Peoplein Motion The Postwar Adjustment of the Evacuated JapaneseAmericans UNITED STATESDEPARTMENT OF TJlE INTERIOR WAR AGENCY LIQUIDATION UNIT formerly WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY Denison University Library ~\JjI)i(;20'47 - (. \9;';.:,,/ ,-' :; , Peoplein Motion The Postwar Adjustmentof -' the Evacuated JapaneseAmericans I United States Department of the Interior ! J. A. KRUG,$ecretary WAR AGENCY LIQUIDA 'rION UNIT formerly I War Relocation ~uth~rity R. K. CANDLIN,Actmg Ch~ef -' For sale by the Superintendentof Documents U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price $1.00 , - " i , j I .] I , j I J , .. , t ': . ~ I TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREKORD 1 CHAPTER.- . I. .RELOCATION 5 Relocation Process 5 Present Location 11 II. PUBLIC ACCEP~~CE .~... 16 Increased Public Acceptance 17 Legal Restrictions 32 Eligibili~r to citizenship 32 California Alien Land Laws 35 III. ECONOMICADJUSTMENT 47 Evacuation Loss and Remedial Legislation 51 U. S. Department of the Interior Proposal for Evacua- tion Claims Commission 53 Adjustment in _~griculture and Related Business Activity 57 . Prewar west coast agriculture 57 Postwar west coast agriculture 61 Return to specific west coast localities 65 Some considerations relating to the fUture of Japa- nese Americans in west coast agriculture 70 Evacuees in agriculture away from the west coast 71 Colorado 71 Utah 76 Eastern Oregon--Idaho 77 Eastern1~ashington 81 Southern and Eastern Sta-bes 81 Urban Economic Adjustment 82 California 82 Business recovery in Los Angeles 85 Employment in Los Angeles 100 No.lies on employment in smaller cities and towns of California 109 Notes on San Francisco 111 , . i Seattle 113 The labor £orce 114 Types of occupation 118 Patterns o£ economic adjustment--finding em- ,ployment 123 Income ~d job satis£action 127 Job discrimination 132 Colorado 134 Denver 134 Note s on smaller ci tie s and towns of Colorado 141 Utah. .. ... .. .. .. .°. ... 143 Chicago and 1'.'~dwest 145 Notes on the East 158 Washi~ton. D. C 158 New York City 159 Nisei in Status Positions 162 IV. HOUSINGADJUSTMENT 166 Midwest and Intermountain States ~ 166 Chicago 168 Denver 170 West Coast States 172 Seattle 175 San Francisco Bay Area 178 Los Angeles 179 ... , . ! V. SOCIALADJUSTMENT 187 Prewar Social Adjustment 188 Postwar Social Adjustmen~ 196 Residential segregation 197 Family relationships 198 Educational institutions 201 Economic organization 202 The vernacular press 203 Organization for social control 204 Organization for social advancement 206 Organization of veterans 216 Relations with other minorities 224 Re1igi?uS.iD2titutions ~d activity 226 ! Chr~st~an 227 1 Budd~ist. .. .. .. ~ . ~. ~ . = .. ... ... ~ 234 j Recreat~ona1 and soc~a1 act~v~t~es 236 l Participation in Wider Community Activities 244 VI. RESETTLEMENT 253 I APPENDICES A. Seattle S~ple Survey 254 B. .Statement 258 c. References 263 Listing of War Relocation Final Reports 270 . ., '. .; -\ , ~ FOREWORD Description of the postwar adjustment of the evacuated Japanese Americans following their return to the main stre~ of life in American communities can best be stated in te~ of motion. The evacuation, which was started in the early spring of 1942 at the order of the Western Defense Commandof the United States Army did more than take 110,000 people from their homes in an area bordering the Pacific Coast into ten relocation centers constructed in remote areas be~;een the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. In addition to physical uprooting, it shattered the social 8.nd economic patterns which had given a measure of sta bi li ty to the prewar life of Japanese Ameri- cans. The sum of their past experience, as well as the new conditions faced in relocation and resettlement has been important in the postwar adjustment of these people. Intangible factors going back to the trans- planted and already disintegrating old world social organization of the west coast Japanese communities, and the changed character of public opinion have had an effect on that adjustment. While it is important to note that the character of the prewar Little Tokyo communities had been changing tovfard the level of the wider community, the process ~las slow. With the evacuation came the complete uprooting of the Lit;~le TokyoS and the destruction of many cultural practices which had stabilized the immigrant co1mnunities. Attitudes of the wider community before the war were mixed, with a tendency to accept kno,"1nindividuals rot to reject the group. As a group, the west coast Japanese Americans had not been per- mi tted to become sufficiently a part of the total community to be allowed to go through the crisis of attack by Japan as Americans. The evacuation produced a profound psychological shock which has carried over in varying extent to the postwar adjustment period. Today, the most notable characteristic of the evacuated Japanese Americans is a feeling of unsettledness, of having unans,"lered questions concerning location, economic activity and social adjustment. Co~ pletion of the process of resettlement will require another five to ten years. The human effects of the evacuation will not be fully evi- dent short of that time. In the meantime, there is exploration of those phases of sentiment toward the group which affect the economic and social life of Japanese Americans in America, and individual and some group deci sions are being 1 made concerning the kind of economic and social arrangements which will provide satisfactory adjustment. During the period of the last 18 months, which followed the completion of relocation after the centers were closed, the process of settlement has had its real beginning. This report has resulted from a study of adjustments during this period. studY was undertaken upon the request of the Director of the War Relocation Authority with the express approval of the Congress, to: "Analyze the effects of the evacuation from the west coast, and to complete the study of the relocation aspects, such as the new distribution of the people, and adjustment problems that re- located people continue to face in order to provide an adequate history of the effects of the evacuation upon the evacuated people and the country."* This study was carried out by the War Agency Liquidation Unit of the United States Department of the Interior. The history of the evacuation, the life of the people in the centers and of the early relocation period has been documented in the final reports of the War Relocation Authority.** Except for a short description of the relocation process and such brief historical references as may be necessary to the understanding of present adjust- ment, the events of 1942 - 1945 will not be covered in this report. Notes on study method~. When study was begun in July of 1946, the pattern of resettlement had crystalized sufficiently to provide a basis of selection of localities to be studied. Chicago had became a center of midwestern relocation, Denver was a community in which both prewar and evacuee Japanese Americans were in residence, Los Angeles and Seattle were the largest prewar and postwar communities in the evacuated area. Accordingly these were chosen as the points of intensive study, with supplementary study in the Santa Clara Valley, the Snake River Valley, and Salt Lake City. Major study planned for the spring of 1947 in the *Page 1294, Interior Department Appropriation Bill for 1947, Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Approp~i~~o~, United State~ Senate. **The United States Government, having called upon the Japanese American people to move from their west coast homes, assumed a responsibility for helping them to become reestablished. To carry out this responsibility, a civilian agency, the War Relocation Authority was created by executive order on March 18, 1942. A complete list of the WRAfinal reports will be found on the final page of this study. 2 rural areas of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys had to be aban- doned because of pressure of time and lack of funds. In addition, some material was gathered through secondary sources such as the vernacular press, and through short visits by staff members to other cities of the West Coast States, the Midwest, and the East. With the exception of Seattle, the program of study was one of in- tensive interviewing of representative Japanese Americans within these COnLTIJlnities, with findings being compiled from recorded interviews and publi shed material to form a connected account depicting the range of adjustrnent. Vlhile information collected ~ this method does not permit statistical comparisons, representative data could be secured over a much wider area than otherwise would have been possible under time and budgetary limitations. Ma'berial in the words of the people has been used liberally, not only for illustration, but to carry the narrative forward. In Seattle, the study was fortunate in securing the resul'ts of' a survey conduc-bed independent:;ly by S. Frank Miyamoto and Robert iff. 0' Brien, members of the faculty of the University of ~Vashington. In terms of broad adjustment problems, the statis'l:;ically supported findings of this survey, which were based on a random s~ple of the total Japanese Ameri- can population of Seattle, are very si~lar to those secured through in- terviews in other areas, a fact Which gives added assurance to the val- idity of material secured through the basic method of this study.* In reporting findings, the selection of uniform terminology descrip- tive of the group and its various parts, was the occasior~ 'of some diffi- culty. This was particularly the case since much direct quota-cion has been used, and there was different usage as between various respondents. In order to provide consistency, it was arbitrarily determined to use the terms "Japanese" and "Japanese Americans" interchangeably. When the im- migrant generation is referred to specifically, the word "Issei" is usod.