There was no need for guard towers. They had nowhere to go.
May 8, 1942: Poston War Relocation Center, the largest American concentration camp by area during World War II, opened in the Arizona desert.
Poston, located in southwestern Arizona, was the largest of the 10 American concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II.
It was composed of three separate camps arranged in a chain from north to south, each roughly three miles apart. Incarcerees nicknamed them Roasten, Toastin, and Dustin.
It was hot and dusty.
At its peak, Poston became the third-largest “city” in Arizona, with more than 17,000 people, most of them from Southern California.
Poston was built on the Colorado River Indian Reservation.
The Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT), comprising the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo peoples, objected. It was not only their land being used. They refused to take part in doing to others what had been done to them.
Courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Poston became the largest American concentration camp by area during World War II in the middle of the Arizona desert on the Colorado River Indian Reservation.
Families arriving at Poston were processed, assigned barracks, and given identification numbers after being forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast.
Courtesy of Densho / Frank Miwa Collection
Built deep in the Arizona desert on the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Poston was so remote that authorities considered guard towers unnecessary.
Courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Jim Morikawa sprinkling water to settle the dust. Built in the middle of the Arizona desert, Poston was known for its relentless heat, dust storms, and isolation.
In the Middle of Nowhere
Army commanders and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials overruled the council, seeing an opportunity to improve infrastructure and agricultural development.
A single fence surrounded all three camps, and authorities considered guard towers unnecessary.
The camp was so remote.
If anybody tried to escape, it was unlikely they would make it to the nearest resemblance of civilization before succumbing to the harsh desert environment.
Even beyond the desert, there was nowhere to return to. Homes, businesses, and entire communities had already been taken away.
The Incident
Like the other camps, Poston relied on incarcerated labor.
Resentment over unjust incarceration, insufficient wages, food shortages, and poor medical care slowly built into anger.
Tension exploded when two men were arrested after being accused of beating a suspected informant.
The two men were not provided proper due process. Requests for their release were denied.
In protest, workers went on strike.
It became the largest organized act of resistance by Japanese Americans during World War II.
Courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Phillip Zeyouma Sr. and Jr. breaking ground at the camp. Like many incarceration camps, Poston depended heavily on the labor of the people imprisoned there.
Courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Incarcerees at Poston helped build and maintain the massive desert camp themselves. They worked farms, kitchens, and factories under harsh conditions for low wages.
Arizona Republic, November 1942
What began with the arrest of two men accused of beating a suspected informant escalated into the largest organized strike by Japanese Americans during World War II.
Courtesy of Cornell University Library
Gene Sogioka’s depiction of the Poston Strike Rally, 1942. The Poston Strike became the largest organized act of resistance by Japanese Americans during World War II.
The Largest Strike in the Largest Camp
The strike effectively shut down the camp, with all services stopping except for the police, fire department, and hospital.
The crisis ended peacefully on November 24, 1942, after a compromise was negotiated between the camp director and the incarcerees’ Emergency Executive Council.
The arrested men were released on their own recognizance, and the case was turned over to a U.S. Attorney, who declined to prosecute.
The settlement, which granted many of the strikers’ demands, became a significant demonstration that the incarcerees would not quietly accept their unjust imprisonment.
The Findings
Poston closed on November 28, 1945.
Poston later became the subject of sociological research by Alexander H. Leighton, published in his 1945 book, The Governing of Men.
As Time wrote:
“After 15 months at Arizona’s vast Poston Relocation Center as a social analyst, Commander Leighton concluded that many an American simply fails to remember that U.S. Japanese are human beings.”
Courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Japanese Americans preparing to leave Poston, Arizona, 1945. By the time Poston closed in November 1945, more than 17,000 Japanese Americans had passed through.
Photo by Hikaru Iwasaki
Decaying barracks at the Poston War Relocation Center, 1945. Built quickly in the Arizona desert, many of Poston’s barracks were never meant to last.