Pacemaker Newspaper Press Pass for Eunice Yokota
date: label: date made
content: circa 1942
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This document is a press pass for Eunice Yokota and states that she is a member of the Pacemaker staff. It is signed by the editor, Eddie.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Eunice B. Kurisu (nee Yokota) was born on August 10th, 1925 in California to Japanese immigrants. When she was just 16-years-old, in April, 1942, she and her family were forcibly relocated to the Santa Anita Assembly Center following Executive Order 9066.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It authorized the Secretary of War to declare certain areas as military exclusion zones that peoples considered threats to the nation could be excluded from. This led to mass deportations of Japanese-Americans and Italian-Americans to prison camps.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Santa Anita Assembly Center had not completed construction by the time Eunice's family was relocated, so they were forced to sleep on cots in horse stables. It was there that Eunice began to work for the Recreation Department and submitted statistics about the baseball team to the Pacemaker Newspaper.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Pacemaker Newspaper was run by Japanese Americans in Santa Anita, and Eunice's brother Paul Yokota was the editor. The Pacemaker was named after the camp's original purpose: a horse racing track. The Pacemaker became the longest-running publication from the prison camps and served the most populated camp (19,000 people were assigned there). The Pacemaker ran from April 19, 1942 until October 7, 1942.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Pacemaker reported on the lives of people in the camp, from marriages to deaths and other important events in their lives. The Pacemaker also reported social events, passed on rules and messages from the administration, contained stories about readers themselves, and contained a literary section.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Chris Ishii was the illustrator for the Pacemaker and his comics about "Li'l Neebo" gained national attention. Ishii was eventually hired to work for Walt Disney Studios where he worked on Fantasia, Dumbo, and shorts involving Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. When the Santa Anita Assembly Center closed down, the Pacemaker stopped running.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Eunice's family was kept at the Santa Anita Assembly Center until they were transferred in October of 1942 to the Jerome, Arkansas prison camp. Eunice received permission to leave the camp in order to work as a nanny in Chicago.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Eunice's friend had a brother named Jim who was also leaving Jerome for Chicago as a nylon factory worker, and a date was arranged. From there, it was history. Eunice and Jim were married a few months later before Jim was drafted into the U.S. Army and their baby Joyce was born.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
label: See more items in
content: Executive Order 9066
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: 2016.3154.14
label: nonaccession number
content: 2016.3154
label: catalog number
content: 2016.3154.14
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Press Pass
label: Object Name
content: press pass
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 4 1/4 in; 12.7 cm x 10.795 cm