Living conditions

All of the camps were constructed according to the War Department's specifications, which included barbed-wire fences, guard towers, and armed guards around the perimeter. The camps were organized in "blocks" consisting of twelve to fourteen barracks, a mess hall, communal showers and toilets, laundry facilities, and a recreation hall. Each barracks was divided into four or six rooms with each room housing one family, no matter how large, and there was no running water. The furnishings that Japanese Americans found on their arrival were canvas cots, a potbellied stove, and a single bare light bulb. The thin walls offered little protection from the harsh weather, which ranged from 110 degrees in the summer to 25 degrees below zero on winter nights. The flimsy construction allowed no privacy and made normal family life difficult. Camp inmates improved their own living conditions by creating interior walls and partitions, constructing furniture from scrap lumber, and planting gardens.

World War II (231)
Concentration camps (1434)
Living conditions (1751)

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1751 items

img Panoramic view of Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho (ddr-densho-23-27)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-23-27/

img Japanese American in front of barracks (ddr-densho-23-3)

Sawano Tazuma.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-23-3/

img Issei couple sitting on barracks porch (ddr-densho-24-20)

Sawano (left), and Bunshiro Tazuma in front of their barrack. The Tazumas were originally from Seattle, Washington, and owned the Tazuma Ten-Cent Store on Jackson Street before World War II.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-24-20/

img Internees filled mattress tickings (ddr-densho-253-3)

Caption: "Internees filled matress tickings with straw as the last daylight fades over the Sierras. Upon these ticks, covering metal Army cots, Japanese slept. Only essential furniture was supplied. Additional comforts were fashioned in Manzanar workshops."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-253-3/

img At Heart Mountain (ddr-densho-252-136)

(Left to right) Unknown, Tsumoru Okura. Caption on Post-it: "Tsumoru Okura & wife at Heart Mountain, October 1944 (bro. of Masaji Okura)."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-252-136/

doc Letter from Amy Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-16)

Amy Morooka writes to Violet Sell about sewing supplies, church happenings, and her father's health.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-16/

doc Letter from Amy Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-10)

Amy Morooka writes to Violet Sell about the living conditions at Gila River and updates on Sunday School.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-10/

doc Letter from Martha Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-8)

Martha Morooka writes to Violet Sell about being transported to Gila River and feeling homesick.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-8/

doc Letter from Amy Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-7)

Amy Morooka writes to Violet Sell about the living conditions at Gila River a week after arriving.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-7/

doc Letter from Martha Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-23)

Martha Morooka writes to Violet Sell about Christmas gifts, her job in the tuberculosis ward, a murder that took place in camp, and a request for clothes.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-23/

doc Letter from Amy Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-17)

Amy Morooka writes to Violet Sell about her sewing machine, dust storms, and issues with John and Midori.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-17/

doc Letter from Martha Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-11)

Martha Morooka writes to Violet Sell about the gardens built at Tulare Assembly Center being destroyed, missing friends, inconsiderate staff at Gila River, updates on people she had helped at the Social Welfare Department, trenches being dug by Black workers, and more.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-11/

doc Letter from Amy Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-36)

Amy Morooka writes to Violet Sell about her mother's health, Tomio's new job at Yale, another request to have a portrait reproduced, and more.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-36/

doc Letter from Amy Morooka to Violet Sell (ddr-densho-457-29)

Amy Morooka writes to Violet Sell about Violet's health, her own ongoing health problems, clothing and other supplies they have received, a recent job offer, and more.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-457-29/