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Text / Memo from Harry L. Black, Assistant Project Director, to Willard E. Schmidt, …

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Title
Memo from Harry L. Black, Assistant Project Director, to Willard E. Schmidt, Chief of Police, re: disorders in Block #54, June 2, 1944
Creator
Black, Harry L.: author
Date Created and/or Issued
1944-06-02
Contributing Institution
California State University, Dominguez Hills, Archives and Special Collections
Collection
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
Rights Information
Copyright has not been assigned to the San Jose State University Library Special Collections and Archives. This item is available for educational, non-commercial purposes. Please contact San Jose State University for publication information.
Description
Discusses imprisonment in the stockade of 12 incarcerees and tension concerning the Japanese Language Schools and the schools in the camps, detailing what it terms "terrorist tactics" on the part of the Japanese Language School's proponents and concluding that the Project Director is justified in using the stockade for disciplinary purposes. The document also includes the directive, Administration of Japanese Language Schools at Tule Lake incarceration camp (March 30, 1944 by R. R. Best, Project Director), which outlines policy regarding the camp and Japanese Language Schools; a memo regarding this directive "prepared as a public announcement by Mr. Harkness, Superintendent of Schools... (May 18, 1944);" and a memo from Kenneth M. Harkness, Superintendent of Schools, to Harry L. Black, Chief, Community Management (May 21, 1944) concerning these memoranda. Also included is an envelope from the Federal Communications Commission to Willard E. Schmidt marked Personal and Confidential.
The Willard Schmidt collection, documents some of the administrative duties of Willard Schmidt, the Chief of Internal Security for the War Relocation Authority and the Tule Lake incarceration/segregation camp. This collection contains administrative records and photos documenting the Tule Lake camp, the largest incarceration camp with a peak population of 18,789 and with the most turbulent history. In 1943, the camp was turned into a segregation center to house "disloyal" Japanese Americans relocated from other camps based on their answers to a confusing loyalty questionnaire. The camp endured martial law from November 1943- Jan 1944 after escalating protests and unrest. The hostile environment of the camp lead to many incarcerees renouncing their American citizenship upon the end of incarceration, a process which took 14 years to reverse if they did not wish to be deported to Japan.
Type
text
Format
Memorandum
11 pages, typescript
application/pdf
Identifier
sjs_sch_0083
http://cdm16855.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16855coll4/id/6125
Language
English
Subject
World War II--Administration--War Relocation Authority
World War II--Incarceration camps--Facilities, services, and camp administration
World War II--Incarceration camps--Conflicts, intimidation, and violence
Education--Japanese language schools
World War II--Incarceration camps--Education
Place
Newell, California
Incarceration Camps--Tule Lake
Source
San Jose State University Department of Special Collections and Archives
Relation
California State University Japanese American Digitization Project
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0j49q761/
Schmidt (Willard E.) Papers

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