Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message The "Tucsonians" Oral History Project collection, 1947-2002MS 390
Biographical NoteOn December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and soon afterward, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the mass removal of 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to relocation camps located further within the United States interior. During this time, 1941-1943, Americans of Japanese ancestry were prohibited from serving in the US military. However, in 1944 the government re-instituted the draft for all Nisei, first generation Japanese born in America, including those in camps. Soon following, resisters of conscience were put on trial, most given 3 year sentences. A number of the resisters were sent to Tucson to serve their sentences, thus becoming the "Tucsonians". The "Tucsonian", is the self proclaimed name the group of American men of Japanese ancestry gave themselves while imprisoned in the Catalina Federal Prison on Mount Lemmon during the 1940s for resisting the draft. The "Tucsonians", and all wartime draft resisters, including the Nisei resisters were pardoned in 1947. Scope and Content NoteCollection includes the oral histories of several of the Japanese-American resisters of conscience who served sentences at the Catalina Federal Prison (renamed Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site in 1999) during WWII. The collection contains audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted by representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service from 1999 through 2002. The collection also includes photographs of the "Tucsonians" annual anniversary gathering. The oral history project was funded by CCLPEP (California Civil Liberties Public Education Program) and the Coronado National Forest. OrganizationThis collection is organized into two seriesRestrictionsRestrictionsNone CopyrightIt is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright. Access TermsGeographic Name(s) Catalina Federal Prison (Mt. Lemmon, Ariz.) Catalina State Park (Ariz.) -- History. Coronado National Forest (Ariz. and N.M.) Coronado National Forest (Ariz.) -- Santa Catalina Division
-- History. Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site (Mt. Lemmon,
Ariz.) Lemmon, Mount (Ariz.) -- History. Subject(s) California Civil Liberties Public Education
Program. Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation,
1942-1945. World War, 1939-1945 -- Japanese Americans --
Interviews. World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives,
American. Administrative InformationCredit LineThe "Tucsonians" Oral History Project collection (MS 390). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries. Container List
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