The Jerome War Relocation Center was a

Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

camp located in southeastern

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, near the town of

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

in the

Arkansas Delta The Arkansas Delta is one of the six natural regions of the state of Arkansas. Willard B. Gatewood Jr., author of ''The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox'', says that rich cotton lands of the Arkansas Delta make that area "The Deepest of the Deep ...

. Open from October 6, 1942, until June 30, 1944, it was the last American concentration camp to open and the first to close. At one point it held as many as 8,497 detainees.Japanese American Internment Sites Preservation "Japanese American Internment Sites Preservation"
, a report from the National Park Service.Niiya, Brian.
Jerome
," ''Densho Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 5 August 2014. After closing, it was converted into a holding camp for

German prisoners of war German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. Today, few remains of the camp are visible, as the wooden buildings were taken down. The smokestack from the hospital incinerator still stands. Jerome is located southwest of the

Rohwer War Relocation Center The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American concentration camp located in rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942, until November 30, 1945, and held as many as 8,475 Ja ...

, also in the Delta. Due to the large number of Japanese Americans detained there, these two camps were briefly ranked as the fifth- and sixth-largest towns in Arkansas. Both camps were served by the same rail line. A high granite monument marks the camp location and history. The marker is located on US Highway 165, at County Road 210, approximately 8 miles south of

Dermott, Arkansas Dermott is a city in Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,316 at the 2010 census. Dermott was incorporated in 1890. Dermott was home to the Dermott Crawfish Festival. Geography Dermott is located in the northwest corner ...

. On December 21, 2006, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law authorizing $38,000,000 in federal money to preserve the Jerome relocation center, along with nine other former Japanese internment camps. Th
PBS documentary film ''Time of Fear''
explores the history of these two American concentration camps in Arkansas.

History of the camp

After the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

in 1941 brought the United States into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was lobbied to sign

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...

, which authorized military leaders to declare the West Coast a military zone from which persons considered "a threat to security" could be excluded. Some military leaders opposed this action, and historians have concluded that the order was based largely on local exaggerated fears and xenophobia, plus economic competition. Officials classified most Japanese Americans as potential threats, including native-born citizens. They forced the "evacuation" of 120,000 Japanese Americans; whole families were rounded up and deported to concentration camps newly constructed in isolated areas of the country's interior. The Jerome War Relocation Camp was located in Southeast Arkansas in Chicot and Drew counties. It was one of two American concentration camps in the

, the other being at Rohwer, north of Jerome. The Jerome site was situated on of tax-delinquent land in the marshy delta of the Mississippi River's flood plain, which had been purchased in the 1930s during Depression relief efforts by the

Farm Security Administration The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

. Despite initial resistance from Governor Homer Adkins – who agreed to allow the camps only after exacting a federal guarantee that the Japanese American inmates would be watched by armed white guards and removed from the state at the end of the war – the War Relocation Authority acquired the land in 1942. Along with other Southern states, Arkansas had legal racial segregation and Jim Crow laws; they had already disenfranchised most African Americans in the state at the turn of the century. The A. J. Rife Construction Company of Dallas, Texas, working under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers, built the Jerome camp at a cost of $4,703,347. The architect, Edward F. Neild of

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, also designed the camp at Rohwer in Desha County. DensonRelocationCampUmbrellaGirl

Jerome was divided into 50 blocks, which were surrounded by a barbed wire fence, a patrol road, and seven watchtowers. Administrative and community spaces such as schools, offices and the hospital were separate from the 36 residential or barracks blocks. These consisted of twelve barracks divided into several "apartments", in addition to communal dining and sanitary facilities. Approximately 250 to 300 individuals lived in each block. The only entrances were from the main highway on the west and at the back of the camp to the east. The camp was not finished when its first inmates began to arrive from California assembly centers. These early arrivals were forced to work on construction of their incarceration quarters. This was the last center to open and the first to close; it operated for 634 days – the fewest of any of the American concentration camps. The constant movement of camp populations into and out of facilities has made accurate statistics difficult. As of January 1943, the camp had a population of 7,932 people, and the following month Jerome reached its peak at nearly 8,500. Most prisoners had lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

or farmed in and around

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

before the war, but some ten percent of Jerome's population was relocated from Hawai'i. Fourteen percent were over the age of sixty, and there were 2,483 school-age children in the camp, thirty-one percent of the total population. Thirty-nine percent of the residents were under the age of nineteen. Sixty-six percent were American citizens, having been born in the United States, and were known as

Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

. The

Issei is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...

, or first-generation, immigrant parents and grandparents had been prohibited by US law from obtaining citizenship, along with other East Asians, were officially referred to as "aliens". The camp was closed at the end of June 1944 and adapted as a German prisoner-of-war camp, renamed as Camp Dermott. Due to questions about their loyalty due to answers to the confusing loyalty questionnaire, many Japanese American male inmates had already been transferred to the Tule Lake segregation camp in California. The remainder of the prisoners were sent to Rohwer in Arkansas and the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, constructed on the Pima/Maricopa reservation.

Camp life and social clubs

Adult camp residents worked at farming, the saw mill, or making soap. The barracks were small and poorly insulated. Sometimes several families had to share a one-room "apartment", which did not provide enough room for even one family. Project Director Paul A. Taylor warned residents that leaving the camp without permission and trespassing on private property were punishable offenses. Having thousands of people living in such dense quarters increased their risk of disease. In January 1944,

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

spread throughout the camp for several months. The hospital at Jerome was acknowledged as the best equipped and best staffed of any WRA center, and provided enough medical assistance to alleviate most health problems. The residents of the camp were resourceful, forming social and culture clubs. The Jovial Peppers was a group of girls, ages 9 to 12. The Phi Beta Society consisted of a group of young women whose main purpose was to improve their cultural background. Other clubs included Cub Scouts and the Double X's. Recreation and sports were very popular. Sports consisted of basketball, weightlifting, boxing, wrestling, and volleyball. Basketball drew the most attention from sports lovers. In one match noted as an "annihilation", the Shamrocks defeated the Commandos 19-2. Frank Horiuchi got credit for the lone basket on the losing side. Art classes and piano lessons were offered. Adult education classes included English, sewing, drafting, flower arrangement, commercial law, photography and art. Dances and movies were frequently available.

Resistance to military enlistment and the loyalty questionnaire

As at the other WRA camps, many of the

(second-generation, American-born) young men were recruited to volunteer for the armed forces. All adults were required to submit to an assessment of their loyalty to the United States. Pressure to join the all-Nisei

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment ( ja, 第442歩兵連隊) was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment is best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-gene ...

was somewhat higher at Jerome and Rohwer, which were much closer to the unit's training facilities at

Camp Shelby Camp Shelby is a military post whose North Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on United States Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to s ...

, Mississippi. These camps became popular destinations for 442nd soldiers on leave. Col. Scobey, executive to the Assistant Secretary of War, visited Jerome on March 4, 1943 to persuade eligible internees to enlist in the 442nd. He said that the War Department was in effect presenting the 442nd as a test of loyalty, and if few men signed up, the public would believe the Nisei were not loyal Americans. Eventually, 515 men volunteered or were conscripted for the legendary 100th Infantry Battalion, the famed 442nd RCT, and the MIS. The so-called " loyalty questionnaire" met with resistance in Jerome (and elsewhere) largely because of the last two questions. They were poorly worded, and made insulting assumptions. Some men whose English was more limited had trouble interpreting them; other understood enough to be offended. One question asked if US-born men would be willing to serve in the military. The second asked all respondents if they "would disavow their allegiance to Japan", but most had no allegiance to that country. Many were confused by the questions' wording, unsure if an affirmative answer to the second would be taken as an admission of previous disloyalty and a threat to their families. Others, especially among the citizen Nisei, were offended by the implication that they were somehow un-American yet ought to fight to risk their lives for a country that had imprisoned them and overridden their rights. Due to an earlier dispute with administration over working conditions in Jerome and the death of an inmate in an on-the-job accident, tensions in camp were already high. In separate incidents on March 6, 1943, two men seen as administration collaborators were beaten by inmates. Jerome inmates subsequently gave negative or qualified responses to the question regarding Japanese allegiance at a rate higher than at any other WRA camp. Mitsuho Kimura was one of six members of a committee of inmates who conferred with Director Paul Taylor and said that they would protest the WRA's Evacuee Registration Program (the official name of the loyalty assessment program). Kimura, who was born in Hawai'i in 1919 and attended high school in Japan from 1932 to 1935 before returning to the U.S. territory, was described by a Naval Intelligence informant as a "very dangerous type of individual." He said that he was loyal to Japan before Pearl Harbor, and that his loyalty to Japan had increased after Pearl Harbor. He asserted that he would not fight in the U.S. Army under any conditions, but would readily fight in the Japanese Army against the United States. He organized group meetings at Jerome with other pro-Japanese inmates. The committee refused to register because they were loyal to Japan. 781 evacuees in the group registered by writing across the face of the registration form that they wanted to be repatriated or expatriated to Japan.

Leave clearance at Jerome

Camp residents were allowed to leave the camp with permission in order to take jobs on the outside. However, many did not want to leave without the guarantees of food and a place to stay provided by the camp. Another drawback to was that the process of getting a leave clearance was slow, causing some to lose interest. The draft and registration processes also complicated getting a leave clearance.

Camp closing

The Jerome Relocation Camp closed on 30 June 1944 and was converted into a holding camp for German prisoners of war. According to U-boat commander Hein Fehler of U-234 food allocation at the camp while he was there was very poor.A. V. Sellwood ''The Warring Seas'', Universal-Tandem Publishing 1972 pp. 213-18 Today there are few remains of the camp standing, the most prominent being the smokestack from the hospital incinerator. A 10 foot high granite monument marks the camp location and gives details of its history. The Jerome Relocation Center operated for a total of 634 days, the least of any of the American concentration camps. Riots and isolated confrontations erupted in response to administration of the loyalty questionnaire. But the ''Denson Tribune'' reported on June 11, 1944 that the "camp was free from juvenile delinquency (...) young girls and boys are well-behaved, well disciplined, well-trained, well-taught, and well led. Rowdyism, pranks, swearing, petty theft and juvenile vices are practically nil." There were no reports of vandalism. This contrasts with poorer results in some of the other camps. Once the camp was closed, the remaining residents were transferred. Heart Mountain received 507 residents, Gila River received 2,055, Granada received 514, and Rohwer received 2,522.

Notable Jerome internees

* Violet Kazue de Cristoforo (1917–2007), a Japanese American poet. Also interned at Tule Lake *

Takayo Fischer Takayo Fischer (née Tsubouchi; born November 25, 1932) is an American stage, film and television actress, as well as voice-over actress. Personal life Fischer was born in Hardwick, California, the youngest of four daughters of ''Issei'' (Japane ...

(born 1932), an American stage, film and TV actress. Also interned at Rohwer * Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga (1925–2018), political activist. Also interned at

Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one ...

and Rohwer *

George Hoshida George Hoshida (1907, Japan-1985, Hawaii) was a Japanese American artist known for his drawings made during World War II, when he was incarcerated in three US internment camps and two Justice Department camps between 1942 and 1945. Nearly 300 of hi ...

(1907–1985), a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

artist who made drawings of his experience during his incarceration in three internment camps. Also interned at

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...

* Eddie Imazu (1897–1979), an art director and production designer. Also interned at Rohwer *

Lawson Fusao Inada Lawson Fusao Inada (born May 26, 1938) is a Japanese American poet. He was the fifth poet laureate of the state of Oregon. Early life Born May 26, 1938, Inada is a third-generation Japanese American (''Sansei''). His father, Fusaji, worked as a d ...

(born 1938), an American poet. Also interned at

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

Yuri Kochiyama was an American civil rights activist. Influenced by her Japanese-American family's experience in an American internment camp, her association with Malcolm X, and her Maoist beliefs, she advocated for many causes, including black separatism, ...

(1921–2014), a Japanese American human rights activist * Roy Matsumoto (1914–2014), a United States Army soldier and inductee of the U.S. Army Rangers Hall Of Fame and the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame * Horace Yomishi Mochizuki (1937–1989), a mathematician *

George Nakano George Nakano (born November 24, 1935) served as a California State Assemblyman for the 53rd district from 1998 until 2004. During his time in the Assembly, Nakano was chosen to serve as the chairman of the Democratic caucus. In 2006, Nakano sou ...

(born 1935), a former California State Assemblyman. Also interned at Tule Lake * Joe M. Nishimoto (1919–1944), a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

Otokichi Ozaki Otokichi "Muin" Ozaki (尾崎音吉 (無音)) (November 1, 1904 December 3, 1983) was a Japanese tanka poet who lived in Hawaii. Biography Ozaki was born to Tomoya and Shobu Ozaki in Kochi prefecture, Japan on November 1, 1904. He moved to Ha ...

(1904-–1983), a Japanese poet. Also interned at Tule Lake * Henry Sugimoto (1900–1990), Japanese-born artist. Also interned at Rohwer * Tetsuo Toyama (18831971), Japanese journalist. Also interned at

Mary Tsukamoto Mary Tsuruko Dakusaku Tsukamoto (January 17, 1915 - January 6, 1998) was a Japanese American educator, cultural historian, and civil rights activist. She had taught in the Elk Grove Unified School District in Sacramento, California, for 26 year ...

(1915–1998),a teacher, community activist, and civil rights activist *

V. Vale V. "Valhalla" Vale (born February 4, 1944) is an American editor, writer, interviewer, musician and, as Vale Hamanaka, was keyboardist for the initial configuration of Blue Cheer, before it became famous as a power trio. He is the publisher and p ...

(born 1942), publisher, author, musician *

Conrad Yama Conrad Yama (born Kiyoshi Conrad Hamanaka; October 8, 1919 – March 10, 2010), was an American theatre, film, and television actor. Early life Born and raised in Fresno, California, Hamanaka attended Fresno State after high school, studying s ...

(born Kiyoshi Conrad Hamanaka) (1919–2010), a theatre, film, and television actor

References

Preservation Report on the Jerome site

Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture