While considerable literature on wartime Japanese American internment exists, the vast majority of studies focus on the West Coast experience. With a high volume of literature devoted to this region, lesser known camps in Arkansas, like Rohwer (Desha County) and Jerome (Chicot and Drew County) have been largely overlooked. This study uses a cultural history approach to elucidate the Arkansas internment experience by way of local and camp press coverage. As one of the most segregated and impoverished states during the 1940s, Arkansas’ two camps were distinctly different from the nine other internment camps used for relocation. Through analysis of local newspapers, Japanese American authored camp newspapers,documentaries, personal accounts and books, this study seeks to expose the seemingly forgotten story of internment in the South. The findings expose a level of freedom within the internment camps, as well local reaction in the context of Arkansas’s economic, social and political climate.