Eleanor Gerard Sekerak,
Topaz Teacher

BY ELIZA DURHAM,

BETTER DAYS INTERN

Eleanor Gerard Sekerak left a lasting mark on American education and the lives of countless Japanese Americans during one of the most challenging periods in U.S. history. Eleanor’s journey from a young educator to a symbol of hope for Japanese American youth imprisoned during World War II is a story of resilience, compassion, and commitment.

Eleanor was born in 1917 in Sacramento, California. Her academic pursuits led her to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned her degree in education. In the summer of 1942, her upcoming contract to teach in a California school district was given to a man instead, so she found work through a friend at the War Relocation Authority who asked her to help fill a desperate need for teachers in Topaz, Utah.

Eleanor Gerard with some of her Topaz students. Topaz Museum.

The outbreak of World War II had brought hardship and disruption, especially for Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. In 1942, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government forcibly incarcerated and relocated over 100,000 Japanese Americans to prison camps, falsely justifying the exile as a military necessity. In reality, it was a response driven by wartime hysteria and racial prejudice. About two thirds of those imprisoned were citizens of the United States. These Japanese Americans were sent to ten prison camps across the U.S. One of these was the Topaz Prison Camp in Delta, Utah.[1] Topaz housed around 11,000 people during its operation from 1942 to 1945.

Many Japanese American youth faced further discrimination and racial prejudice in the schools at the prison camps. Often, the non-Japanese teachers believed that their students were lesser because of their race and heritage. Some even blamed students’ “ancestral concepts” for their behavioral problems.[2] However, some teachers, like Eleanor, served as an inspiration for students in these demoralizing conditions. Eleanor taught her class with passion, regardless of the consistent dust storms and the lack of teaching materials. One student said that she “had a knack for making her students hold high expectations for themselves.” Others also felt “that she was one person who really cared about [them].”[3] She became an invaluable part of the high school, working with the principal to make sure the school ran smoothly.

Eleanor took this photo of the high school graduation procession in Topaz in 1943. Topaz Museum.

Students recalled Eleanor as one of the few teachers who truly cared. They remembered her telling them often: “You’re going to get out of here some day, and you’re going to be good American citizens.”[4] She showed her true empathy for her students in many ways, including personally providing caps and gowns for the first graduating class of the school. Eleanor also helped document daily life in the camp. Prisoners were not allowed to have cameras, so few pictures exist of everyday events, with the exception of Eleanor’s contributions. Her documentation of daily life in the prison camps provides a rare and invaluable glimpse into the lived experiences of the imprisoned.

Eleanor’s classroom at Topaz in Block 32. Topaz Museum.

Following the end of World War II and the closure of the prison camps, Eleanor married Emil Sekerak, another non-Japanese administrator who had been assigned to work at Topaz due to his refusal to fight in the war as a conscientious objector. The couple settled in Hayward, California, where Eleanor continued her career in education, teaching at Hayward High School. Eleanor taught at Hayward High school for over three decades. She became known at Hayward for her progressive approaches to education and strong support of her students. She left a lasting mark on Hayward High School with the implementation of a “core class concept,” which combined typical educational courses with individual teacher-student counseling. This concept strengthened relationships between teachers and students, which better fulfilled both the teachers’ and students’ academic journeys. Though the concept wasn’t permanently implemented, the time that it was has been fondly referred to as the “golden era” by former faculty.

Eleanor Sekerak’s legacy is one of empathy and resilience. Many of her students from Topaz credit her with the hope they had for their futures.

Eliza Durham is a BYU undergraduate student studying neuroscience, public health, and global women’s studies.

[1] “Internment camp” or “relocation camp,” terms used by the U.S. government during World War Two, are considered euphemisms that downplay the harsh reality of confinement, which more accurately aligns with the definition of a “prison camp” – a place where people are detained without trial, often based on race or ethnicity, and subjected to restricted freedoms and harsh conditions. See the Japanese American National Museum or Densho for more explanation of this terminology, or the 2023 NBCU Academy article “Don’t Use ‘Internment’ to Describe Japanese American WWII Camps.”

[2] “Student-Teacher Relations.” Topaz Japanese American Relocation Center Digital Collection, Utah State University.

[3] Kate Murphy, “Former Students Remember Teacher.” East Bay Times, 19 July 2005.

[4] Kate Murphy, “Former Students Remember Teacher.” East Bay Times, 19 July 2005. Although most incarcerated Japanese Americans were U.S. citizens, people who were born in Japan and many other people born in Asian countries were not allowed to apply for U.S. citizenship until the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.