By Thomas Shumaker, PhD By 1914, when war began in Europe, New Mexico had only been a state for just two years. Despite the relative freshness of its entry into the Union, it was nevertheless open to the wider world, as it always had been. Chinese immigrants had come to…
Yasutaro Soga, Japanese Internee By Lauren Gray* On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This momentous and shocking event propelled the United States into the Second World War as America joined the Allied forces in the fight…
Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura was born in Gallup in 1925. He enlisted in the Army in World War II but did not see action. The Korean War proved to be a very different story. On a dark April night in 1951, Corporal Miyamura's company was holding a defensive position on…
Men’s New Dorm University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico February 3, 1942 Honorable Governor Miles Governors Mansion Santa Fe, New Mexico Dear Sir; Last week thirty Japanese from Clovis were sent to Ft. Stanton to be interned. This action affected me very much because my parents are Japanese…
Sacred Duty: A Biographical Sketch of Tamasaku Watanabe, Japanese Christian Minister in U.S. Justice Department Internment, 1941-45* Gail Y. Okawa Department of English Youngstown State University My maternal grandfather, Tamasaku Watanabe, immigrated to the United States from Hiroshima, Japan. That act in itself did not distinguish him, of…
Dr. Gail Y. Okawa Department of English Youngstown State University An underlying blessing of research is unpredictability. I was searching for materials on the U.S. Department of Justice World War II internment of Japanese immigrants from Hawai`i in locations like Lordsburg and Santa Fe, New Mexico, Missoula, Montana, and…
1907 By Lauren Gray* George Hoshida was born in Kumamoto, Japan in 1907 but spent relatively little time there. In 1912, his father, who had immigrated to Hilo, Hawaii, sent for his wife and children. However, funds were limited, so four year old George came to Hilo with his…
1873 By Lauren Gray* On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This momentous and shocking event propelled the United States into the Second World War as America joined the Allied forces in the fight against the Axis…
By Suzanne Stamatov The U.S. government operated two internment camps in New Mexico. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, and the roundup of Japanese-Americans began in California, the Justice Department named New Mexico as a site for internment camps. Between March 1942 and April 1946, the…
Albuquerque's 20th century suburban growth by David Kammer From its inception as a railroad town in 1880, Albuquerque has undergone continuous growth. During its first two decades much of that growth occurred within the 3.1 square miles of the original town site, with the earliest residential sections appearing on…
