Family separated in the camps

Lack of political power led to camps Results of being more American than Japanese Family separated in the camps Feeling imprisoned at camp World War II hysteria against Japanese in New York City Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp Positive experiences with Asian Americans for Action Redress payments to Issei who did not enter camps Waiting for the right time to start Redress Movement State Department records show concern for treatment of Japanese American internees Lack of support from fellow Nikkei lawyers during the war Political motivation to keep the camps open until end of 1944 election

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My father became seriously ill, and I was notified that he was very, very sick, so I asked for a request to transfer to his camp [in Jerome]. By that time I had had a little baby girl, my first child born in Manzanar. I went with my daughter to see him and to be transferred. They would not allow my husband to go [with me] at that time because they [the War Relocation Authority administration] said [to him], “He’s not your father. It’s her father.” So we got split at that time and that was a very bad thing that happened in our lives. The day I reached Arkansas, the camp, my father was just being pulled away in an ambulance to go to the [camp] hospital so he got a glimpse of my daughter and that was the first and only time he saw her because he died ten days later, on Christmas morning in camp. It was a pretty bad time for us.

Date: August 26, 1998
Location: Virginia, US
Interviewer: Darcie Iki, Mitchell Maki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

camps family incarceration internment World War II