Research: Poston Relocation Camp
Location: Yuma County, Arizona,
17 miles south of Parker.
Land: On the Colorado indian
Reservation. Poston was the only camp to administered by the Office of Indian
Affairs (OIA) (until late 1943) rather than the War Relocation Authority
(WRA).
Size: 71,000 acres.
Climate: Desert, perhaps the
hottest of all the camps.
Population origins:
Los Angeles County (2,750)
Tulare County (1,952)
San Diego County (1,883)
Orange County (1,636)
Fresno County (1,590)
Imperial County (1,512)
Monterey County (1,506)
Santa Cruz County (1,222)
Most people came from rural areas.
Peak population: 17,814, the
most populated except for Tule Lake "Segregation Center".
Date of peak: September 2,
1942.
Opening Date: May 8, 1942.
Closing Dates:
Unit I: November
28, 1945;
Units II and III: September 29, 1945.
Project director(s): Wade Head and Duncan
Mills.
Community Analysts: Alexander
Leighton, Edward H. Spicer, Elizabeth Colson and David H. French; Conrad
Arensberg and Laura Thompson were consultants.
Newpaper(s): Poston Chronical
(May 13, 1942 to October 23, 1945).
% who answered question 28 of the loyalty questionnaire
positively: 93.7%
Number and percentage of eligible citizen males inducted
directly into armed forces: 611 (4.8%).
Industry: A camouflage net
factory operated from fall 1942, to May 1943.
History: The most notable incident
at Poston was the POSTON STRIKE, described in detail in the following entry.
Another strike, involving 57 adobe workers in August 1942 was quickly settled.
Poston was named after Charles Poston, the "Father of Arizona".
One of the most intensively studied camps, Poston housed a social science
laboratory under the leadership of Alexander Leighton while under the OIA
in addition to having WRA community analysts, and Japanese American Evacuation
and Resettlement Study fieldworkers.
Tensions between the OIA and the WRA led to the latter
taking over administration of Poston at the beginning of 1944. The OIA had
ideas of starting large scale farming ventures with the Japanese Americans
on a semi permanent basis; this conflicted with the WRA's strategy of encouraging
"loyal" residents to leave for resettlement as soon as possible.
Poston Strike:
The strike was
the manifestation of long standing tensions in the community exacerbated
by the camp environment. By War Relocation Authority decree, only Nisei
(second generation Japanese Americans) were allowed to hold elected office,
and the Community Council at Poston consisted entirely of young nisei.
The nisei council quickly alienated the administration by being too
inquisitve and upset the Issei (first generation Japanese Americans)
residents who distrusted the Council's orientation (most of the council
were members of the Japanese American Citizens' League), and their inexperience.
The council was seen by many as "administration stooges" or as
a "child counsel". To try to bring issei into the decision
making process, the Issei Advisory Board was formed in August, 1942, but
the lack of power granted to this group increased the tensions. Competition
between the Community Council and this advisory council ensued and people
seen as "inu" ( or "dog", which is what the Japanese
Americans called lackeys for the administration) were physically attacked.
On November 14, 1942, one such inmate was beaten severely
with a piece of pipe. Quickly, 50 suspects were arrested and two were held
for further questioning. Both were quite popular among camp residents. When
it became known that these men were to be tried in an Arizona court on the
outside, protest erupted. It was widely percieved that no Japanese American
could get a fair trial outside the camp. An issei delegation visited
the project director on November 17 to request the suspect's release. They
were refused. After a second unsuccessful meeting the following day, a general
strike ensued. The Community Council resigned in support of the strike and
in fear, and crowds began to gather around the jail holding the two suspects.
The camp director had left the camp on business, leaving the camp in charge
of the Assistant Director. With the beginning of the strike, some in the
administration urged the Assistant Director to call in the army and to impose
martial law, but instead, he chose to negotiate.
In the next few days, all services except the police, fire
department and hospital were closed down. Strike leaders stood around bonfires,
played Japanese militaristic music and extolled the emperor. Eventually,
administration made concessions, agreeing on November 23 to release one
prisoner outright and to try the other within the center. Meanwhile, after
10 days, the strike began to erode as many nisei tired of it. The
issei leaders were recognized by the administration and agreed to
try to help stop the beatings and to establish a better rapport between
administration and internees.
Source: Japanese American
History: An A to Z Reference, 1868 to the Present,
by Brian Niiya. New York: Facts on File, 1993. This information is provided
with the permission from the Japanese American National Museum and Brian
Niiya, 1997.
