Ode to farm laborers
(Excerpts from the Daily Log of the WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY Central Utah Relocation Project, Project Reports Division, Historical Section. Topaz, Utah)
November 23, (1942)
APPRECIATION — The Preston Chamber of Commerce expressed its appreciation for the splendid cooperation received from the local resident beet workers. Much of the sugar beet crop was saved due to their participation. Also, the Preston stores increased their sales through heavy evacuee buying.
NOVEMBER 24
STATISTICS — Total number inducted to date, 8,324; population today, 7,883; number of aliens, 3,202; number of citizens, 5,122.
NOVEMBER 26
HULL LEAVES — Dr. Irvin Hull, chief of the Project Reports Division [which produced the daily log], left a little after 8:30 a.m. to accept his new position at a Salt Lake radio station. His office personnel who thought very much of him was present en masse to say “So long“ and not goodbye. His loss will be greatly felt not only by the Administrative staff but also by the community as a whole.
[The Topaz Daily Log ends here with the departure of Dr. Hull.]
Images: 1. Recruiting poster for sugar beet workers, posted in camp newspapers. Minidoka Irrigator, March 6, 1943. 2. Laborers in sugar beet fields outside Shelley, Idaho. Russell Lee, photographer, U.S. Farm Security Administration. Library of Congress #LC-USF34-073809-E.
Additional resources:
From Beets to the Battlefield: How WWII Farm Laborers Helped the War Effort, Darryl Mori, Discover Nikkei. Nov. 18, 2016.
Uprooted: Japanese American Farm Labor Camps in World War II, Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission. exhibit info.
Uprooted: Japanese American lives in farm labor camps – in pictures, The Guardian, September 28, 2016.
The WWII Politics of Farms and Labor, by Natasha Varner, Densho. October 12, 2018.
The Topaz Stories Team
Previous “Daily Log” entries:
November 19-20: Morale
November 2-5: Birth, death, dust, snow
October 28-29: First snow
October 25-27: Coal crisis
October 16-18: Hospital dedication
October 14-15: First Nisei soldier visits
October 12-13: “Jankee”
October 7-9: Fresnans, Santa Anitans arrive
October 3-5: Tar
September 29-October 1: Community Council
September 27-28: Dust, new arrivals
September 23-26: Outside workers, lost and found
September 22: First baby
September 18-21: First frost
September 17: First group arrives
September 15: Topaz Times launched
September 11: Welcome to Topaz
The Topaz Stories Team
Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City before it closes on December 31, 2022.
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)