Muttsu no Kazoku: Six Families’ Journey from Internment to Scott
While many people are familiar with the stories of the
internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, most likely don’t
give much thought to what happened to the people after the war’s end. For a
group of families interned in the Rohwer War Relocation Center, the end of the
war brought with it a move to the farming community of Scott, Arkansas.
The postwar years would bring many changes for
both the community of Scott and the new residents. While the Japanese American
families did find success in transplanting their central California-honed
vegetable growing operation to the fertile soil of central Arkansas, they also
faced the challenges of being neither white nor Black in the segregated south.
From March 16 until July 27, 2024, Plantation
Agriculture Museum State Park is hosting an exhibit called “Muttsu no Kazoku:
Six Families’ Journey from Internment to Scott” telling a story
that has long been overlooked. This exhibit will explore life for the Shingu,
Futamachi, Nakamura, Oshima, Yada, and Yoshimura families before, during, and
after World War II with special focus on their lives in Scott.