pin "Eunice", Santa Anita Assembly Center, 1940s
date: label: date made
content: circa 1940s
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden pin is engraved with the name "Eunice". On the back is a safety pin glued onto the piece of stained wood. Eunice B. Kurisu owned this pin. Eunice B. Kurisu was born on August 10, 1925, and her birth name was Eunice Yokota. She was imprisoned in the Santa Anita Assembly Center from April 1942 to October 1942. She was only 16-years-old when her family were told to pack one suitcase, leave their home, and meet at a location to be taken to an unknown place following Executive Order 9066, which forcibly relocated Japanese Americans during WWII following the events of Pearl Harbor. Eunice's family consisted of 7 people; two parents and five children. Eunice's older brother Paul Yokota had just graduated from USC (University of Southern California). At that time, the barracks had not been finished, so the family slept on cots in horse stables.
label: Description
content: Eunice got a job working for the Recreation Department and kept stats for the baseball teams and submitted these to the Pacemaker Newspaper. Eunice and her family were relocated to the Jerome, Arkansas prison camp before Eunice was allowed to work in Chicago as a nanny. There she met Jim Kurisu, who had also been imprisoned but was allowed to work in a Chicago nylon factory. Jim and Eunice were married on April 20, 1944 just outside the Jerome prison camp, and had their reception in the camp. Eunice moved to the Rohwer Prison Camp to be with her family after Jim was drafted into the army. Eunice had her baby, Joyce Kurisu, on April 14, 1945 in the camp. Jim was stationed in Germany when Joyce was born. Eunice and Joyce were finally released on July 31, 1945. When Eunice arrived in Sacramento, California, she stepped outside her hot train car to give her and baby Joyce air as three military men surrounded her. A photographer took their picture and it went national on newspapers around the country. Eunice and Jim had four children (Joyce Kurisu, born 4/14/1945 in Rohwer, Bob Kurisu born 04/10/1947, Gloria Kurisu born 03/02/1949, and James Russell Kurisu born 03/17/1955).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: gift of Eunice B. Kurisu
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0284.03
label: accession number
content: 2016.0284
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0284.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: wood
label: Object Name
content: pin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glue (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 in x 2 in; 2.54 cm x 5.08 cm