Work and jobs

Both Issei and Nisei took jobs within the camps, at wages set not to exceed soldiers' pay: $12 per month for unskilled labor, $16 for skilled labor, and $19 for professional employees. WRA staff was paid much more for the same jobs. Though public opinion mandated such low pay, dissatisfied Japanese Americans objected to losing their right to make a decent living. They had to use their sparse income for necessities, such as warm clothing and shoes.

World War II (277)
Concentration camps (1771)
Work and jobs (1416)

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1416 items

img Japanese American workers loading scrap lumber (ddr-densho-37-555)

Original WRA caption: Topaz, Utah. A group of volunteer workers at the Topaz Relocation Center gathering a truck load of scrap lumber from the contractor's scrap pile.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-555/

img Butcher house (ddr-densho-37-347)

Original WRA caption: A view in the slaughter house and butcher shop. Hogs, which are grown in the evacuee run hog farm, are slaughtered here, for consumption by the residents of the center.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-347/

img Barbershop (ddr-densho-37-145)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-145/

img Japanese Americans cutting seed potatoes (ddr-densho-37-353)

Original WRA caption: Seed potato cutting at the cutting sheds of the Tule Lake Relocation Center farm. 7,500 sacks of potatoes will be cut by 48 workers in 2-1/2 weeks. This will be enough seeds to plant the 600 acres.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-353/

img Camp general store (ddr-densho-37-147)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-147/

img Japanese Americans cooking (ddr-densho-37-105)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-105/

img Japanese American carpenter (ddr-densho-37-383)

Original WRA caption: Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, California. Cabinet worker's saw is expertly used by Jime Kabayashi, 62, on the interior construction of general store Number 2 at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese descent. Jime, prior to evacuation, had resided in Sacramento for 24 years and has been a carpenter for …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-383/

img Camp surgeons (ddr-densho-37-223)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-223/

img Hair salon (ddr-densho-37-149)

Original WRA caption: This beauty parlour is operated by the Tule Lake Co-operative Enterprise, Inc. Patrons are charged a nominal fee.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-149/

img Sugar beet farmers (ddr-densho-328-292)

Caption in album: "Kinko's Gang."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-328-292/

img Nisei woman (ddr-densho-325-174)

Hisa Nimura in her hospital aide uniform. The handwritten inscription on the front of the photograph reads "To Sumito Sincerely Hisa". Written on the back of the photograph "July 1944).

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-325-174/

img Sugar beet farmers (ddr-densho-328-290)

Caption in album: "Who wants sugar?"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-328-290/

doc Payment Records (ddr-densho-355-176)

For Gentaro Takahashi

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-355-176/

doc Takami Hibiya reference letter (ddr-densho-381-142)

A reference letter from Frank H. Hattori to Dillon S. Myer about Takami Hibiya. Hattori mentions Takami's work in the housing division at Minidoka and states that he is "very much Americanized."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-142/

doc Takami Hibiya reference letter (ddr-densho-381-141)

A reference letter from Lorne Huycke to Dillon S. Meyer for Takami Hibiya. Huycke speaks about his contact with Takami at the Minidoka Project, where they worked together in the Housing Department.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-381-141/