Eji Suyama was a prolific contributor to the various Japanese American newspapers and probably has been published in all the Nikkei newspapers, at some point.

Suyama's editorials were brash and opinionated but always fair and fearless.

Please click here to view available editorials.

More than 300 Japanese American men refused to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II unless they and their families were first released from U.S. concentration camps. These men were tried in court, with most judges taking a narrow reading of whether or not the men had refused to serve, rather than taking into consideration that they were being drafted from a concentration camp. Only Federal District Judge Louis E. Goodman who presided over the Tule Lake draft resisters dismissed the charges. Most of the draft resisters served two to three year federal prison terms but were later pardoned by President Truman. [Read More]

Please click here for more Draft Resisters archival materials.

There were hundreds of Japanese American serving in the U.S. Army before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. However, after Pearl Harbor, Japanese American servicemen were placed into segregated units and had their weapons taken away. The government also denied the request of these men to go assist their families on the West Coast who were being forcibly placed into U.S. style concentration camps. Those who protested their discriminatory treatment by the U.S. Army either ended up in the 1800th Engineer General Battalion or were imprisoned at Leavenworth. [Read More]

Please click here for more Military Resisters archival materials.

The government first set up the Moab Citizen Isolation Center in December 1942 Utah to imprison Japanese Americans from the WRA camps, whom the government deemed as “troublemakers.” In April 1943, Moab was closed and the Leupp Citizen Isolation was opened in Arizona. By the end of the year, the government quietly closed down Leupp after abuses were reported. [Read More]

Please click here for more Moab/Leupp Citizen Isolation Center archival materials.

In order for the U.S. government to separate the so-called “loyal” from the “disloyal” Japanese Americans, the government came up with a so-called loyalty questionnaire. The two most controversial questions were questions 27 and 28. Those who left the two spaces blank or answered yes with a “if-yes” conditional clause or answered “no” to each question were labeled as “no nos” and sent to Tule Lake, which was converted from a War Relocation Authority camp into a Segregation Center. [Read More]

Please click here for more No-Nos archival materials.

In February 1943, the U.S. military police illegally rounded up close to 35 men living in Block 42 of the Tule Lake War Relocation Authority camp for refusing to register for the so-called loyalty questionnaire. [Read More]

Please click here for more Tule Lake WRA Camp Block 42 archival materials.