Last updated: October 28, 2021
Place
Guayule at Manzanar
Kango Takamura
Quick Facts
Location:
Manzanar Visitor Center
Amenities
2 listed
Benches/Seating, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
The small desert shrubs planted in front of the visitor center are Guayule (Parthenium argentatum). They typically grow in the southwest U.S. and northern Mexico, yet played a unique role in Manzanar’s history.
During World War II, the U.S. needed rubber, but Japan controlled most of Southeast Asia where rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) grew. The situation was dire: without rubber for airplane and truck tires, gaskets, machine belts, fuel tank liners, boots, raincoats, gas masks, life rafts, and more, the U.S. could not fight the war.
Japanese Americans in Manzanar, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Emerson, a Quaker and Plant Physiology Professor at California Institute of Technology (CalTech), successfully produced high quality natural rubber from guayule. They accelerated seed germination, invented equipment to extract more rubber in less time, and yielded more than twice the rubber from each plant compared to a large scale guayule project in Salinas. The tensile strength and elasticity of Manzanar’s rubber (5,000 PSI) exceeded the Salinas-produced rubber (3,600 PSI) and even the Hevea rubber tree in the South Pacific (4,200 PSI).
This 1943 painting by artist Kango Takamura illustrates the proud achievements and dedicated service of incarcerated Americans who served their country honorably in the face of prejudice, and the success of scientific collaboration without discrimination.
During World War II, the U.S. needed rubber, but Japan controlled most of Southeast Asia where rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) grew. The situation was dire: without rubber for airplane and truck tires, gaskets, machine belts, fuel tank liners, boots, raincoats, gas masks, life rafts, and more, the U.S. could not fight the war.
Japanese Americans in Manzanar, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Emerson, a Quaker and Plant Physiology Professor at California Institute of Technology (CalTech), successfully produced high quality natural rubber from guayule. They accelerated seed germination, invented equipment to extract more rubber in less time, and yielded more than twice the rubber from each plant compared to a large scale guayule project in Salinas. The tensile strength and elasticity of Manzanar’s rubber (5,000 PSI) exceeded the Salinas-produced rubber (3,600 PSI) and even the Hevea rubber tree in the South Pacific (4,200 PSI).
This 1943 painting by artist Kango Takamura illustrates the proud achievements and dedicated service of incarcerated Americans who served their country honorably in the face of prejudice, and the success of scientific collaboration without discrimination.