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RE: And, of course, my sister didn't help matters either. She, she raised a commotion and threatened to leave the camp, she was gonna walk out. So it was very timely in the fact that the Quaker and the friends of Quakers came to the rescue so to speak. They were negotiating with the War Relocation Authority, and of course War Relocation Authorities were saying, "Well, why not, if we can move them to the east of the Mississippi where they will be accepted, whether it's Chicago, Kalamazoo or Cleveland, or whatever." We became the first family to, big family -- I said, "big family" -- to leave Topaz.

TI: So let's go back to your sister, your activist sister, so Amy. What was she concerned about? What did she kind of object to?

RE: Well, she objected to the fact that, you know, like everybody else, about habeas corpus, and you know, all the, "This is wrong. We're wrongfully incarcerated." And she wanted to continue to raise that issue, that, "Hey, get us all out of here," you know. "You people are wrong." She knew the Constitution probably as good as anybody would who had graduated from college.

TI: And so mentioned earlier, so she threatened just to walk out of camp?

RE: Oh, yeah, she threatened to walk out.

TI: And she told the officials this?

RE: Oh, yes. They said, "Hold on, we're gonna get you out real soon." And so they had to promise her how soon and all that before she just cooled, you know.

TI: Boy, this is another good story. I've never heard anyone just saying, "This is wrong, let us out or I'll walk out." And then the officials saying, trying to make that happen. That's another interesting thing.

RE: Well, you know, my brother had a patriotic fervor, my sister was more concerned about the loss of civil liberties, you know, as a young girl who has never even finished high school. That's amazing. She went on to do other things later on, too, that's interesting, too.

TI: And as all this was happening, you mentioned how the newspapers covered your brother's story with Eleanor Roosevelt. Was there any newspaper articles or anything written about your, your sister and what she was doing?

RE: No, I don't think so.

TI: Or any, any letters or any documentation about this?

RE: No. I don't recall her writing anything, she was a lot more vocal. Her protests were more vocal than written.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.