Internment of Japanese Americans

Internment: the act of confinement, especially during wartime

Japanese Americans

Who were Japanese Americans?

Internment

The Japanese-American (Nisei) and the Japanese aliens (Issei) on the West Coast were rounded up and moved to assembly centers and then to internment camps. Few Japanese living in the East or Midwestern portions of the U.S., though, were treated the same way.

What is extremely interesting is that the Nisei and Issei living in Hawaii were not subject to a mass evacuation even though they formed a third of the population in Hawaii and were a lot closer to Japan than the Japanese-Americans on the West Coast of the U.S.

Too costly to bring JA to mainland, in addition, Hawaii’s economy would fail if the JA would leave

Japanese American neighborhoods

Pearl Harbor’s Impact on Japanese Americans

Events leading to Internment

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor Military Base in Hawaii

Rumors spread, fueled by prejudice, that Japanese Americans would sabotage the war effort in the US

February 19, 1942, FDR signed an Executive Order 9066 forcing all Japanese Americans to evacuate the West Coast

J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director, and Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR’s wife, were unsuccessful in privately persuading FER not to sign this order

Internment

Leaving their homes

Arriving at Camps

Fitness classes for children

Cold weather conditions

Although prejudice and discrimination played major roles in the internment, economics and jealousy did also, as many Californians were jealous of the economic success that the Japanese-American farmers and store owners enjoyed. Thus arose a lot of the anti-Japanese-American feeling in the same way that some people despise Jewish people, largely due to their economic successes. The hard work, self-sacrifice, and strong efforts by the Japanese-Americans and Jewish people are overlooked and ignored when people of prejudice proclaim their judgments against Japanese-Americans and Jewish people.

Civil Liberties Act 1988

Civil Liberties Act

On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. "The Act was passed by Congress to provide a Presidential apology and symbolic payment of $20,000 to the internees, evacuees, and persons of Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or property because of discriminatory action by the Federal government during World War II" (Department of Justice 1).

Civil Liberties Act 1988

What do you think?

Japanese Haiku

Haiku is one of the most important form of traditional Japanese poetry. Haiku is, today, a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Haiku-poems can describe almost anything, but you seldom find themes which are too complicated for normal PEOPLE's recognition and understanding. Some of the most thrilling Haiku-poems describe daily situations in a way that gives the reader a brand new experience of a well-known situation.

Haiku

Haiku

Haiku