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\nThe Truth about Japanese Internment Camps\n

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\n\nPublisher:\n\nReading Through History\n\n\n
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\nTeachers, get our A Diverse War unit here *** Like our Facebook page Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Check out our TpT store Check out our website Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is...\nTeachers, get our A Diverse War unit here *** Like our Facebook page Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Check out our TpT store Check out our website Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. *** When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, there were 120,000 Japanese Americans in the United States. The majority of them were citizens of the United States who lived along the West Coast. The surprise attack by Imperial Japan caused widespread fear that an invasion of the US might happen, and frightened Americans believed that sleeper cells and saboteurs could be hidden amongst the Japanese American population. Rumors spread of Japanese collaborators mining harbors and poisoning food and water supplies. In the weeks following the attack, the federal government seized many Japanese–owned businesses, closed Japanese language schools, and ordered many “enemy aliens” to turn over cameras, radios, and weapons. Many Japanese Americans and their businesses also fell victim to assaults and destruction in the post-Pearl Harbor hysteria. Along the West Coast, the U.S. Attorney General established curfews in military zones and other areas marked as essential to national security. Strict orders also forbade \"enemy aliens\" from traveling outside of a five-mile radius around their homes. However, these measures did very little to squelch the public fears or the wave of anti-Japanese prejudice sweeping the country. Calls went out for the government to do more. In Hawaii, where the attack had occurred, Japanese Americans constituted 37% of the territory’s population. Efforts to relocate or detain the islands’ ethnic Japanese inhabitants were resisted by the military governor on the grounds of impracticality and the fact that it would ruin the territory’s economy. A total of 1,444 people were confined in Hawaii. The mainland, however, would prove to have an entirely different outcome. In California, Japanese Americans made up 1% of the state’s population, but newspapers and paranoia kept the public in a frenzy. President Franklin Roosevelt responded by issuing Executive Order 9066, requiring the removal of people of Japanese descent from California, as well as parts of Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. In the weeks that followed, around 110,000 Japanese Americans were loaded onto buses and shipped to “relocation centers” in seven different states. The camps were hastily built, and initially, living conditions were miserable. The interned faced crowded camps, illnesses, poor food, insufficient clothing, sandstorms, foul toilets, and lack of privacy. Even worse than the poor conditions was the loss of dignity and basic rights. Around two-thirds of those interned were Nisei, a name given to American-born Japanese. Thousands of these Nisei had even volunteered to serve in the US Armed Forces. Aside from losing their freedom, most families also lost property and businesses as well. Facing the fear of expulsion, families were forced to sell homes and businesses for a fraction of their actual value. In total, losses of property and forgone earnings surpassed $400 million. No evidence of planned subversion was ever found, and no specific charges were brought against the Japanese American population. Legal actions were taken, both in Congress and in the US court system, on behalf of the interned population, but the initial results did not end the confinement. The wartime Supreme Court ruled in Korematsu v. United States that the internment camps were justified on the basis of “military necessity.” In the majority opinion, Justice Hugo Black wrote that the restrictions on the Japanese American population were not “group punishment based on antagonism to those of Japanese origin.” Therefore, the Court declared, the internment camps were constitutional. In December of 1944, the Supreme Court issued two more decisions concerning internment. The Court stated once again that removal from the West Coast was constitutional but that the confinement of loyal US citizens was not, thus paving the way for the release of citizens who took a loyalty oath. Upon their release, Japanese Americans continued to face a life of uncertainty. Many had no home to return to, and nearly all continued to face harsh discrimination until well after the war’s conclusion.\n
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Grade
6th - 11th
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All Subjects
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Media Type
Instructional Videos
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Source:
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Date
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2018
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For Teacher Use
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