Cover Page

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Essay

Brief History

Gila River

Granada

Heart Mountain

Jerome

Manzanar

Minidoka

Poston

Rohwer

Topaz

Tule Lake

Isolation Centers

Add'l Facilities

Assembly Centers

DoJ and US Army Facilities

Prisons

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord

Chapter 8 (continued)
Manzanar Relocation Center

Initially sewage was treated in a 100-foot-by-20-foot-by-6-foot-deep septic tank. But, by the end of August 1942, a sewage treatment plant was completed 1-1/2 miles east of the relocation center. The 1.25 million gallon a day capacity sewage treatment plant included a control room, a clarifier, a digester, a chlorination tank, and four settling ponds. The settling ponds were apparently never used: LADWP was concerned that the ponds would provide a breeding place for ducks that would then contaminate the aqueduct. Instead the liquid sewage was chlorinated and allowed to flow via an open ditch into the Owens River.

A cemetery for the relocation center was located just outside the fenced central area on the western perimeter. A commemorative monument was built in the cemetery in August 1943. Over 135 people died at Manzanar during operation of the relocation center, but only 28 were buried in the cemetery. After the relocation center closed, all but six of the burials were moved to other cemeteries (Merritt 1946).

On November 21, Manzanar was the sixth relocation center to close. Salvage of the relocation center's buildings and materials was administered by the War Assets Administration. By December 1946, except for a few buildings in the administration and staff housing area, Manzanar was completely dismantled. The remaining buildings were used for a Veterans Housing Project. Records show 126 veterans and other people living there in August, 1948. But the veterans resided at Manzanar for only a couple of years and the building were removed. Inyo County purchased the relocation center auditorium after the center closed and leased it to the Independence Veterans of Foreign Wars who used it as a meeting hall and community theater until 1951. It was then used by the Inyo County Road Department until purchased by the National Park Service in 1996.

Manzanar was the site of one of the most serious civil disturbances to occur at the relocation centers, the "Manzanar Riot" or "Manzanar Revolt." The revolt erupted in December 1942 following months of tension and gang activity between Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) supporters of the administration and a large group of Issei and Kibei. Many of the evacuees did not regard the young JACL leaders, whom the administration relied upon, as representatives. Aliens were excluded from positions of importance in the relocation center administration, and from the better-paying jobs. Public meetings turned into shouting sessions; there were beatings, and death threats against the pro-administration Nisei were common. Recycling and garbage collection trucks with Kibei crews flying Black Dragon flags tried to stop work at the camouflage net factory, threatened workers, and even attempted to run people over. An incendiary blaze was set in late November at the co-op store, which was seen as a symbol of JACL collusion.

On December 6 a JACL leader was beaten by six masked men. Harry Ueno, the leader of the Kitchen Workers Union, was arrested for the beating and removed from the center. Soon afterward, 3,000 to 4,000 evacuees held a meeting, marched to the administration area, and selected a committee of five to negotiate with the administration. In exchange for a promise of no more demonstrations, the center director agreed to bring Ueno back to the relocation center jail.

However, when Ueno was returned the crowd formed again. Fearing the worst, the director called in the military police. The crowd sang patriotic Japanese songs, taunted the soldiers, and even threw rocks at the military police, who then used tear gas to break up the crowd. When a truck was pushed toward the jail, the military police fired into the crowd. A 17-year-old boy was killed instantly. A 21-year-old man, shot through the stomach, died in the hospital several days later. Nine other evacuees were wounded, one evacuee was treated for exposure to tear gas, and a military police corporal was wounded by a ricocheting bullet.

The committee of five was immediately arrested. Mess hall bells rang as the military police, augmented by local National Guard volunteers, patrolled the streets inside the relocation center trying to restore order. Several times during the night tear gas was used to break up crowds and impromptu meetings at mess halls. Gangs armed with knives and other weapons searched for individuals on a well-publicized death list. Sixty-five people, including the JACL leader who had been beaten, were housed in the military police compound for their own protection. Three days later they were transferred to a former CCC camp in Death Valley where they would live for the next 2-1/2 months.

In the following days 15 "troublemakers" were removed from the relocation center and held in local jails. In January they were sent to Department of Justice camps if they were aliens or to a WRA isolation center at Moab if they were citizens. The breadth of the revolt at Manzanar is evident in that only two of the 16 arrested and removed from the relocation center were from the same residential block (Ueno and another were from Block 22). And, there was widespread support for the "troublemakers": most work in the relocation center stopped for several weeks. Oil delivery and kitchen crews kept working, but all other work was suspended by the administration until after Christmas, since evacuees refused to show up. The camouflage net factory never reopened.

Continued

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