Japanese Internment

1942-1945

Many Americans were suspicious of the Japanese-Americans living within the U.S. after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Why? Were these fears justified?

Many people were afraid that Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast might actually be spies for Imperial Japan. Many Japanese were fishermen or worked on the docks.

HOWEVER…There was NEVER any evidence that Japanese Americans

acted as spies during WWII.

RelocationRelocation On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.

This forced Japanese Americans to move from

their homes to “internment” camps.

This was to keep them from spying by monitoring

their lives. “Yellow Peril” became rampant throughout the

U.S.

11,000 Japanese families had to sell their homes and businesses

to relocate to these camps. Evacuees were allowed to take

only what they could carry. What they couldn’t sell was just left

for the taking.

Japanese Americans were put on buses and shipped to one of 10

relocation centers around the United States.

The barracks were surrounded by

barbed wire and overseen by high

wooden watchtowers. Privacy

was almost nonexistent.

Evacuees tried to make the best of it by living their lives

with some degree of normalcy. Schools,

libraries, sports teams, churches, and

Americanization classes were created.

Originally, FDR considered the

relocation “legal” under constitutional powers

granted to the president during times of war.The Supreme Court

supported this claim in the case of

Korematsu vs. U.S. Later, this was overturned

and all camps were closed by early 1945.

An ApologyAn ApologyIn 1988, the U.S.

government apologized to

Japanese Americans for these

internment camps and paid all

internees $20,000.

U.S. Government U.S. Government ExplanationExplanation

Official U.S. Film (1942)Official U.S. Film (1942)

http://youtu.be/5_rk3RP5KQs