Meet the Locals of the Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee
The Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee preserves the history of the internment camps located in Rohwer and Jerome in southeast Arkansas. In 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government decided to place Japanese American citizens in internment camps for reasons of security. Meet the historians and curators of this museum who help tell the stories behind this time in United States history.
From Conflcit to Camps: Japanese American Internment in Arkansas
A NHD documentary about the Japanese internment camps in Arkansas following the 2018 theme of Conflict to Compromise.
WWII Japanese-American Internment Camp Museum 6th annual pilgrimage- April 13, 2019
Due to the weather, the pilgrimage was held at the McGehee Municipal Building.
Video by editor Chris Darnell.
LCV Cities Tour - Little Rock: Japanese Internment Camps
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 10 Japanese-American internment camps were set up in the United States. The two easternmost of these were located in the Arkansas towns of Rohwer and Jerome. Our trip to the Butler Center takes the viewer into their collection of items that help paint the portrait of life inside one of these camps.
Visit:
Japanese Internment Camps during WW 2
A short American history lesson from the WW2 era told by two Americans of Japanese origin in a History Museum in Sacramento, California
On December 7th 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. US citizens feared another attack and war hysteria seized the country.
State representatives put pressure on President Roosevelt to take action against those of Japanese descent living in the US.
On February 19th 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Under the terms of the Order, some 120,000 people of Japanese descent living in the US were removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. The US justified their action by claiming that there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese. However more than two thirds of those interned were American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever shown disloyalty to the nation. In some cases family members were separated and put in different camps. During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasian.
Life in the camps was hard. Internees had only been allowed to bring with then a few possessions. In many cases they had been given just 48 hours to evacuate their homes. Consequently they were easy prey for fortune hunters who offered them far less than the market prices for the goods they could not take with them.
It was really cruel and harsh. To pack and evacuate in forty-eight hours was an impossibility. Seeing mothers completely bewildered with children crying from want and peddlers taking advantage and offering prices next to robbery made me feel like murdering those responsible without the slightest compunction in my heart. Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara speaking of the Terminal Island evacuation.
They were housed in barracks and had to use communal areas for washing, laundry and eating. It was an emotional time for all. I remember the soldiers marching us to the Army tank and I looked at their rifles and I was just terrified because I could see this long knife at the end . . . I thought I was imagining it as an adult much later . . . I thought it couldn't have been bayonets because we were just little kids. from Children of the Camps
Some internees died from inadequate medical care and the high level of emotional stress they suffered. Those taken to camps in desert areas had to cope with extremes of temperature.
The camps were guarded by military personnel and those who disobeyed the rules, or who were deemed to be troublesome were sent to the Tule Lake facility located in the North California Cascade Mountains. In 1943 those who refused to take the loyalty oath were sent to Tula Lake and the camp was renamed a segregation centre.
In 1943 all internees over the age of seventeen were given a loyalty test. They were asked two questions:
1. Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty wherever ordered? (Females were asked if they were willing to volunteer for the Army Nurse Corps or Women's Army Corps.)
2. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization?
In December 1944 Public Proclamation number 21, which became effective in January 1945, allowed internees to return to their homes. The effects of internment affected all those involved. Some saw the camps as concentration camps and a violation of the writ of Habeas Corpus, others though, saw internment as a necessary result of Pearl Harbor. At the end of the war some remained in the US and rebuilt their lives, others though were unforgiving and returned to Japan.
Singled Out
Singled Out: Jerome and Rohwer
Interview with C. Calvin Smith, historian on Japanese American internment in Arkansas
Dr. C. Calvin Smith discusses Homer Adkins and his views on the two Japanese American internment camps in his state. As governor of Arkansas, he desired to confine Japanese American to their camps during the war. He also worked to enact policies that would prohibit any internees from remaining in the state after the war.
This clip is a selection from an hour interview of Smith for the documentary, _Time of Fear_, which shared the stories of Japanese Americans who were interned in Arkansas during the war.
Over 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps under Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. Signed on Feb. 19, 1942, the order granted the U. S. government authority to relocate both citizens and non-citizens based on the fear that anyone with Japanese ancestry was a potential spy or saboteur.
Dr. Smith wrote _War and Wartime Changes: The Transformation of Arkansas, 1940-1945_, which discusses Japanese American internment in Arkansas. He earned his doctorate at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and was the first African American faculty member at Arkansas State University, where he taught history from 1970 until his retirement in 2002. Upon his retirement, he was named professor emeritus and Presidential Distinguished Professor of Heritage Studies. Dr. Smith died December 24, 2009.
This interview is a part of UALR's Center for Arkansas History and Culture's collection, Life Interrupted. Every month, the Center will release a new interview clip, leading up to our exhibit on Japanese American internment in Arkansas, which will open in September 2014.
Jerome Museum Tour; Minidoka Japanese Detention Camp WW2; Idaho;
The Japanese camp is supposed to be 15 miles east of here.
Internment - Time of Remembrance - Lester Ouchida
Les Ouchida was born in Florin, California, in July of 1937. His father, Harold Ouchida, had a strawberry distribution business and by 1929, at the age of 23, Mr. Ouchida owned 20 trucks - a very successful businessman. When the family was evacuated by order of 9066, his father lost his business. The were taken first to the Fresno Assembly; then the attended Florin Grammar School and graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1955. Les went on to graduate from UC Berkeley, where he and the late Congressman Bob Matsui were roommates. He majored in Business and went on to work as an administrator for the California State Department of Finance.
Lester Ouchida Interview
00:00 Introduction
00:18 Clip 1 - Camp in Arkansas to camp in Arizona; boredom of camp life.
03:19 Clip 2 - How his father was affected by the camps.
06:22 Clip 3 - School life upon returning from camps.
07:20 Clip 4 - Florin area after Japanese returned from camps.
08:35 Clip 5 - Japanese community after returning from camps. Description of uncle who fought in the 442nd.
10:46 Clip 6 - Reflections on career as impacted by life in camps.
12:15 Clip 7 - Importance of museums and learning about camps.
13:11 Clip 8 - Continuing racism towards Japanese-American soldiers.
First-Hand Accounts of the Internment Experience
It is our hope that these stories will build on the work and legacy of the late Mary Tsukamoto, who devoted her life to promoting social justice for all, regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity. For more information about the Elk Grove Unified School District Time of Remembrance program, please visit:
Video production provided by the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium -
Senator Daniel Inouye's visit to Arkansas internment camps
During his training in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Senator Daniel Inouye and other soldiers were invited to Rohwer and Jerome in Arkansas. Inouye describes his shock at learning that Rohwer was not a small community of Japanese Americans as he assumed, but an internment camp with armed guards. This clip is a selection from an hour-long interview of Inouye for the documentary, Time of Fear, which shared the stories of Japanese Americans who were interned in Arkansas during World War II. This interview is a part of UALR's Center for Arkansas History and Culture's collection, Life Interrupted, which is set to open next year.
Japanese American Incarceration: An Interview with Danielle Constein
“The internment of the individuals of Japanese ancestry was caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.”
How did 120,000 people end up in concentration camps in the United States during World War II? Danielle Constein, who oversees operations at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center (located between Cody and Powell, Wyoming) joins the show to discuss this often-overlooked chapter in American history.
How did religion affect the attitudes of believers towards the incarceration, and the subsequent conflict over the draft?
For information or to become a member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, visit
To make a donation to the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, please visit
Exclusion: The Presidio's Role in World War II Japanese American Incarceration
During World War II, the Presidio of San Francisco – the Army's Western Defense Command – played a pivotal role in the unjust incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, purportedly in the name of national security. 2017 marks 75 years since Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt issued Civilian Exclusion Orders from the Presidio. Visit the Presidio’s special exhibition, “Exclusion: The Presidio's Role in World War II Japanese American Incarceration” to learn more. The exhibition invites visitors to investigate the choices – both personal and political – that led to this dark chapter in American history and examines the post's little understood part in these events. Visit the exhibition at the Presidio Officers’ Club at 50 Moraga Avenue in the Presidio. Open Tuesdays – Sundays, 10am – 5pm, April 2017 until Spring 2019. For more information:
Jessica and Rahel Japanese Internment Camp Food
This is a film project for AME151 that takes a look at the Japanese Internment Camp Food and the effect it has had on current Japanese American cuisine. Audio from NPR Hidden Kitchen Series titled:
Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment
Weblink to audio:
George Takei Fifth Anniversary at McGehee
George Takei gives remarks at the fifth anniversary of the WWII Japanese American Internment Museum opening in McGehee, Arkansas, on April 16, 2017.
George Takei's speech at the Rohwer internment camp.
George's speech about the Rohwer internment camp
Interview with Charlotte Schexnayder, journalist living near Arkansas internment camps
In this interview, Charlotte Schexnayder discusses the media's influence on how people perceived the Japanese American internment camps at Rohwer and Jerome. At the time, Schexnayder was a journalist and editor of the McGehee Times. She recounts how any information concerning World War II came directly from the government, which was then relayed by news outlets to the news-hungry public.
This clip is a selection from an hour interview of Schexnayder for the documentary, _Time of Fear_, which shared the stories of Japanese Americans who were interned in Arkansas during the war.
Over 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps under Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. Signed on Feb. 19, 1942, the order granted the U. S. government authority to relocate both citizens and non-citizens based on the fear that anyone with Japanese ancestry was a potential spy or saboteur.
This interview is a part of UALR's Center for Arkansas History and Culture's collection, Life Interrupted. Every month, the Center will release a new interview clip, leading up to our exhibit on Japanese American internment in Arkansas, which will open in September 2014.
Arkansas WWII Vet talks about the war
Raymond Manning of Arkansas telling WWII stories. He's got a million of them. Hope to get more of them from him soon.
personal story life in jap internment camps
Veterans in Arkansas: At War with the System
Interview with Kazuko Kaz Fujishima, internee at Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas
Kazuko Kaz Fujishima and her family were poor fruit farmers living in Hanford, California, barely making ends meet. Times turned for the worse after Pearl Harbor and unknown members of the community lashed out at the family.
Kaz and her family were eventually forced by the government to leave home and move to Fresno Assembly Center, where they would eventually be transferred to Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas.
They were among 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps under Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. Signed on Feb. 19, 1942, the order granted the U. S. government authority to relocate both citizens and non-citizens based on the fear that anyone with Japanese ancestry was a potential spy or saboteur.
This clip is a selection from an hour and a half interview of Fujishima and her husband for the documentary, Time of Fear, which shared the stories of Japanese Americans who were interned in Arkansas during World War II. Fujishima talks about her parents' struggle with poverty, how internment changed her family structure, and her new life as a domestic worker in Chicago.
This interview is a part of UALR's Center for Arkansas History and Culture's collection, Life Interrupted. Every month, the Center will release a new interview clip, leading up to our exhibit on Japanese American internment in Arkansas, which will open in September 2014.