K-State First Book: They Called Us Enemy

This guide provides resources and material related to George Takei's They Called Us Enemy, a memoir of his family's internment during WWII.

Library Research Guide

List of Internment Camps

Rohwer, Arkansas
This is the first camp to which George and his family were taken in 1942. Rohwer's population was almost equally divided between Los Angeles area people who came from the Santa Anita Assembly Center and those from the San Joaquin Valley who came through the Stockton Assembly Center. Of the 8,232 people who arrived at Rohwer between September 18 and October 21, 1942, 4,419 (53.7%) came from Santa Anita and 3,813 (46.3%) came from Stockton.
Tule Lake, California
This was the second camp George and his family were sent to after declaring No-No on the loyalty questionnaire. With a peak population of 18,700, Tule Lake was the largest of the camps - the only one converted into a maximum-security segregation center, ruled under martial law and occupied by the Army.
Minidoka, Idaho
a WWII American concentration camp where almost 14,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated between 1942 and 1945.
Manzanar, California
Manzanar is located 220 miles north of LA officially became a WRA camp on June 1, 1942. Thus, essentially all of Manzanar's 10,000 inmates went directly to Manzanar without passing through another "assembly center." Despite having a relatively homogeneous population—nearly 90% of its inmates came from the Los Angeles area.
Gila River, Arizona
Rivers Relocation Center is one of the two camps located on American Indian Reservations, both of which were located in Arizona. Known more popularly as Gila River, this concentration camp held over 13,000 inmates, most of whom were from California.
Topaz, Utah
Construction on Topaz began in the summer of 1942, and the camp opened on September 11, 1942 although many barracks including those used for schools were not completed. The number of people processed through the camp was over 11,000 with a peak population of about 8,100. Once at the Topaz location, internees were hired to finish building their own barracks, put up the barbed wire fence, and complete other structures at the site.
Heart Mountain, Wyoming
Heart Mountain “Relocation Center” was built on 46,000 acres of dusty land owned by the Bureau of Reclamation. Incarcerees lived in a fenced area of camp that covered 740 acres. It was ringed with barbed wire and guarded by nine guard towers. There were 650 buildings and structures, including some 450 barracks. Incarcerees grew crops on 1,100 acres of farmland on the southeastern corner of the property. At the camp’s peak,10,767 people were confined there. During the 1,187 days the camp was open, more than 14,000 prisoners passed through.
Amache (Granada), Colorado
By Executive Order 9066, over 7,000 Japanese, most being American citizens, were forcibly imprisoned at the Granada Relocation Center in Granada, Colorado from 1942-45.
Poston, Arizona
Over 18,000 people were sent to three internment camps at Poston, Arizona. Built on the Colorado River Indian Reservation, these camps were administered for the first year and a half by the then, Office of Indian Affairs (OIA, today the BIA). What set Poston’s three camps apart from other WRA camps was the intense and active involvement of the OIA in the operation of Poston. For three years the Nikkei detainees held at Poston lived, as one member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) put it, “On a reservation within a reservation.” During those war years two disenfranchised peoples were held under the watchful eyes of both the Office of Indian Affairs and the War Relocation Authority.
Jerome, Arkansas
The initial population of Jerome came from Central California via the Fresno Assembly Center and from the Los Angeles area via the Santa Anita Assembly Center . The first "advance" group of 202 people arrived from Fresno on October 6 and helped to set up the camp for the general arrivals from the two camps that began on October 11 and ended on November 3. Of the 7,674 initial arrivals, about 62% (4,761) came from Fresno and 38% (2,913) from Santa Anita.

The Exclusion Zone and Camps

President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066, issued two months after Pearl Harbor. The order allowed regional military commanders to designate "military areas" from which "any or all persons may be excluded. Although the executive order did not mention Japanese Americans, this authority was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were required to leave Alaska, and the military exclusion zones from all of California and parts of Oregon, Washington, and Arizona, except for inmates who were being held in government camps.

Source: Britannica Academic

Everyday Life

Densho.org- Camp Life
Life did not stop for those sent to the relocation centers and camps. This archive of pictures, articles and essays from Densho.org provides some in-depth insights into the everyday lives of Japanese Americans under incarceration.

Freedom of the Press

Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942 to 1946
This collection from the Library of Congress provides access to multiple issues and volumes of newspapers produced by Japanese-Americans from various internment camps.

Photographic Archives

Records of the War Relocation Authority
This archive contains photographs from the War Relocation Authority. This organization was responsible for the removal and internment of Japanese-Americans.
Dorothea Lange Photos
This page contains a record of photographs taken by renowned photographer Dorothea Lang. Lang was fired by the War Relocation Authority and many of her photos from the time were censored.
Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese Internment at Manzanar
In 1943, Ansel Adams (1902-1984), America's most well-known photographer, documented the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese-Americans interned there during World War II.

Testimonials

Densho - Personal Stories
Densho documents the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. We offer these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy and promote equal justice for all.
California of the Past: Stories of Japanese American Relocation and Internment
The collection features 33 compelling, personal stories, which demonstrate how government action affected the lives of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans - 65% of them being American citizens.
Topaz Stories
These are the personal stories of the survivors of Topaz Camp as told by themselves or their descendants. This site is maintained by the Friend of the Topaz Museum

Who Holds Power?

This poster from the Smithsonian Institute asks us to evaluate the decisions that can result from a culture of fear. Can you think of circumstances in your own life where you've witnessed similar situations?

List of Internment Camps

Rohwer, Arkansas
This is the first camp to which George and his family were taken in 1942. Rohwer's population was almost equally divided between Los Angeles area people who came from the Santa Anita Assembly Center and those from the San Joaquin Valley who came through the Stockton Assembly Center. Of the 8,232 people who arrived at Rohwer between September 18 and October 21, 1942, 4,419 (53.7%) came from Santa Anita and 3,813 (46.3%) came from Stockton.
Tule Lake, California
This was the second camp George and his family were sent to after declaring No-No on the loyalty questionnaire. With a peak population of 18,700, Tule Lake was the largest of the camps - the only one converted into a maximum-security segregation center, ruled under martial law and occupied by the Army.
Minidoka, Idaho
a WWII American concentration camp where almost 14,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated between 1942 and 1945.
Manzanar, California
Manzanar is located 220 miles north of LA officially became a WRA camp on June 1, 1942. Thus, essentially all of Manzanar's 10,000 inmates went directly to Manzanar without passing through another "assembly center." Despite having a relatively homogeneous population—nearly 90% of its inmates came from the Los Angeles area.
Gila River, Arizona
Rivers Relocation Center is one of the two camps located on American Indian Reservations, both of which were located in Arizona. Known more popularly as Gila River, this concentration camp held over 13,000 inmates, most of whom were from California.
Topaz, Utah
Construction on Topaz began in the summer of 1942, and the camp opened on September 11, 1942 although many barracks including those used for schools were not completed. The number of people processed through the camp was over 11,000 with a peak population of about 8,100. Once at the Topaz location, internees were hired to finish building their own barracks, put up the barbed wire fence, and complete other structures at the site.
Heart Mountain, Wyoming
Heart Mountain “Relocation Center” was built on 46,000 acres of dusty land owned by the Bureau of Reclamation. Incarcerees lived in a fenced area of camp that covered 740 acres. It was ringed with barbed wire and guarded by nine guard towers. There were 650 buildings and structures, including some 450 barracks. Incarcerees grew crops on 1,100 acres of farmland on the southeastern corner of the property. At the camp’s peak,10,767 people were confined there. During the 1,187 days the camp was open, more than 14,000 prisoners passed through.
Amache (Granada), Colorado
By Executive Order 9066, over 7,000 Japanese, most being American citizens, were forcibly imprisoned at the Granada Relocation Center in Granada, Colorado from 1942-45.
Poston, Arizona
Over 18,000 people were sent to three internment camps at Poston, Arizona. Built on the Colorado River Indian Reservation, these camps were administered for the first year and a half by the then, Office of Indian Affairs (OIA, today the BIA). What set Poston’s three camps apart from other WRA camps was the intense and active involvement of the OIA in the operation of Poston. For three years the Nikkei detainees held at Poston lived, as one member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) put it, “On a reservation within a reservation.” During those war years two disenfranchised peoples were held under the watchful eyes of both the Office of Indian Affairs and the War Relocation Authority.
Jerome, Arkansas
The initial population of Jerome came from Central California via the Fresno Assembly Center and from the Los Angeles area via the Santa Anita Assembly Center . The first "advance" group of 202 people arrived from Fresno on October 6 and helped to set up the camp for the general arrivals from the two camps that began on October 11 and ended on November 3. Of the 7,674 initial arrivals, about 62% (4,761) came from Fresno and 38% (2,913) from Santa Anita.