October 1, 1942

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) initiated a new, comprehensive “leave” or “resettlement” program for the incarcerated Japanese Americans in the ten relocation camps around the country. All classifications of leaves were subject to specific conditions and could be denied or revoked at any time. The WRA’s leave and resettlement program met with limited success; each month usually fewer than several hundred well-qualified and socially acceptable Japanese Americans were able to clear the elaborate process and earn the right to live in relative freedom outside the camps. As with all relocation centers, the two Arkansas camps were mainly able to resettle only the young, college-bound, well-educated, or well-connected Japanese Americans.