How Roosevelt High’s 1942 newspaper documented the removal of its Japanese American students

In March 1942, Roosevelt High School senior George Maruki was elected president of his graduating class, but he couldn’t celebrate his victory like his other classmates could. 

“Before the official and final election results were announced, the government of our country took steps to evacuate many from the California coast,” Maruki, who was of Japanese descent, told the RHS student newspaper, Rough Rider, in an article published on March 12, 1942. “Therefore, I am rather confused as to what will become of me when I leave school.”  

Before World War II, Boyle Heights was home to a thriving Japanese and Japanese American population who owned homes, businesses, schools and churches. At RHS, they were active members of their student body, club presidents, athletes, scholars and friends.  

Yet when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, their lives were uprooted because of their Japanese heritage. They received evacuation orders, sold their belongings and were sent to detention camps across the western and midwestern U.S., where they lived in “terrible” conditions, according to The National WWII Museum. At the Santa Anita Park Racetrack in Arcadia, entire families were housed “in horse stalls with dirt floors,” the museum wrote.

On this National Day of Remembrance, which commemorates the 84th anniversary of Roosevelt’s executive order, the archival issues of the Rough Rider newspaper give a glimpse into the lives of Boyle Heights youth who, at the time, celebrated diversity on campus, watched the war unfold and documented how over 400 of their classmates of Japanese descent received evacuation orders and were sent away. 

Oct. 3, 1940: Before WWII, Roosevelt students celebrated the school’s diversity.

“We are truly a melting pot in the sense that students with different ideas and customs are melted together to form a better American,” one column wrote.

Dec. 18, 1941: As the U.S. went to war with Japan, students called for tolerance. 

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, fears over national security grew, as did nationalist hysteria, military pressure and anti-Asian racism, which eventually led to the signing of Executive Order 9066. Days after the attack, a Rough Rider column called on students to meet the moment with a sense of “intelligence, diplomacy, and common courtesy.” 

“We are at war with Japan. Enrolled in Roosevelt are several hundreds of Japanese Americans,” the column says. “Heretofore this particular group has not only equalled in many cases but surpassed, other racial groups on the campus in service to the school, in academic achievement and in all around good citizenship. There is no sane reason why they should not continue to do so.”

March 12, 1942: George Maruki is elected senior class president.

Weeks after Executive Order 9066 was signed, the Rough Rider highlighted the five seniors who had been elected as officers to represent their senior class. Among them was Maruki, who despite not knowing what the future would hold, emphasized his commitment to being a leader and serving the student body. 

“I had always wished that someday I might be a leader, and when, in the ninth grade, I was elected to my first office, I knew that was what I wanted to do most – serve my school,” Maruki said.

March 19, 1942: “400 students await evacuation orders”

According to the Los Angeles Public Library, Japanese families began receiving “Public Proclamations” and “Civilian Exclusion Orders” within days of Executive Order 9066 being signed. 

“Age, sex, or condition offered no exception to the rule. Having as little as 1/16th Japanese blood marked one for removal,” the LAPL wrote in a 2018 blog post. Families were given six days to dispose of or sell their belongings as each person was only allowed to bring what they could carry to the camps. 

At Roosevelt, according to the Rough Rider,  the population of over 400 students of Japanese descent at the school would soon move away to live with relatives in different states, settle with church groups, or, as a last resort, “facilities are being made to take care of Japanese in the Owens Valley region under supervision of the army.”

Karumi Tsaukimoto, vice president of the student body, told the Rough Rider, “There is nothing we can do and there is no reason to get upset. I’d suggest all Japanese to keep on working as usual till the actual time comes.”

RHS Principal Maurice Blair assured that all Japanese American seniors would still receive their diplomas without completing the full term if they met qualifications, which could include “double assignments or a correspondence with the school or evidence of completion of work at another high school,” the Rough Rider wrote.

March 19 to April 9, 1942: Students and faculty react 

In the weeks after Japanese students began to receive evacuation orders, the Rough Rider offered glimpses of how faculty and students reacted to the loss of their pupils and classmates.

“Our American Japanese students have always been among the best in citizenship, scholarship, and sportsmanship. It’s going to be too bad to see them leave when they do,” RHS Principal Maurice Blair wrote in a March 19, 1942, issue.

A March 26, 1942, student column titled “Brotherhood at Roosevelt” emphasized the importance of diversity and offered hope to readers discouraged by the effects of the war.

“It seems that Roosevelt High is a crucible of all nations. Russian, Jew, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Negro–all help to make their school the better for their having been there,” the column reads. “Troubled days have descented upon American youth. Even stormier winds lurk ahead. But has our nation ever flinched from a menacing element? No, and because of it America still lives.”

Murray Rubenstein wrote a letter that was later adopted by the entire student body and faculty at RHS, expressing their feelings toward the Japanese American students and friends who had been sent away. 

“I am an American, writing a dedication to some of my most worthy friends,” Rubenstein wrote. “During my many years of schooling, I have mingled a great deal with the Japanese race. I have eaten, worked, and played with them. Not once have I had any differences with them.” 

“There are two qualifications of Japanese students – these are Courtesy and Courage, which all ring through,” Rubenstein added.

“…a number of changes have taken place,” wrote Morris Glass in the April 9 issue of the Rough Rider. “Many of our Japanese friends have left by now. As much as we are going to miss their companionship and loyalty to the school, we must agree that their departure was unavoidable at this crucial time.”

April 9, 1942: Japanese students withdrew from school and prepared to leave almost all their belongings behind.

“War has struck home again,” the Rough Rider article said, noting that families were selling everything from books to appliances and cars as they prepared to evacuate.

April 16, 1942: New class officers were chosen to fill vacancies left by Japanese student leaders.

Five weeks after Maruki was elected senior class president, he was replaced by Abel Soto. 

“I’m sorry George had to leave. I hope the students place the same trust in me as they did in him. I’ll certainly try to fill his shoes,” Soto told the Rough Rider.

April 16, 1942: School principal and teacher visited 150 homes and coordinated large-scale sales of belongings. 

Social studies teacher George Williams worked to advise families as they scrambled to leave. 

“I found that the Japanese people as a rule [are] harboring no resentment but are displaying intelligence and are doing their part,” he told the Rough Rider.

June 18, 1942: In the final newspaper for the 1941-42 school year, Morris Glass remembers his incarcerated Japanese classmates. 

“Our Japanese friends left us,” he wrote.