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The Internment of Japanese Americans 1942-1945
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Throughout the Nineteenth Century, Japan dealt with a population that it could not sustain with its national food production by encouraging immigration. Thousands of Japanese traveled abroad. Many settled in the Hawaiian Islands, and on the American Pacific Rim.
When war came in December 1941, this population was seen as potential fifth columnists and saboteurs. The public cried out for the arrest of Japanese American citizens. LIFE Magazine published a guide on how to tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese, and the FBI began investigating the large number of Japanese Americans whose actions were being monitored.
Japanese Americans already in the US Armed Forces were held away from service without any reason. Japanese Americans were prevented from signing up in the mad rush to enlist, and unofficial boycotts on Japanese stores and businesses began.
While many Italian and German Americans would be arrested and interred, these were mostly foreign nationals who had not received citizenship. The discrimination against the Japanese Americans was prejudicial, focusing on Japanese Americans who had lived in the United States for generations.
On February 18, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, providing for the relocation of enemy aliens - and Japanese Americans - away from military installations. Milton Eisenhower, brother of US Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower, was appointed the head of the War Relocation Authority (WRA) and in March 1942 he began to plan camps that would hold Japanese Americans for the duration of the war.
Eventually 110,000 Japanese Americans were interred, many selling their possessions at below cost and at a moment's notice. Two-thirds were citizens and 25% were children under fifteen.
US Army units made up of Japanese Americans were sent to fight in Italy. All of the Japanese-Americans in the Army at the time of Pearl Harbor were incorporated into this new unit, the 442 Regimental Combat Team (RCT). Many veterans of the 442nd RCT swore their overall commander was racist, sending them on suicide missions against positions that couldn't be taken with larger units. The 442nd received more medals than any other unit in US military history. Some survivors swear it's because they were kept in combat longer than white units.
In 1990, 60,000 survivors were paid $20,000 each after a protracted legal battle as compensation for their internment.
Japanese-American Internment in WWII Photographs Exhibit, Univ. Utah
Internment of Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps
Provides summaries, abstracts to cases and law review articles dealing with the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Also provides articles related to Japanese Pervuian internment in US concentration camps.Japanese American internment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Japanese American Internment
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A description of the Japanese American Internment camps during the second world warEvacuation and Internment of San Francisco Japanese - 1942
San Francisco news coverage of the internment of San Francisco Japanese during World War II.Japanese American Internment Experience On-Line Exhibit
Children of the Camps: the Japanese American WWII internment camp experience
The Children of the Camps documentary captures the experiences of six Americans of Japanese ancestry who were confined as children to internment camps by the U.S. government during World War II.
Milton Eisenhower Justifies the Internment of Japanese AmericansSmithsonian Education - Japanese American Internment
Smithsonian Institution lesson plans in History, Art, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies. Search for lesson plans by subject or grade. Smithsonian educational materials emphasize inquiry-based learning with primary sources and museum collections.ALIC - Japanese Relocation and Internment
Access to information on American history and government, archival administration, information management, and government documents to NARA staff, archives and records management professionals, and the general public.Exploring Japanese American Internment
Explore the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans through online video clips, text and photos.Life Interrupted
The Japanese American Experience in WWII ArkansasDensho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, digital archive of video oral histories of Japanese-Americans incarcerated or interned during World War II
Densho is a nonprofit organization started in 1996, with the initial goal of documenting oral histories from Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. This evolved into a mission to educate, preserve, collaborate and inspire action for equity. Densho uses digital technology to preserve and make accessible primary source materials on the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. We present these materials and related resources for their historic value and as a means of exploring issues of democracy, intolerance, wartime hysteria, civil rights and the responsibilities of citizenship in our increasingly global society. We encourage use of these resources to expand awareness of our country's diverse history, to stimulate critical thinking, to develop ethical decision-making skills, and to help ensure that democratic principles are upheld now and in the future.Why the Media Should Stop Paying Attention to the New Book that Defends Japanese Internment
Chronology of the Japanese American Internment
Masumi Hayashi Photography
Cleveland based artist/photographer Masumi Hayashi presents a large body of art work and research about the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during WWII by the US. Also contains information about the artist and other series of artwork.Dorothea Lange - Women Come to the Front (Library of Congress Exhibition)
Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers and Broadcasters of World War IIJapanese Canadian internment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Internment of German Americans in the United States during World War II
Internment, arrest, deportation, and exchange of German AmericansGerman American Internee Coalition
German American Internee Coalition (GAIC) was formed in 2005 by and for German American and Latin American citizens and legal residents who were interned by the United States during World War II.CNN - 'Secret' of WWII: Italian-Americans forced to move - September 21, 1997
Dear Miss Breed: Letters from Camp
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