On December 8, 1941, in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the American public, famously declaring the day as “a date that will live in infamy.” The attack on Pearl Harbor launched the U.S. into the global conflict of WWII and sparked an intensifying of racial tensions on American soil. This war time hysteria hit Japanese-American communities particularly hard. In February of 1942, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, calling for the removal of anyone with Japanese ancestry from the West Coast of the U.S. due to paranoia surrounding potential espionage. As a result, over 120,000 people were forcibly removed from their communities, typically getting less than 24 hours to make arrangements regarding their property. Thousands lost their jobs, homes and businesses, and within weeks the Japanese-Americans of the west coast were relocated to 10 internment camps in isolated regions of the western and southern U.S. to sit out the remainder of the war.
This story, while seemingly distant from our home here at Drew University, has an interesting connection to our history. In 1943, six Japanese American students arrived at Drew from internment camps out West. According to The Oak Leaves, the student-produced yearbook, in conjunction with the student-published Drew Acorn, Ben Nobutaka Iijima (C ‘44), Dr. John Kikuchi (C‘44), Dr. Albert Kazuye Mineta (C ‘44), Sayoko Nakata (C ‘44), Sumiko Kobayashi (C ‘46) and Tom Tomihiro (unable to graduate) made their way to Drew from internment camps in the American West. Their story is one of perseverance in working towards their education, despite the obstacles that their own government placed in front of them, and is important to understanding the human impact of WWII.
While this article will not focus on the conditions under which these people lived while interned, there is a vast literature on the topic. In fact, Iijima, a passionate writer both before and during his time at Drew, kept detailed diaries of the experience during the early days of his internment. The three diaries can be accessed as part of the University of California at Berkeley’s Bancroft Library’s “The Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement: A Digital Archive.” Iijima’s recounting of his experience has also been featured in “Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience,” a collection of stories from Japanese internees published in 2000.
When Executive Order 9066 was issued, Asian students were sent to internment camps and forced to leave behind not only their homes but their education. Among these Americans were thousands of Nisei — second generation Japanese Americans raised in the U.S. — of college age. These young adults attended universities from California to Washington. Among the thousands of displaced were the six Nisei students who enrolled at Drew in the following year.
Each cross-country journey was a uniquely personal experience and is documented to different degrees. Kikuchi made his way to Madison from the Tanforan detention center, located on a former horse racing track in San Francisco. Tanforan was the first stop for many of the other students as well. Mineta came from the Heart Mountain Internment Camp in Wyoming. Tomihiro came from the Colorado River Internment Camp in Arizona. Three students, Iijima, Kabayashi and Nakata came to Drew from the Topaz Internment camp in Central Utah in consecutive years.
In 1943, the government approved the creation of The National Japanese American Student Relocation Council to resettle Nisei college students in universities away from the Pacific Coast. During its first two years of service, the Relocation Council helped over 3,000 students resettle and find suitable colleges further east. Private colleges with religious affiliations, such as the Methodist Drew University, were more willing to accept these incoming students. Having recently started accepting women, two of the six Niesi students were among the first “co-eds” at Drew.
Students found their way to willing universities through various religiously-affiliated organizations, such as the Methodist Board of Education, which provided Tomihiro with a scholarship to Drew. The American Friends Service Committee worked closely with the Relocation Council to help recruit other students, such as Kobayashi, to schools that would accept them. The process was not always easy; in the Drew Magazine from the winter of 2013, Kobayashi recalls in an interview, that it was a lengthy and frustrating process to find a school willing to accept her. Following her acceptance, she made the cross-country trek on her own, arriving in time for the fall semester of 1943.
The students arrived at Drew to a welcoming environment, which contrasted the treatment they received back home. Like many relocated Nisei students, those who arrived at Drew used the new opportunity to their full advantage. The 1944 graduates participated in a variety of organizations around campus. Iijima served as a featured writer for the Acorn, a baseball team manager, a member of the international relations club and a distinguished member of the debate team. According to the 1944 yearbook, Ijima brought “his rich enjoyment of living” with him to Drew. Kikuchi was noted in the 1944 year book to be a biochemistry major who was always dressed “according to the newest fashion” despite his busy schedule packed with labs and lectures. Kikuchi used his time at Drew to continue his work toward a career in the medical field. Mineta took up positions as a news reporter for the paper, the role of student council treasurer and the student life and welfare committee, all while studying chemistry with the intent to pursue medicine. Despite the obstacles in front of them, these young people became active members of their community while achieving their educational goals and maintaining honors status. Since they were all transfers with credits from previous institutions, their time at Drew was limited. In 1944 the three men were the first Nisei to graduate from Brother’s College.
As the war decreased the enrollment at Brother’s College, the school opened up its classrooms to women for the first time. In October of 1944, Nakata would achieve an impressive feat of her own— being the first woman to ever graduate from Brother’s College. Nakata transferred into the college from the University of California, bringing her previously earned credits with her. This meant she was able to graduate early, ahead of the other women in her class. The New York Times honored Nakata’s historic achievement with a small article on October 20, 1944. The November 4, 1944 edition of the Topaz Times, a newspaper produced by the internees at the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah, also recognized Nakata’s prestigious role as the first female graduate from a previously all male institution.
The second Nisei woman to graduate from Drew was Kobayashi in 1946. Kobayashi had fought hard to get to Drew and worked hard in her time at school. In her first year, she split her time between school work and working for a local Quaker family who were gracious enough to host her. Her last two years were spent living on campus and being actively engaged in Drew’s social scene. She graduated with a degree in economics and remained in Madison following her graduation to work in the registrar’s office and pay off her remaining bills. Following her graduation, Kobayashi became a computer programmer, took up roles in community organizations and became an active member of the Japanese American Civic League. She was inspired by young people shaped by the Civil Rights movement and spent the majority of her adult life working towards seeking justice for Japanese-American families who had been affected by Executive order 9066. She and her counterparts were successful in their push for redress; The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 included a payment of $20,000 to individuals of Japanese ancestry who have been affected by internment.
Tomihiro, the youngest of the Nisei students, arrived in 1943 and did not graduate from Drew alongside his counterparts, as he was called back to perform military service before completing his degree. Previously, the Selective Training and Service Act made Nisei men ineligible for service. Yet as the war waged on, the demand for men to serve became so great that the U.S. military overturned the act. Nisei, both interned and resettled in colleges and universities, were called on by the new draft order. According to an April 29 edition of The Acorn, Tomihiro was called back to the Colorado River Internment camp in Poston, Arizona on April 3, 1944. The Drew community was sad to see Tomihiro, a “distinguished” member of the campus community, go. He went on to serve in the Military Intelligence Service for the remainder of the war and was stationed in Minnesota.
The internment of Japanese-Americans has had lasting impacts on the Japanese diaspora across the U.S. but remains widely unknown. Similarly the stories of the Nisei students who made their way to Drew have mostly been forgotten. Yet, these students have a part in the history of this institution and should be remembered for their dedication to their education and their community despite the obstacles placed in front of them. Some of these students went on to be vital parts of recording and sharing the history of Japanese Internment in the U.S. and served their community following a time of hardship. All of the students who arrived at Drew in 1943 have since passed away, but their legacy is not to be forgotten. December 7, 1941 may be the date that lives in infamy, but the strength displayed by the Nisei students during their time at Drew should be remembered all the same.
Jocelyn is a junior majoring in English, Chinese and history.
Featured image courtesy of Oak Leaves.
