Synopsis & Timeline
The internment of Japanese Americans in WWII was the forced relocation and incarceration in camps of 110-120 thousand people of Japanese Ancestry on the Pacific Coast. These actions were ordered by FDR after the Pearl Harbor attack. 62% of internees were united States citizens. Looking back, this internment defies all of the values that Americans pride themselves on.
- 1891 Japanese immigrants arrive on the mainland U.S. for work primarily as agricultural laborers.
- May 7, 1900 The first large-scale anti-Japanese protest in California is held, organized by various labor groups.
- 1924 Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1924 effectively ending all Japanese immigration to the U.S.
- December 7, 1941 Japan bombs U.S. ships and planes at the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii. Over 3,500 servicemen are wounded or killed. Martial law is declared in Hawaii.
- December 7, 1941 The FBI begins arresting Japanese immigrants identified as community leaders: priests, Japanese language teachers, newspaper publishers, and heads of organizations. Within 48 hours, 1,291 are arrested. Most of these men would be incarcerated for the duration of the war, separated from their families.
- February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 authorizing military authorities to exclude civilians from any area without trial or hearing. The order did not specify Japanese Americans–but they were the only group to be imprisoned as a result of it.
- February 25, 1942 The U.S. Navy orders all Japanese Americans living on Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles–some 500 families–to leave within 48 hours. As the first group to be removed en masse, they incur especially heavy losses.
Background & Causes
The reason for this internment is a combination of a variety of factors unifying to formulate one action. Many say that the cause for this action is racism more than any other security risk posed by the Japanese. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans had a growing prejudice for Japanese Americans, no matter of their citizenship, simply because of their small association to Japan. Years of anti-Japanese prejudice erupted into hate and suspicion. All people of Japanese descent were looked upon as capable of sabotage, and the success of the attack was assumed to be the result of espionage by Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and on the West Coast. On the West Coast, a hysteria of fear against Japanese Americans was created by inflammatory journalism, pressure groups, politicians, and the U.S. Army. A profound suspicion of Japanese Americans quickly led to cries for their expulsion. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which called for the exclusion and internment of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
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Impact & Effects
The impacts of this Internment will be everlasting. The U.S. government forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes, farms, schools, jobs and businesses, in violation of their constitutional civil rights and liberties. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hirabayashi v U.S., Yasui v U.S. , and Korematsu v U.S. that the denial of civil liberties based on race and national origin were legal.This completely violates everything we stand for as a nation, and the effects can be seen on the devastated families as well as our reputation.The Japanese Americans first endured the shock of realizing they were not being sent to resettlement communities, as many had been led to believe, but to prison. They lost their homes and businesses. Their educations and careers were interrupted and their possessions lost. Many lost sons who fought for the country that imprisoned their parents. They suffered the loss of faith in the government and the humiliation of being confined as traitors in their own country. Moreover, when they got to the facility, things were not great for them either. According to a 1943 War Relocation Authority report, internees were housed in, "tar paper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind." Additionally, throughout the course of World War II, not a single incident of espionage or treason was found to be committed by Japanese Americans. Clearly, this decision of internment held devastating effects for Japanese Americans.
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