On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, interning over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry and irrevocably changing their lives. The majority were American citizens. In wartime hysteria, they were forcibly removed from their homes on the west coast of the United States and also in Hawaii and interned by the War Department in one of ten relocation centers in the interior of the U.S.A. At Jerome, over 6,700 were interned from September 1, 1942 through July 1944. Temporary shelters with shared living quarters, community dining halls, and bathing facilities were the norm. Constant surveillance by the army reminded each resident of captivity and loss of freedom. Their incarceration because of their ethnic background stands as a warning to be more vigilant in safeguarding the rights of all Americans, regardless of race, color, or creed.