Japanese Internment: The Imprisonment of United States Citizens
David Pelkey
History 1302: United States History II
April 30, 2023
The United States has several dark moments in history that they are not proud of. One of those dark moments is the apprehension and internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. This act alone many criticize as unfair and unjust. However, Japanese Americans endured negative treatment prior to, during, and after World War II without any valid justification other than fear. Fear and uncertainty contributed to the wrongful persecution of Japanese Americans by the United States during World War II resulting in one of the largest civil rights violations in American history. Negative
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Roosevelt made a pivotal decision that resulted in a generational impact to Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9042 authorizing the Secretary of War and Military Commanders to establish internment camps capable of housing residents of all ages. Though the order did not specify who was being detained at these facilities, it could be easily assumed it was for Japanese Americans. Camps were established inland away from the pacific coast and in mountainous and desert terrains. The Secretary of War established 10 internment camps: Tuli Lake (California), Manzanar (California), Amache (Colorado), Minidoka (Idaho), Heart Mountain (Wyoming), Topaz (Utah), Rohwer (Arkansas), Jerome Arkansas), Gila River (Arizona), and Poston (Arizona). Once the camps were created, Japanese Americans were given minimal time to grab what was allowed and report for processing into one of the camps. Many rode trains to processing centers marking these rides as the last piece of freedom they would experience for the duration of the …show more content…
The Evacuation Claims Act of 1948 paid 10 cents on the dollar to families as a result to internment. The United States thought this gesture would erase their actions however, money does not replace a home, personal belongings, and time that was lost due to internment. Japanese Americans engaged in a series of legal battles spanning over the next 40 years fighting for reparations and a formal apology. Finally, in 1988 the Civil Liberties Act was passed by President Reagan issuing internment camp survivors a formal apology, $20,000 in reparations, and a public education fund. Though most first generation Japanese Americans were not alive to see the result, their families were rewarded with a formal apology which was worth more than any monetary compensation. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is an embarrassing moment in United States history. Fear contributed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the federal government’s unlawful detainment of American citizens without proper cause and justification. The United States failed to take full responsibility and accountability for the illegal detainment of American citizens. These actions impacted several generations of Japanese Americans through the internment, postwar, and redress
The U.S. becomes hysterical and is blinded by racial prejudice; they order anyone with Japanese descent into internment camps. This created a time of pain and shock for the Japanese Americans who had done nothing wrong. Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II by Martin W. Sandler highlights the shock and fear this ethnic group faced while teaching older audiences not to discriminate through the in depth examples of the Japanese Americans and the internment camps in World War II. The first lesson Sandler teaches is to not judge a person by their skin or race.
Inequitable Incarceration The months before and during WW1 in America were a dark and gloomy period for the Japanese-American citizens. Many Japanese-Americans have shared their story of the internment camps during WW1 and Jerry Stanley, a victim of the camps noted, “I am proud that I am an American citizen of Japanese ancestry, for my very background makes me appreciate more fully the wonderful advantages of this nation.” (Stanley 3). Stanley was a proud american and appreciated the freedoms he had.
Succumbing to bad advice and popular opinion, President Roosevelt signed an executive order in February 1942 ordering the relocation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry to concentration camps in the interior of the United States. The fear of the Japanese was tangible. Many believed, whether or not they were born here, that all Japanese were spies or they were going to do some kind of harm to the U.S. The Japanese were rounded up everywhere and put into internment camps. These places were almost as bad as the concentration camps in Germany. Ten camps were completed in the Midwest.
President Roosevelt put Japanese internment into place in the February after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Titled as the Executive Order 9066 This order directly affected more than 110,000 Japanese men women and children based in the U.S., two-thirds of which were American citizens Japanese based in Hawaii however are exempted from this because the Japanese made up nearly 40% of the population and the economy would suffer too greatly if all had been imprisoned. Back in the states, especially out west in California, several Japanese families owned large farms and when the executive order is established these farms are essentially lost except for those that are bought from the central government
“Although the Japanese-Americans staying in these camps tried their best to maintain the semblance of a normal life... family life suffered a blow,” Jane McGrath writes. The article “Did the United States Put Its Own Citizens in Concentration Camps During WWII?” informs it’s audience about the internment camps the United States build and gives us facts about why and how bad they
During World war 2 the jewish people were not the only ones kept in camps. Soon after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed the executive order 9066. Which had forced the Japanese Americans to relocate regardless of their citizenships or whether they were born in the U.S. In world war 2 the Japanese americans were sent to concentration camps. In the course in the concentration camps they were treated as if they were prisoners without any freedom and respect. The Japanese Americans were civil people who had gotten sent into those camps without any reason.
We do not forgive easily. After World War II, our fear and resentment of Japan was strong in our hearts, as approximately 106,207 Americans were murdered and 248,316 Americans were wounded or declared missing by the hands of the Japanese. Even after the dust settled between our people, America never forgave Japan for their stubborn refusal to surrender and needless desire to drag on the war in hopes of negotiable bargains that would profit the cities of Japan. With Japanese American citizens in the heart of our country, President Roosevelt, clouded with war hysteria and racial discrimination against those with Japanese ancestry, he ordered Executive Order 9066 which resulted in the internment of Japanese American citizens. Many Americans felt that this order would protect America from Japanese espionage and attacks on our nation, but the Executive Order 9066 ushered an unjust wave of misinformation and insinuations to develop in
Japanese Interment Camps The Japanese internment camps were areas designed to send Japanese-American citizens during World War II. Since Japan was at war with the United States, many people feared Japanese spies. Because of this on February 19, 1942, President, Theodore Roosevelt decided to issue executive order 9066. This caused anyone with Japanese heritage to be moved inland into internment camps if they lived along the west coast. The Japanese internment camps were unjustified despite preventing some hate crimes against the Japanese by isolating them.
Internternment camps included Minidoka, Idaho; Manzanar, California; Topaz, Utah; Jerome, Arkansas; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Poston, Arizona; Granada, Colorado; and Rohwer, Arkansas and the Tule lake camp which held dissents. The camps were made like barracks and contained 4-5 families. In the camps families had to share common facilities, restrooms, and had limited opportunities for work which interrupted other social and cultural patterns. As the war ended the camps were slowly evacuated. (Japanese-American Incarceration During World War
Jayna Marie Lorenzo May 23, 2023 Historiography Paper Professor Kevin Murphy Historiography Final: Japanese Internment “A date which will live in infamy,” announced President Roosevelt during a press conference after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Due to the military threat by the Japanese on the West Coast, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering for the incarceration of all people of Japanese descent. The Order forced about 120,000 Japanese Americans into relocation centers across the United States where they remained in captivity until the war ended.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Internment Camps were built during World War Two. The internment began in early 1942 and lasted until the war's end in 1945. Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned in internment camps by the United States government during WWII. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which caused widespread fear and discrimination against Japanese Americans, several camps were built. Even though the fact that a large percentage of Japanese Americans were US citizens and presented no threat to national security, the US administration justified internment as a necessary action to prevent spies and sabotage by Japanese Americans.
Japanese Internment in the U.S. Sophia Shashurin Mr. Henderson U.S. History March 20, 2023 Living as a Japanese-American in the 1940s became jeopardized, with countless acts of threats and discrimination included in everyday life. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Japanese-Americans lived as farmers, making money off of crops and their land, but after Pearl Harbor, numerous families were faced with poverty, as well as selling all land and property to be forced into internment camps set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Families had to sell their belongings for quick cash, all due to the suspicion of remaining loyal to a country they fled.
With little hesitation despite the conditions, Japanese Americans complied. Toyo Suyemoto Kawakami, a Japanese American forced to relocate, recalls how the rooms inside the camps had “no furniture, unfinished walls, and ceilings,[and] a two-inch layer of fine dust…”(Grapes, 2001). The camps were not suitable for living. In the summer, the temperatures were suffocating and in the winter the temperatures dropped below freezing. There was no privacy as many families lived together in one unit.
The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was not justified. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were scared of the Japanese Americans because they could sabotage the U.S. military. To try and solve the fear President Franklin D Roosevelt told the army in Executive order 9066 to relocate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They were relocated to detention centers in the desert. Many of them were in the detention centers for three years.
How would you feel if one day you were told to leave your whole life behind to live in captivity just because people halfway across the world did something wrong? This horror story was all too true for the thousands of Japanese Americans alive during World War II. Almost overnight, thousands of proud Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced to leave their homes and give up the life they knew. The United States government was not justified in the creation of Japanese internment camps because it stripped law-abiding American citizens of their rights out of unjustified fear.