Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 leading to the forced relocation of nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to 10 relocation camps across the United States. More than 16,000 of them were imprisoned in Southeast Arkansas between 1942 and 1945. The World War II Japanese Internment Museum in McGehee shines a light on the stories of those interned at the Rohwer and Jerome relocation centers in Desha County. On Thursday, May 4, the museum commemorates its 10th anniversary with a day of events, including an appearance by former internee and activist George Takei of “Star Trek” fame.
Though the sites in Rohwer and Jerome were officially known at the time as relocation centers and commonly referred to as “internment camps,” many historians have shifted to refer to the camps as concentration or incarceration camps, as characterized by the imprisonment of people by force without the conviction of any crime and confined by barbed wire, watch towers and armed guards.
In 1945, the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center was officially closed by the War Relocation Authority. Nothing remains besides the hospital’s smokestack and the Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery, now a National Historic Landmark. The stories of the people incarcerated there were left to family histories — or in some cases, never spoken of again.
A local public excavation of this period began in April 2013 when the McGehee Industrial Foundation announced the opening of the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum. “We really didn’t know what to expect because this has been our first opening of a museum of this nature to show and share this part of history, and the response has been overwhelming,” said McGehee Mayor Jeff Owyoung, who has also served on the museum’s board.
Gage SkidmoreHoused in the renovated McGehee Railroad Depot, the museum has hosted over 18,000 visitors from 56 countries in its 10 years. In addition to exhibits that have included artworks of family members of those incarcerated and informative and moving films, the museum hosts a rich offering of primary resources: personal photo albums, diaries and letters donated by former incarcerees and their families, which tell of life in the camps from the perspective of those who lived it. Visitors are invited to pick up the materials, leaf through their pages and become immersed in these firsthand accounts.
Brian ChilsonThe centerpiece of the museum is the exhibit “Against Their Will The Japanese American Experience in World War II,” which was a catalyst for the museum’s creation and centers the experiences of Japanese Americans at the Jerome and Rohwer camps. Developed in part by the Rockefeller Foundation, “Against Their Will” debuted at the Arkansas Statehouse Convention Center in 2004 and was later loaned to the museum where it will be housed permanently. “The exhibit was in crates and boxed up for several years,” Owyoung recalled. “We had an old depot that was about to fall down and we got a grant to give us the money to renovate it to be able to put up the exhibit. We are the perfect spot for it.”
Visitors to the museum may also take a self-guided audio tour, available at the museum’s website, narrated by George Takei. Takei was imprisoned at Rohwer with his family and has been a supporter of the museum since its beginnings. “George Takei was here at the opening ceremony and will be the featured speaker at the 10-year anniversary,” Owyoung said.
Guest panelists will include former internees and Duncan Williams, the co-leader of the Ireichō project, the first comprehensive listing of the names of all those who were incarcerated in the internment camps. “Williams is on the board of the Japanese American National Museum in L.A. and will give an invocation,” Owyoung said. Owyoung also confirmed 200 guests will be making pilgrimages from California and other states for the anniversary, many of whom are family members of those incarcerated at Rohwer and Jerome. “They will come to Little Rock first and make their way down to McGehee on the morning of the 4th.”
The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 4 and will last about an hour, after which guests are invited to head to the Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery historic site where two plaques erected in 1945 still stand — one dedicated to those who died while incarcerated at Rohwer and the other in honor of Rohwer incarcerees who lost their lives while serving in World War II in the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated infantry regiment in U.S. military history comprised almost entirely of second-generation Japanese Americans.
Brian ChilsonThe commemoration events are free and open to the public and Owyoung extends a personal invitation to one and all to “just walk on up” and join in. That evening, those making the pilgrimage from other states are invited to enjoy a bit of Southern hospitality at the McGehee Industrial Foundation’s annual barbecue and auction.
In spite of the museum’s impressive work over the past 10 years, many Arkansans remain unaware that this meaningful resource exists in our state, or that the Rohwer and Jerome camps existed on Arkansan soil. “What amazes me is when we first started working on this, nobody in McGehee even knew about it,” Owyoung said. “And it’s right here in our backyard.”
In a state with almost twice the incarceration rate of the national average, known worldwide for its legacy of slavery and racial segregation, and containing hundreds of miles of the Trail of Tears, it seems unnecessary to question the importance of a resource like the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum, but Owyoung was gracious in discussing its ongoing relevance. “The museum has opened a lot of eyes to this part of history and what the Japanese Americans went through. What they lived through is hard to imagine. We’re very proud of the museum. We believe it is really powerful.”
