Relocation Centers of Japanese-Americans (1942-1943) Throughout the spring and summer of 1942, the United States Government planned and carried out without serious incident, one of the largest controlled migrations in history. This was the migration of almost 110,000 men, women, and children of Japanese decent from their homes on the Pacific coast into ten wartime communities constructed in remote areas between the Sierra-Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. According to the United States Government, relocation centers were never intended to be internment camps or places of confinement. Under United States law at that time, Aliens of enemy nationality who are found guilty of acts or intentions against the security of the Nation are to be confined in internment camps. Internment camps were administered by the Department of Justice unlike relocation centers which were administered by the War Relocation Authority. The physical standards of the relocation centers were never much above the bare subsistence level. For a small portion of the Japanese evacuees, these standards were an improvement to their normal quality of living. But for the majority of the evacuated people, the relocation centers, despite all efforts to make them livable, remained subnormal. Evacuees had few leave privileges and had to meet certain criteria to do so. The movement of residing evacuees was somewhat restricted and the feeling of isolation was inevitable. The tarpaper covered barracks of simple frame construction served as housing in the relocation centers. None of the barracks had plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind. A normal family of five or six received a single room about 25 by 20 feet. Unattached evacuees, for example, bachelors lived in large, one room dormitories. Army blankets, cots, and small heating stoves were the only furnishings provided by the government. One bath, laundry, and toilet room was provided for each block of barracks housing 250 plus people.
