Japanese Internment in the USA
Ballet Teacher
Internal Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt 1: “She said she got to go all over the country a couple of times, dancing in the ballet." (Page 100)
​
Excerpt 2: “That was the only time we really exchanged words, and some weeks later, I understood she had organized a dancing class from among the younger girls in the Block. My sister Michi, becoming one of her pupils," (Page 110)
​
In The Legend of Miss Sasagawara it is stated that Miss Sasagawara was once a ballet dancer and her experience in the art of ballet helped her to become an art teacher in dancing as a recreational activity for the younger girls of the internment camp.
External Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt: “Specialists in the arts and crafts were many among the Japanese and their classes were well attended. Isamu Noguchi, internationally known sculptor, was a resident of Santa Anita; Professor Chiura Obata, whose paintings were exhibited at Mills College, lived and taught at Tanforan. Many excellent musicians contributed their talents to the class-room. From these classes there emerged orchestras of symphonic size for rendition of the classics and ensembles to delight with dance and informal musical programs.”
​
Japanese evacuees who were specialized in music, dance and other forms of art worked as teachers and conducted classes.
Nurse
Internal Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt 1: “Elsie and I tired one day of working in the mess hall. And this desire for greener fields came almost together with the Administration announcement that henceforth the wages of residents doing truly vital labor, such as in the hospital or on the garbage trucks that went from mess hall to mess hall, would be upped to nineteen dollars a month instead of the common sixteen. "Oh, I've always wanted to be a nurse!" Elsie confided..." (Page 104)
​
Excerpt 2: “Well, you don't have to be a nurse's aide, Kiku. The hospital's short all kinds of help. Dental assistants, receptionists. . . . Let's go apply after we finish this here." (Page 104)
​
In The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Elsie Kubo, worked as a nurse aid in the mess hall. She wore a trim blue-and-white striped seersucker. Job scope is taking temperatures, carrying bed-pans, and the need to understand medical jargon used by the doctors and nurses.
External Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt 1: “The medical care and sanitation program for Assembly Centers was initiated with the advance recruitment of Japanese doctors and nurses and the assignment of such personnel to the Centers. An essential section of the advance party recruited and assembled for each Center consisted of Japanese doctors and nurses.” (Page 190)
​
Excerpt 2: “To offset this deficiency and to relieve graduate and student nurses a study was made of personnel among the evacuees who might be trained as aids in medical nursing, dental and dietetic duties, and a program of training established. Lectures and instructions in nurse's-aid procedures included bed-making, care of bedding, sponge baths, indication of sickness, discussion of nursing ethics, personal health and hygiene, sickroom appliances (their care and use), nutrition and diets, medication..." (Page 192)
​
The total number of staff was very low. Hence, the administration allocates workers for the military (personnel) from evacuees. The evacuees who took the job will be trained so that they can be helpful in medical nursing, dental and dietetic duties.
An evacuee nurse's aid at Santa Anita (California) Assembly Center, weighing a baby, while mother watches. Modern facilities were provided for the care of infants at the Assembly Center.
An evacuee doctor examining a baby while an evacuee nurse writes the medical record. Experienced physicians and nurses were provided at all Centers to protect the health of infant evacuees.
Attended by evacuee nurses and orderlies, convalescing patients rest in the shade on the lawn behind the center hospital at Puyallup (Washington) Assembly Center.
An evacuee nurse's aid at Santa Anita (California) Assembly Center, weighing a baby, while mother watches. Modern facilities were provided for the care of infants at the Assembly Center.