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Japanese American Concentration Camps On February 19 th of 1942, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a document that would determine the fate of some 120, 000 Japanese and Japanese-American residents of the United States, both citizen and foreigner alike. Executive Order 9066 ordered that all residents of Japanese descent be 'relocated' into internment camps established by the United States government. Conditions in the camps and the experiences of the Japanese American inmates vary greatly. The War Relocation Authority (WRA) attempted to create camp communities that resembled normal communities to the greatest extent possible. Thus, each of the 10 camps had schools and hospitals, a newspaper, some degree of democratic self-government and such leisure activities as baseball leagues and movie showings.
At the same time, however, life was anything but normal. Japanese American family dynamics were dramatically altered as Issei parents saw their authority ebb away with the new found freedom involving granted the Nisei. The WRA encourage the resettlement of the "loyal" outside the barbed wire in inland cities like Chicago or Denver and many Nisei students were attending college by the end of 1943. How ever, many of the issei were unwilling to leave, fearing the uncertainty of the outside; many stayed in the camps until well after the war was over and had to be evicted as the camps closed. Family life and privacy were disrupted in camp and living conditions were poor.
Internees lived in hastily constructed barracks. Bathing facilities and outhouses were communal and meals were served in mess halls with long lines and crowded tables. Because regulations limited the cost of feeding each internee to less than 50 cents per day, the food in camp was substandard. Below is the letter of one the young Japanese Americans to his outside friend. Dear N/A, I am getting to like this place very much, the view is wonderful with the mountain (I don't know the names yet) practically in our back yard. Last week the fence was torn down -- now, it is up again.
This time a few feet further out. We have been told that the reason for the fence building was so the cattle won't come near our homes. In other words cattle are going to be grazed outside the fence. But as yet, we have not seen any. Yes, I think the fence tends to weaken the morale of the people... I hope very soon this fence will be torn down forever.
No longer is the thought of being in a camp afloat in my mind. But every time I see the fence, it seems like a dark cloud has lifted and a realization of camp life comes before my eyes. Often I use to think as I laid on my pillow. What will happen to be if I had to live in this camp for 5 year?" but now, I don't seem to think about camp. I guess I have adopted myself to this situation. But many a time, I have wished with all my heart that I could go back to San Diego.
I attended the Halloween Festival which was held in Camp II. It was held 3 days, October 31 st, November 1 st, and 2 nd. There were various exhibits. The Camp II Industry exhibit -- displayed various kinds of things made by the department. Education was very interesting too. There the works of the school children were displayed.
Agriculture was another. In this building were many different kinds of vegetation. They were very green and looked as fresh as a daisy. The one I enjoyed most was the Arts and Craft.
The longest line was in front of this building. My girl friend and I actually waited half an hour in line. It was worth the waiting time, I thought. Men have gone to cut mesquite trees and have made lovely flower vases out of them. The crooked branches and the bumpiest ones make the prettiest vases. In the vases there were many varieties of artificial flowers.
Many beautiful cases were made too. Such things as ash trays, book ends, pencil holders, fruit baskets, vases, little jewelry chests, and crochet and checker sets were made out of mesquite. We had our annual "mochi tsuki"; making rice cakes. Our parents were very happy to be able to eat "mochi" again. No one ever dreamed of eating them again. The govt.
is very good to us and I am truly grateful. We still have no books to study out of. We are taught the progressive way. It is like a lecture form. The teacher talks and we take notes. When test time comes we have to study our notes.
I hope by next semester we will be able to study from books. This morning we had an assembly at which time we had the opportunity to hear Mr. Head, project director; Mr. Popkins, construction director and Dr. Casey, Education. Mr.
Popkins showed us the plans of building a new school. He stated that Japanese-American architects drafted the plans. The building is to be made out of adobe. The adobe bricks are going to be made here. The food here is grand.
Every Sunday morning we have 2 pancakes, 1 boiled egg, cocoa. I think that's a grand breakfast. This evening meal was the best we ever had here 1 piece of steak, 1 / 2 sweet potato, lettuce, rice, vegetables salad and ketchup. But the food shortage has been affecting us. We have had no butter or egg for about two months. We have enough meat, though.
Oh yes, about the menu for a week. I am sorry I did not send it to you. To be honest -- it slipped my mind. But this time I shall be sure to keep the menu for a week and send it to you just as soon as a week is up. We are allowed 1 tablespoon of sugar to 1 cup of coffee. We eat rice only once a day now.
We have fresh milk. We do have chairs and tables. Father made them out of scraps of wood which we found here and there. They may not be the best but they are substantial. We also have pillows which we brought from San Diego. But we do not have mattresses.
We use some of our blankets as mattresses. In Santa Anita we were issued a spring bed and mattress, but here we were just issued a cot. Many people who are skilled are making beds. They say a wooden bed is much better for your posture. The cot sinks down in the middle while the wooden bed stays straight. The movies are just grand.
We see one every Saturday evening. It is shown outdoors. The screen is placed right in front of the oil tank and we sit (bring our own chairs) or stand and enjoy the movie. So far we have seen the following: There Goes My Heart -- Frederick March & Virginia Bruce The Last of the Mohicans -- Randolph Scott, Bonnie Burns Doomed to Die -- Boris Karrloff Topper Takes a Trip -- Roland Young & Constance Bennett Abraham Lincoln -- Walter Houston & Una Merkel The police and the post office and fire dept.
is run by Japanese Americans. As yet I have not seen any persons connected with the army. We now have oil stoves in our homes and school. But it does little good because you have to be near the stove in order to receive any heat. By keeping all the windows closed the room may become warm, but we were warned against it. Several people have been sent to the hospital because they did not leave any windows open -- they inhaled the fume which comes out of the stove.
In school the stove is in one corner and I am in the opposite corner so the warmth does not come near me. It certainly took a long time to get the stoves because of too much red tape involved. Here is another letter from a boy living in concentration camp in San Diego. Dear N/A, I am in good health and my arm is getting along fine. I received doctor's order so I am allowed to have milk with my meals.
The food here is about the same as the food at the county hospital with the exception of less meat here. Now that we have a number of San Diego men working in the kitchens the food has improved quite a bit, especially with the salads. I have heard that we are to receive meat soon, but I think it will be mostly stew because we are not allowed knives, just a spoon and fork as eating utensils. The state room that we live in are not bad since the roof didn't leak at all when during he rains that we had -- which reminds me that we certainly lucky that it didn't rain while we were being assigned to our quarters. I think I have the autograph of Blue Sun on our wall. I finally received my messenger's job and I really like this messenger's work as that was what I wanted.
Yesterday I covered the whole section in which living quarters have been established. Pretty close to 80 barracks. What a walk! ! ! ! I never thought I would have friends in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Colorado, Arkansas, Utah, Idaho, or Wyoming, but I do now!
One of these days, I'll be traveling all over the United States just visiting friends I think that " ll be such fun! Please send me my barber equipment. I think they are packed in the small boxes. I would also like to have my blanket roll as it contains the barber towels.
Well, I can't seem to think of anything else to write so until the next time I'll say so long with best P. S. Please excuse the condition of the letter. To this very day, little is said about the psychological effects that the camps had on the interns. The harsh conditions of life in the internment camps had a detrimental and lasting effect on the minds of the individuals. Many relationships, friendships, family and marriages were broken during and after the periods of internment.
After the internment, many of the younger generation weren't able to go back to their homes because they didn't have the resources or, as was more often the case, because they were shunned by American society. The older generation were lost and confused and just didn't know what to do. As a result, many of them chose to return to Japan. Bibliography: 1) Chang, Gordon. Morning Glory, Evening Shadow: Yamato Ichihashi and His Internment Writings, 1942 - 1943. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. 2) web 3) Nishimoto, Richard S...
Inside an American Concentration Camp: Japanese American Resistance at Poston, Arizona. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1995.
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Research essay sample on Japanese American Concentration Camps
