photographs and other illustrations related to their life-changing experiences. The collection, likely to be one of the last of its kind, is the only work composed solely of autobiographical remembrances of life in Jerome and Rohwer, and one of the very few that gathers in a single volume the experiences of internees in their own words.

What emerges is a vivid portrait of lives lived behind barbed wire, where inalienable rights were flouted and American values suspended to bring a misguided sense of security to a race-obsessed nation at war. However, in the barracks and the fields, the mess halls and the makeshift gathering places, values of perseverance, tolerance, and dignity—the gaman the internees shared—gave significance to a transformative experience that changed forever what it means to call oneself an American.
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Jerome and Rohwer: Memories of Japanese American Internment in World War II Arkansas
Not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II, the federal government rounded up more than a hundred thousand people of Japanese descent—both immigrants and native-born citizens—and began one of the most horrific mass-incarceration events in US history. The program tore apart Asian American communities, extracted families from their homes, and destroyed livelihoods as it forced Japanese Americans to various “relocation centers” around the country. Two of these concentration camps—the Jerome and Rohwer War Relocation Centers—operated in Arkansas.

This book is a collection of brief memoirs written by former internees of Jerome and Rohwer and their close family members. Here dozens of individuals, almost all of whom are now in their eighties or nineties, share their personal accounts as well as photographs and other illustrations related to their life-changing experiences. The collection, likely to be one of the last of its kind, is the only work composed solely of autobiographical remembrances of life in Jerome and Rohwer, and one of the very few that gathers in a single volume the experiences of internees in their own words.

What emerges is a vivid portrait of lives lived behind barbed wire, where inalienable rights were flouted and American values suspended to bring a misguided sense of security to a race-obsessed nation at war. However, in the barracks and the fields, the mess halls and the makeshift gathering places, values of perseverance, tolerance, and dignity—the gaman the internees shared—gave significance to a transformative experience that changed forever what it means to call oneself an American.
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Jerome and Rohwer: Memories of Japanese American Internment in World War II Arkansas

Jerome and Rohwer: Memories of Japanese American Internment in World War II Arkansas

Jerome and Rohwer: Memories of Japanese American Internment in World War II Arkansas

Jerome and Rohwer: Memories of Japanese American Internment in World War II Arkansas

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Overview

Not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II, the federal government rounded up more than a hundred thousand people of Japanese descent—both immigrants and native-born citizens—and began one of the most horrific mass-incarceration events in US history. The program tore apart Asian American communities, extracted families from their homes, and destroyed livelihoods as it forced Japanese Americans to various “relocation centers” around the country. Two of these concentration camps—the Jerome and Rohwer War Relocation Centers—operated in Arkansas.

This book is a collection of brief memoirs written by former internees of Jerome and Rohwer and their close family members. Here dozens of individuals, almost all of whom are now in their eighties or nineties, share their personal accounts as well as photographs and other illustrations related to their life-changing experiences. The collection, likely to be one of the last of its kind, is the only work composed solely of autobiographical remembrances of life in Jerome and Rohwer, and one of the very few that gathers in a single volume the experiences of internees in their own words.

What emerges is a vivid portrait of lives lived behind barbed wire, where inalienable rights were flouted and American values suspended to bring a misguided sense of security to a race-obsessed nation at war. However, in the barracks and the fields, the mess halls and the makeshift gathering places, values of perseverance, tolerance, and dignity—the gaman the internees shared—gave significance to a transformative experience that changed forever what it means to call oneself an American.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781682262412
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Publication date: 06/01/2023
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Walter Imahara was born in California, where his family were prominent members of the local Japanese American farming community before World War II. After being interned at Jerome and Rohwer, he became a US Army officer, the owner of a successful nursery and landscape business, and a national champion weightlifter. He is the author of I Am an American: Japanese American, Asian Cajun.

David Meltzer is associate professor in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University in Mesa.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

Russell Endo 3

Rinko Shimasaki Enosaki 8

Phoebe Ichinaga Grange 14

Anna Sakaizawa Hasegawa 19

Janet Yomogida Hayashi 21

David Ichinaga 25

Jack Ichinaga 29

James Ichinaga 34

Monty Ichinaga 42

Sally K. Idemoto 46

Tom Tsutomu Ige 50

Fran Inouye Imahara 52

Victor Imahara 55

Walter Imahara 60

Clover Johnson 67

Atsuko Shimasaki Kusuda 77

Grace Imahara Marubashi 79

Caroline Matsuyama 82

Lily Imahara Metz 85

Milton Nagata 89

Kerry Yo Nakagawa 95

Don Nakamoto 98

Tad Nakase 101

Alice Ichinaga Nanamura 104

Joanne Y. Okada 107

Lester Ouchida 110

Ellen Kazuko Hachiya Oye 114

Tamio Tom Sakurai 116

Rose Futamachi Sasaki 121

Joh Sekiguchi 124

Fred Shimasaki 132

Joe Uzuru Shimasaki 137

Tim Taira 143

May Ichinaga Takeda 151

George Teraoka 158

Dorothy Ichinaga Thomas 163

Joanne Setsu Kitano Wong 169

Sharon Osaki Wong 174

Mits Yamamoto 177

Hachiro (Hach) Yasumura 180

Ted Yenari 186

Herbert Yomogida 191

Flora Imahara Yoshida 193

Dan O. Yoshii 200

Appendix: Accounts from Mary Kawakami, Hank Umemoto, and Elaine Francis Wilson 203

Index 211

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