Executive Order 9066 is a history altering demand that ordered for the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942. Yet another controversial topic of FDR’s presidency, this executive order came in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This group of Americans were taken from their homes and forced to live in stalls and completely alter their way of life. Kids were stripped of their childhood, parents stripped of their reputations. Rose Nieda was only 19 when this order took effect, and she shared her story in an oral interview. She mentioned the horrible living conditions she was forced to endure, all while trying to keep her life as stable as possible as a maturing teenager. She explained that she was only allowed the items that fit into two suitcases, leaving little room for clothes. Many other women faced this challenge, and were forced to survive on the little clothing they had, and salvage it for the time they remained in the camps. This effect on their fashion was large in that it limited their wardrobe and scaled down their choices of apparel.
Nieda was given $19 when she first arrived to the camp and she mentioned that she saved this money to use for clothes:
“But we loved going through the Sears and Roebuck catalogue and sending for things. That's the only mail, we got. They opened up a commissary for us, but what can you do with nineteen dollars? Not much, even in those days (Hilary)"
Although this shows the poor living conditions of the internment camps, it also embodies the growth of consumerism at the time and the availability of goods. Mass production of goods allowed people access to clothes, wherever they may live. This recollection also demonstrates the use of fashion as a way for women to escape from problems they may be facing in their personal lives and to provide themselves with some type of enjoyment.
Nieda was given $19 when she first arrived to the camp and she mentioned that she saved this money to use for clothes:
“But we loved going through the Sears and Roebuck catalogue and sending for things. That's the only mail, we got. They opened up a commissary for us, but what can you do with nineteen dollars? Not much, even in those days (Hilary)"
Although this shows the poor living conditions of the internment camps, it also embodies the growth of consumerism at the time and the availability of goods. Mass production of goods allowed people access to clothes, wherever they may live. This recollection also demonstrates the use of fashion as a way for women to escape from problems they may be facing in their personal lives and to provide themselves with some type of enjoyment.
Sources:
Hilary, Ashlyn. "Telling Their Stories: Www.tellingstories.org." Telling Their Stories: Www.tellingstories.org. January 1, 2005. Accessed October 7, 2014. http://www.conservationfund.org/historic-land-conservation/japanese-american-internment-camps/
"Japanese-American Internment Camps." The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 8, 2014. http://www.conservationfund.org/historic-land-conservation/japanese-american-internment-camps/
Hilary, Ashlyn. "Telling Their Stories: Www.tellingstories.org." Telling Their Stories: Www.tellingstories.org. January 1, 2005. Accessed October 7, 2014. http://www.conservationfund.org/historic-land-conservation/japanese-american-internment-camps/
"Japanese-American Internment Camps." The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 8, 2014. http://www.conservationfund.org/historic-land-conservation/japanese-american-internment-camps/