Rohwer in Desha County, Arkansas — The American South (West South Central)
Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, February 21, 2021
1. Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center Marker
The Rohwer internment camp included a 500-acre area for internee living quarters and more than 10,000 acres of surrounding land for farming and timber harvesting.
Officially labeled a relocation center, the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II were commonly referred to as concentration camps. A concentration camp is broadly defined as a place where people are imprisoned because of who they are, not because they are guilty of any crime. Built as military-style camps, the centers were surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards in watch towers. Today these camps are referred to as American concentration camps, internment camps, or incarceration camps.
"The first thing one sees as he approaches the Relocation center will be squat rows of army barracks stretching in endles rows, and looking like toy houses that someone forgot and left out all night"
Colburn Cox Stuart,
Superintendent of Schools at McGehee,
Desha County, Arkansas, 1941.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior; Arkansas State University.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Asian Americans
this page online
Location. 33° 45.977′ N, 91° 16.551′ W. Marker is in Rohwer, Arkansas, in Desha County. It can be reached from State Highway 1 north of Rohwer Road, on the left when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Rohwer AR 71666, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Arkansas Delta, in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and in the Quapaw Homeland. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in the Upper South, in the Mississippi Delta, in the Piney Woods, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, the Louisiana Purchase, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Why Us? Why Here? (here, next to this
via Densho Encyclopedia, 1943
2. Barracks at Rohwer concentration camp, Arkansas, Dec. 9, 1943
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, Ctrl. #: NWDNS-210-G-C935, NARA ARC #: 538199, WRA, Photographer Gretchen Van Tassel
Also see . . . Rohwer. Densho Encyclopedia entry (Submitted on March 1, 2021.)
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, February 21, 2021
3. Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center Marker
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, February 21, 2021
4. Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on January 3, 2025. It was originally submitted on February 28, 2021, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 431 times since then and 38 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on February 28, 2021, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. 2. submitted on March 1, 2021, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. 3, 4. submitted on February 28, 2021, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana.
