On December seventh 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor assuring America’s entry into the Second World War. Pearl Harbor was also the catalyst for a second attack on American citizens. Japanese Americans, some of whom had been in America for decades, were declared enemies of the state virtually overnight. Early Japanese immigrants had settled mostly on the West coast choosing to settle in California, Washington, and Oregon and taking on work as fishermen and farmers. A hardworking, diligent and resource people the Japanese soon developed self-sufficient communities equipped with their own stores, banks, and doctors. By the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor more than one hundred thousand native born Japanese and Japanese Americans populated the West Coast. Japanese Americans had built a life in the states which had a foundation on honor and tradition. While the Elderly were the nucleus of the family unit, children were looked to as a symbol of the future and great care went into their rearing.
Japanese American’s displays of honor, tradition, and resource did little to circumvent the backlash of Pearl Harbor. In an effort to display decisiveness and
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They were placed in assembly centers and scheduled for later transport to concentration camps inland. Ten concentration camps were established in seven states. Two of the ten camps, Jerome and Rohwer, were located in Arkansas. Devastated by the Depression and the Dust Bowl Arkansas was one of the poorest states in the country and suffered from a lack of quality education. Arkansas, bordering the Mississippi River, suffered from flooding, over-grown swamp land, pests, and hunger. Additionally, Arkansas employed the law of Jim Crow which support strict segregation of the races. The Japanese detainees were not welcome by citizens nor local