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(H)our History Lesson: Japanese American Resettlement in Dayton, Ohio

About This Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, as an American World War II Heritage City. Japanese Americans were wrongfully relocated and incarcerated in incarceration sites beginning in 1942 under Executive Order 9066. This lesson focuses on the resettlement of Japanese Americans post-detention, and specifically those who resettled in the Dayton area. This occurred from 1943 – 1946 as part of the War Relocation Authority’s (WRA) resettlement of Japanese Americans from the incarceration sites.

The lesson combines primary and secondary source information with readings, questions, and photos, with video extensions. The lesson was written by educator Sarah Nestor Lane.

Japanese American families wait in line to board a bus. A man wearing a suit and hat stands behind his wife holding a suitcase. His wife wears a hat and long coat and holds a baby bundled in blankets.
Photo 1: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yoshio Kodama and their small son, Junior on March 18, 1944 at the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Bus Depot. Mr. Kodama moved to Dayton, Ohio, to become the first Director of the Committee on Resettlement for Japanese Americans in the area.

Photo by Hikaru Iwasaki, War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library, public domain.

Objectives:

  1. Identify the contributing factors that lead to the movement of Japanese Americans to Dayton, Ohio.
  2. Summarize the roles of Dayton people and organizations that supported Japanese American resettlement.
  3. Consider and describe perspectives of Japanese Americans on the home front in Dayton (and nationwide).

Materials for Students:

  1. Essential question and photo
  2. Photos 1-4 (can be displayed digitally) by Japanese American photographer Hikaru Iwasaki
  3. Readings 1, 2, 3 (background secondary source, two primary sources)
  4. Recommended: a map of the Dayton area, Montgomery County, or the state of Ohio, to mark the cities and locations mentioned.


Getting Started: Essential Question

Why did some Japanese Americans resettle in Dayton, Ohio, and how did they help shape the city?

Read to Connect


Table 1: Nonwhite Population, Dayton, OH, 1940

Note: This table is recreated from the US Census report, "Nonwhite Population of the United States by Race and Nativity: 1940." Its title, groupings, and labels reflect the racially insensitive language used at the time. The total population of Dayton in 1940 was 210,718.

Total Nonwhite Population

Negro

Indian

Chinese

Japanese

Filipino

Hindu

All other

20,304

Total

Native

Foreign Born

9

Total

Native

Foreign Born

Total

Native

Foreign Born

2

3

-

20,273

20,257

16

15

6

9

2

1

1

Questions for Reading 1

  1. What factors lead to the resettling of Japanese Americans in Dayton, Ohio?
  2. Demographics: Describe demographic data of Dayton prior to resettlement. (Using 1940 Census data, Table 1) What other details do you notice about the demographic makeup of the area? How do you think this has changed over time, and why? (Hint: Also consider the movement of people to Dayton for war production.)
  3. What difficulties did Japanese Americans face during the resettlement process?
  4. Summarize the roles of Dayton people and organizations that supported Japanese American resettlement.
  5. From the reading and inferences based on the information, how did Japanese Americans contribute to home front efforts and the city of Dayton?

By the numbers:

  • Approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to leave their homes.
  • During the resettlement of Japanese inmates, only 35,000 (about one-third) had resettled by the end of 1944.
  • In total, approximately 4,400 Japanese Americans resettled in Ohio.
  • In 1988, Congress issued a formal apology and passed the Civil Liberties Act, which awarded $20,000 each to over 80,000 Japanese Americans.

Quotation to consider:

“Unfortunately we still have in this state, and in several others, a group of people who make their living or who try to make political capital out of that most un-American practice of creating a scapegoat. As a general rule these operators pick on some minority group and attempt to blame that group for all the ills of the community as a means of covering up their real economic or political interests. Frequently they are quite successful at it for a time and particularly in periods of local or national stress.” - R. B. Cozzens, Assistant Director of the War Relocation Authority, before the Peace Officers of California at Salinas, California, October 9, 1945

Japanese American family picks produce from a tall plant with vines and leaves. The husband stands at the back facing the camera. His wife stands next to him, facing sideways. Their young son reaches up into the leaves and faces away from the camera.
Photo 2: Mr. and Mrs. Kumazo Ambo look over their victory garden with their son, Masato Dennis, September 13, 1944.

Photo by Hikaru Iwasaki, War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library, public domain.

Photos

Note: Photos 1-5 were taken by the photographer Hikaru Iwasaki. Iwasaki was of Japanese ancestry but American born. He was sent to a Japanese incarceration site in Wyoming as a teenager. He was hired at the age of 19 to work for the War Relocation Authority’s Photographic Section as a full-time photographer. He was the only Japanese American hired for this work. He traveled to take pictures of Japanese at incarceration sites and of their lives after the war. He became a famous photographer who would go on to contribute to magazines such as Time and Sports Illustrated and documented important events of the civil rights movement.


The Ambo Family

Photo 2 (right) is from the War Relocation Authority, and taken by Hikaru Iwasaki. The data for the photograph reads: “Mr. and Mrs. Kumazo Ambo, Issei*, with their son, Masato Dennis, are looking over their victory garden. Mr. Ambo is employed by the San Rae Gardens, Florists, and Mrs. Ambo and their two sons live with them. The Ambo family are former residents of Golita, California. They came to the Cincinnati Hostel in April and enjoyed its hospitality until arrangements were made with the San Rae Gardens for their employment. Previous to the Ambos’ employment, several young Nisei boys worked at these gardens until called for service.”

*Note: Issei refers to the first generation to immigrate to the United States. Nisei refers to the first generation born in the United States. For more information on terminology, please visit Terminology and the Mass Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Mr. & Mrs. Jinjiro Sasaki

The people in Photo 3 (below) are unidentified, but in this picture, they are leaving the Jerome Internment Camp in Denson, Arkansas, where the Sasaki family was incarcerated, before relocating to Dayton. In this photo, also taken by Iwasaki, a teacher is saying goodbye to the students above.
White teacher reaches up toward Japanese American children on the back of a crowded truck bed. The children smile down at her and reach over the ledge to say goodbye.
Photo 3: Japanese Americans being moved out of the closing Jerome Relocation Center, otherwise known as an incarceration site, to be relocated. This picture was taken by Hikaru Iwasaki, who also took pictures of relocated families in Dayton.

Photo by Hikaru Iwasaki, War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, public domain.

Photos 4 and 5 (below) are from the War Relocation Authority, where the data input for the Photo 4 read: “Here Mr. And Mrs. Jinjiro Sasaki are shown spraying chrysanthemums in their employer’s greenhouse at Dayton, Ohio. They have come to Dayton with their daughter, Miss Katherine Sasaki, and have made a fine contribution to the greenhouse where they are employed. They are 67 and 64 years of age respectively.” This couple relocated from Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas.

Data for Photo 5 reads similarly to the first photo, but with some new details: “Mr. and Mrs. Jinjiro Sasaki shown here are relocatees from the Jerome Relocation Center. They have come to Dayton with their daughter Katherine Sasaki and have made a fine contribution to the greenhouse where they are employed. They are 67 and 64 years of age respectively and are doing very well.” This photo is also taken by Hikaru Iwasaki, on the same day.

Older Japanese American married couple spray plants in a greenhouse Older Japanese American married couple spray plants in a greenhouse

Left image
Photo 4: Mr. & Mrs. Jinjiro Sasaki at Carolyn Flower Shop Gardens, Dayton, OH
Credit: Photo by Hikaru Iwasaki, War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library, public domain.

Right image
Photo 5: Mr. & Mrs. Jinjiro Sasaki work at Carolyn Flower Shop Gardens, Dayton, OH
Credit: Photo by Hikaru Iwasaki, War Relocation Authority. Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library, public domain.

Questions for Reading 2

  1. What was the purpose of this article being published in the newspaper?
  2. Why would Dr. McComb describe the Japanese Americans in this way?
  3. How is this article an example of public relations being used to combat negative beliefs and propaganda about Japanese Americans?

Questions for Reading 3

  1. Kiyoko recalls her memories as a young child of Dayton. Why do you think these memories stand out to her?
  2. What details from her memories connect to details learned from Reading 1?
  3. Some Japanese American resettling families stayed in the Dayton area, but others did not. Why does Kiyoko think her father chose to return his family to their original home community?

In summary of the readings and photos, answer the essential question: Why did some Japanese Americans resettle in Dayton, Ohio, and how did they help shape the city?

Extension

Learn more about Japanese American Incarceration


This lesson focused more on the resettlement rather than relocation, of Japanese Americans. To learn more about the relocation history prior to resettlement, The Center for Arkansas History and Culture has interview clips in the collection “Life Interrupted.” These interviews share the perspectives of Japanese Americans who were forcibly moved to the Jerome Camp in Arkansas, where the Sasaki family (Photos 4 and 5) resettled from. This is a selection of interview clips you could watch, based on the time you have available.

Interview with Sam Mibu, internee at Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas - YouTube (4:19)

Interview with former Jerome Relocation Center internee Sam Ozaki for the Time of Fear documentary 1 (29:51)

Outside of the focus on the Jerome Camp for the Sasaki family connection, you may also choose to have students explore digitally collected primary sources that reflect the experiences of the incarcerated Japanese Americans at Densho Digital Repository.

Additional Resources

Dankovich, P. (2012). The Japanese American Resettlement Program of Dayton, Ohio: As Administered by the Church Federation of Dayton and Montgomery County, 1943-1946. Wright State University Theses and Dissertations at Core Scholar.

Home | Densho Digital Repository

Finding Aid to War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement, 1942-1945 circa 1941-1947 (cdlib.org)

Hikaru Iwasaki (Densho Encyclopedia)

Japanese American Citizens League - JACL Dayton — About (daytonjacl.org)

Jerome Japanese American Relocation Center (arkansasheritage.com)

Kodama, "Report on Resettlement of Japanese Americans," Dayton Metro Library.

Payne, R. "Dayton Host to Jap-Americans," Sunday Journal-Herald Spotlight, August 20, 1944.

Terminology and the Mass Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

REgenerations Oral History Project: Rebuilding Japanese American Families, Communities, and Civil Rights in the Resettlement Era : Chicago Region: Volume I (cdlib.org)

Part of a series of articles titled Dayton and Montgomery County, OH, WWII Heritage City.

Last updated: August 28, 2023