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During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. Approximately two-thirds of the detainees were United States citizens.
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- Executive Order 9066
- Anti-Japanese American Activity
- John Dewitt
- War Relocation Authority
- Relocation to 'Assembly Centers'
- Life in 'Assembly Centers'
- Conditions in 'Relocation Centers'
- Violence in Prison Camps
- Fred Korematsu
- Mitsuye Endo
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
On February 19, 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066with the stated intention of preventing espionage on American shores. Military zones were created in California, Washington and Oregon—states with a large population of Japanese Americans. Then Roosevelt’s executive ord...
Weeks before the order, the Navy removed citizens of Japanese descent from Terminal Island near the Port of Los Angeles. On December 7, 1941, just hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the FBIrounded-up 1,291 Japanese American community and religious leaders, arresting them without evidence and freezing their assets. In January, the arrestees we...
Lt. General John L. DeWitt, leader of the Western Defense Command, believed that the civilian population needed to be taken control of to prevent a repeat of Pearl Harbor. To argue his case, DeWitt prepared a report filled with known falsehoods, such as examples of sabotage that were later revealed to be the result of cattle damaging power lines. D...
After much organizational chaos, about 15,000 Japanese Americans willingly moved out of prohibited areas. Inland state citizens were not keen for new Japanese American residents, and they were met with racist resistance. Ten state governors voiced opposition, fearing the Japanese Americans might never leave, and demanded they be locked up if the st...
Army-directed removals began on March 24. People had six days notice to dispose of their belongings other than what they could carry. Anyone who was at least 1/16th Japanese was evacuated, including 17,000 children under age 10, as well as several thousand elderly and disabled residents. Japanese Americans reported to "Assembly Centers" near their ...
Assembly Centers offered work to prisoners with the policy that they should not be paid more than an Army private. Jobs ranged from doctors to teachers to laborers and mechanics. A couple were the sites of camouflage net factories, which provided work. Over 1,000 incarcerated Japanese Americans were sent to other states to do seasonal farm work. Ov...
There were a total of 10 prison camps, called "Relocation Centers." Typically the camps included some form of barracks with communal eating areas. Several families were housed together. Residents who were labeled as dissidents were forced to a special prison camp in Tule Lake, California. Two prison camps in Arizonawere located on Native American r...
Violence occasionally occurred in the prison camps. In Lordsburg, New Mexico, prisoners were delivered by trains and forced to march two miles at night to the camp. On July 27, 1942, during a night march, two Japanese Americans, Toshio Kobata and Hirota Isomura, were shot and killed by a sentry who claimed they were attempting to escape. Japanese A...
In 1942, 23-year-old Japanese-American Fred Korematsu was arrested for refusing to relocate to a Japanese prison camp. His case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where his attorneys argued in Korematsu v. United States that Executive Order 9066 violated the Fifth Amendment. Korematsu lost the case, but he went on to become a civil rights ac...
The prison camps ended in 1945 following the Supreme Court decision, Ex parte Mitsuye Endo. In this case, justices ruled unanimously that the War Relocation Authority “has no authority to subject citizens who are concededly loyal to its leave procedure.” The case was brought on behalf of Mitsuye Endo, the daughter of Japanese immigrants from Sacram...
Learn about the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II by the U.S. government. See photos, facts and sources on the history and legacy of this civil rights violation.
Jul 22, 2024 · Japanese American internment, the forced relocation by the U.S. government of thousands of Japanese Americans to detention camps during World War II. That action was the culmination of the federal government’s long history of racist and discriminatory treatment of Asian immigrants and their descendants that had begun with restrictive ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jun 6, 2024 · Records Relating to Japanese Civilian Internees During World War II, 1942–1946 (National Archives Identifier: 872144): Includes files of Japanese nationals interned in the United States, including those who were apprehended from overseas (Peru, Guam, and Saipan).
Mar 22, 2024 · Learn how the U.S. government forcibly relocated and interned over 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, based on President Roosevelt's executive order. Explore primary sources, background information, and a teaching activity on DocsTeach.
Feb 23, 2022 · Learn about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II from photos, videos, and records at the National Archives. Explore the history, the causes, the effects, and the controversies of this controversial episode.
May 21, 2021 · After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt paved the way for internment with Executive Order 9066, which gave military leaders the authority to...
