Postcard from Tori and Kengo Tajima to Elizabeth Page and friends, September 15, 1945
In light of wartime restrictions on returning to their homes on the West Coast as well as fears of lingering anti-Japanese sentiment, many families became transplants to the Midwest and East Coast after their release from camp. In this postcard to friends, the Tajimas state that, rather than returning to California, "Higher Wisdom has decreed that we stay where we are. So Cleveland has become our home town."
Elizabeth Page Harris Papers (MS 771), MSSA.
Letter from Elizabeth Page to Mrs. Y. Kishi regarding portrayal of Japanese Americans in the media, July 21, 1943.
Even though Mrs. Kishi fears that the American public views her “as a spy or something really bad,” Page reassures her that a large segment of the American public is still “staunch friends” to Japanese Americans, empathetic to their situation.
Elizabeth Page Harris Papers (MS 771), Box 80, Folder 1733. MSSA.
Campus Echoes Yearbook, Parker Valley High School, Poston, 1944-1945.
Despite the circumstances, yearbooks from internment resemble any other American yearbook. Yet, the Campus Echoes editors still featured a photograph of rows of barracks as their yearbook lining. A few pages later, its editors begin a photographic vignette by "looking back over our two years in a relocation center," reminiscing about the "many things" that "will remain outstanding in our memories."
United States War Relocation Authority Collection (MS 803), Box 1. MSSA.
Parker Valley High School, Poston, 1944-1945
Letter from Ruth Watanabe to Edythe Backus the arrival of a loaned piano and her music program initiatives, June 9, 1942.
When Harris learned that the Santa Anita Center could use an extra piano, she donated hers. The excitement over the piano’s arrival caused a “minor riot.” Even with the extra piano, six teachers and four pianos accommodated over 300 students.
Elizabeth Page Harris Papers (MS 771), Box 79, Folder 1726. MSSA.
Today We Follow, Tomorrow We Lead, Senior Edition yearbook, Tri-State High School, Tule Lake Relocation Center, 1943.
Tule Lake was designated for “dissidents,” 5,000 of whom renounced their U.S. citizenship. Living conditions were poor and following protests, the center was placed under martial law. This yearbook chronicles the difficulties of life at Tule Lake where on “critical, discouraging days…our thoughts were filled with pessimistic ideas and doubts as to our future position in this world.”
Zc73.943to. WA, BRBL.
1943 Senior edition yearbook, Tri-State High School, Tule Lake
