PARKVILLE, Mo. — Park University students walk past a reminder of a huge debate in the small Platte County town.
A wall is dedicated to telling the story of nine Japanese American students who graduated from then-Park College during World War II.
Executive Order 9066
The Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. More than 2,400 Americans died in the surprise attack.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. It paved the way for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
Before they were moved to incarceration camps, which have also been known as internment camps, some Japanese Americans stayed at a temporary assembly center. In the Los Angeles area, that center was at Santa Anita Park, which is now a horse racing track.
At its height, 18,000 people stayed at Santa Anita, including about 8,500 who lived in converted horse stalls.
Park College President sees living conditions
Dr. William Lindsay Young was fundraising for the school out on the West Coast when he visited those living in Santa Anita.
Dr. Young advocated for Nisei students to come to Park. He did not foresee the opposition from those in the town.
They had already had a Japanese student on campus, he thought.
“We have never had any difficulty on this score,” wrote Dr. Young in 1942.
‘Battle of Parkville’
Some in Parkville objected to any Nisei students attending Park. Nisei is the name of someone whose parents immigrated from Japan.
The mayor at the time threatened to shut down the school if it accepted Nisei students.
Dr. Young went on a letter-writing campaign and received 500 letters of support. Then he published a column in the Kansas City Star.
“Is war hysteria making us lose sight of our democratic ideals and the priceless guarantee that all Americans are free, equal and to have the same opportunities?” he penned.
Eventually, the local sheriff signed off on Dr. Young’s plan, which met the federal government’s requirement to allow Nisei students to attend.
An archive of first-hand accounts
Park University history professor and archivist Dr. Timothy Westcott has helped compile an archive about the college’s Nisei students.
In 1995, two Nisei graduates of the class of 1945 spoke at a 50th reunion event, which was captured on video. One was Masaye Nagao Nakamura.
She recounted her cross-country train trip, where she said the conductor spat on her.
“And when he did that, I was so shocked,” she told the crowd after they audibly gasped. “I was just angry, shocked, all these emotions.”
While on campus, life was more sheltered, but Nagao Nakamura recalled President Young warning her not to go to town alone.
"Be sure that you go with your group, or somebody else. Don't ever go down by yourself,” she recalled, while also admitting she did not listen to him once and ended up with a close call.
In the end, she was one of nine Nisei students who graduated. That’s about half the number who enrolled thanks to Dr. Young.
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