Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage in Arkansas Honors Japanese and Japanese Americans Imprisoned during WWII
For Immediate Release
April 4, 2025
Contact: John Nishio
(530) 588-0765
SACRAMENTO, CA — The Jerome Rohwer Committee announces the 2025 Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage to be held in Little Rock, AR, May 21-24, 2025. The event commemorates the Japanese and Japanese Americans who were unjustly imprisoned during World War II and honors their resilience and contributions to society. Learning and open conversation lead to understanding and healing. The Pilgrimage seeks to educate the public about the significant chapter in US American history.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, that resulted in the forced removal of over 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, mainly from the west coast of the US into ten US American concentration camps, including Jerome and Rohwer in AR. The camps were established due to unwarranted fear of espionage and sabotage enflamed by racism.
The Jerome Rohwer Pilgrimage allows survivors, descendants, and others to learn about and discuss the legacy and aftermath of WWII era concentration camps in the USA. One day of the Pilgrimage is a trip to the concentration camp sites in Jerome and Rohwer, with a program in McGehee, AR, that includes taiko drummers and a short obon festival to honor the spirits of our ancestors. There will be two full days of programming in Little Rock, including intergenerational and generational discussions, historical sessions, survivor perspectives, social activities, and opportunities to stamp the sacred Ireichō (a book with names of more than 125,000 innocent Japanese and Japanese Americans imprisoned during WWII) and to digitize family photos and documents.
The Jerome Rohwer Committee is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization, that aims to share the experiences of the tragic violation of civil rights suffered by US Americans of Japanese descent and Japanese in the USA during WWII and to preserve and protect the locations of the WWII era US American Concentration Camps for future generations. The committee embraces protection of civil rights and efforts to prevent and stop loss of civil liberties by other groups.
For event schedule, registration information, and updates, visit the JRC website at https://tinyurl.com/JRPilgrimage
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