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Children in Internment Camps
Digital History ID 4151

Author:   War Relocation Authority
Date:1942

Children in Internment Camps Annotation: Schools in internment camps lacked books, blackboards and desks.


Document: With no exceptions, schools at the centers opened in unpartitioned barracks meant for other purposes and generally bare of furniture. Sometimes the teacher had a desk and chair; more often she had only a chair. In the first few weeks many of the children had no desks or chairs and for the most part were obliged to sit on the floor or stand up all day. Linoleum laying and additional wall insulation were accomplished in these makeshift schoolrooms some time after the opening of school. At some centers cold waves struck before winterization could be started.

By the end of 1942 . . . it was no longer necessary for many pupils to sit on the floor, but seating was frequently of a rudimentary character. Text books and other supplies were gradually arriving. Laboratory and shop equipment and facilities, however, were still lacking. No center had been able to obtain its fill quota of teachers.

Source: War Relocation Authority report on internment camp schools quoted in Personal Justice Denied, 170.

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