December 7 1941 The attack on Pearl Harbor

February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 which allows military authorities to exclude any-one from anywhere without trial or hearings, setting the stage for forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans.

February 27, 1942 Idaho Governor Chase Clark tells a congressional committee in Seattle that Japanese would be welcome in Idaho only if they were in "concentration camps under military guard." Some credit Clark with the conception of what was to become a true scenario.

March 24, 1942 The first Civilian Exclusion Order issued by the Army is issued for the Bainbridge Island area near Seattle. The forty-five families there are given one week to prepare. By the end of October, 108 exclusion orders would be issued, and all Japanese Americans in Military Area No. 1 and the California portion of No. 2 would be incarcerated.

May 8, 1942 The first "volunteers" from Imperial Valley, CA arrive at the Colorado River or Poston camp. In the next three weeks, 7,450 inmates would arrive.

May 13, 1942 Forty-five year old Ichiro Shimoda, a Los Angeles gardener, is shot to death by guards while tying to escape from Fort Still Oklahoma enemy internment camp. The victim was seriously mentally ill, having tried suicide twice since being picked up on December 7. He is shot despite the guards' knowledge of his mental state.

June 1942 The movie "Little Tokyo, U.S.A." is released by Twentieth Century Fox. In it, the Japanese American community is portrayed as a "vast army of volunteer spies" and "blind worshipers of the Emperor," as described in the film's voice-over prologue.

August 4, 1942 A routine search for contraband at the Santa Anita "Assembly Center" turns into a "riot." Eager military personnel had become overzealous and abusive which, along with the failure of several attempts to reach the camp's internal security chief, triggers mass unrest, crowd formation, and the harassing of the searchers. Military police with tanks and machine guns quickly end the incident. The "overzealous" military personnel are later replaced.

Student Reading

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans of Japanese ancestry were alleged to be a threat to military security. However, these Americans had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, and there were no acts of espionage or sabotage ever uncovered then or since. Two-thirds of those incarcerated were American citizens by birth, their parents, not allowed to become citizens, had lived as permanent US residents for the previous 20-40 years. In 1982, a committee appointed by the US Congress concluded that the incarceration was carried out without adequate reasons of security, and was motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a failure of political leadership.

When they were forced from their homes, Japanese Americans were told that they could bring only what they could carry. Some abandoned their property, many hurriedly sold possessions at great losses, a few were able to find non-Japanese American friends to care for their houses and businesses during the war. The financial losses were incalculable.

Executive order No. 9066 was the official US Government document legalizing the forced internment of Japanese Americans. See page 10 for a partial text of the actual document.

1. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a horrifying event for many Americans. How did this contribute to US anti-Asian sentiment Is the US reaction justified? Why or why not.
2. Japanese Americans relocated into internment camps were often referred to as "volunteers." Was this an accurate description? Why or why not.
3. Considering no evidence of espionage or sabotage by Japanese Americans was ever discovered, what do you think were the "real"reasons for their forced detention?
4. Executive Order 9066 legalized forced internment during WWII. What rights did this order take away from Japanese American citizens?
5. Besides personal liberties, i.e., freedom, what else did the Japanese Americans lose when they were forced into camps?
6. After arriving in the camps, were Japanese Americans treated fairly?
7. Contact a Japanese American who was forced into an internment camp and interview that person. You might want to ask how the experience affected him or her, how the experience affected that person's view of the US, and his or her own identity as a US citizen. You might want to ask about the conditions in the camps, or about the person's life before and after the internment experience.

Unit I: World War II Incarceration: A Chronological History

1. US Anti-Asian Sentiment
2. Relocation and Internment
3. Concentration Camps
4. Reparations

Unit II: Multiculturalism
Unit III: American Pluralistic Society