Japanese Internment - mr. flohr's world history class · 2020. 3. 21. · Japanese Internment Unit...

Japanese Internment

Unit Question: What was the American response to Japanese Internment?

BACKGROUND NARRATIVE: HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL

Imagine your family was given six days’ notice to pack all of your belongings and move to an

unknown place. You are only allowed to take what you can carry. Everything else must be sold

and left behind. For five days you watch your parents sell all your things. Some buyers offer a

fair price, but many take advantage and buy your family’s effects at a fraction of their worth.

You’re forced to take your clothes and other necessities instead of your prized possessions. You

give your favorite games to your best friend and say goodbye. She is acting strangely. You know

she is sad, but also seems confused and withdrawn. You wonder what she has been hearing on

the radio and from other people.

You watch your neighbors, who you

once considered friends, turn their backs

and ignore your troubles. Some of them

even call you names and shout at you

from across the street. Many seem

sympathetic, but do nothing but look at

you with pity. You load your few

suitcases into your neighbor’s van. He

doesn’t know what to say, but at least

he’s there to support you in his own way.

The drive is silent until you approach the

government holding area. Then your

neighbor and your parents break down in

tears as the neighbor promises to take

care of your pets and fight for your quick

return.

This scenario was reality for Japanese Americans in the spring of 1942. The American

government cleared the West Coast of Japanese families and moved them into internment camps.

The question we will be exploring asks how people who saw this happening reacted.

Background

Few Japanese lived on the American mainland before they began immigrating in large numbers

in the late 1800’s. In Japan, industrialization pushed farmers off their land. Many of the

dispossessed moved to America seeking new opportunities. American businessmen were

looking for cheap labor to build the railroads and work long hours in the fields. The Chinese had

met this need, but in 1882, their immigration was suspended by the Chinese Exclusion Act. The

Japanese quickly took their place. In 1890 the census counted 2,039 Japanese in the U.S. Two

decades later there were more than 72,000, including 40,000 in agriculture, 10,000 railroad

workers, and 4,000 cannery laborers.1

The first wave of Japanese immigrants were young men, ready to work. Most of these men

planned to make their fortune and go back to Japan. But this shifted in the early 1900’s, when

many decided life in America was better than Japan, even with the prejudices. The young men

began settling down and starting families. Many Japanese Americans rented or leased land and

were incredibly successful at yielding large amounts of fruits and vegetables on small plots of

land. They frequented Japanese businesses that began to cluster in pockets in west coast cities.

Japanese Americans rarely had to look outside of their own ethnic group for anything, including

marriage.

At least part of this ethnocentrism was a result of prejudice. As the Empire of Japan gained

power in the Pacific, Japanese Americans gained success and influence in their new country, and

many whites resented them. The tradition of discriminating against Asians that began with the

Chinese continued with the Japanese, as state and federal governments passed laws limiting their

rights. These laws banned Japanese immigrants, or Issei, from owning land and restricted their

leases. It was nearly impossible for Japanese Americans to get professional jobs in businesses

outside their community. Ineligible for citizenship themselves, the Issei focused their hopes on

their children. This first generation of Japanese born in America, or Nisei, embraced both their

cultural background and their adopted country. Both generations focused on hard work and

education as the keys to success. But often even that wasn’t enough, and many educated Nisei

could not find jobs in the areas in which they studied. Still, the Nisei continued to accept many of

the American ways while blending them with their ethnic traditions and identities.

World War II

World War II brought more problems for Japanese Americans. The war first involved European

nations, when Germany invaded Poland, leading France and Britain to declare war. Other

countries began to choose sides, forming opposing coalitions known as the Axis (Germany, Italy

and Japan) and Allies (Poland, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union). The United States chose

not to get directly involved, instead continuing

the policy of isolationism it had adopted early

in its history. Most Americans believed this

was a European conflict and did not see the

need for the U.S. to get embroiled. That all

changed on December 7, 1941.

That morning, the Japanese launched a surprise

air attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Much of

the U.S. Pacific Fleet was stationed there, and

the Japanese Empire did not want the fleet

interfering in their plans to conquer European

colonies in Southeast Asia. The attack was

indeed a surprise, causing many U.S. losses.

Four navy battle ships were sunk and another

four damaged. The Japanese also sunk or damaged smaller ships and aircraft. In total, about half

of the pacific Fleet was damaged or destroyed. The human costs were also severe, with 2,402

men killed and 1,282 wounded.2

The devastation shocked and outraged Americans.

The attack on Pearl Harbor struck fear into the hearts of many Americans who suddenly came to

view the Japanese American presence in their country as a threat to national security. A day

after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The

resolution was approved, with only one representative voting against it.3 On the west coast,

particularly, many citizens believed the Issei and Nissei were loyal to Japan. Large numbers of

Japanese Americans on the coast combined with traditional prejudices led to cries for action.

People worried that a Japanese “5th

column”* could seemingly strike at any time. President

Roosevelt suddenly had a decision to make about what to do with the thousands of Japanese

Americans living in the United States.

The Decision to Intern

In the days immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor the FBI arrested approximately

1,200 Japanese aliens within the United States, and President Roosevelt came under increasing

political and public pressure to do something about the Japanese population in California. Fiery

newspaper columnist Westbrook Pegler wrote that “The Japanese in California should be under

armed guard to the last man and woman right now, and to hell with habeas corpus until the

danger is over.”4 Walter Lippman, another prominent newspaper columnist joined Peggler in his

cries, claiming “Nobody’s constitutional rights include the right to reside and do business on a

battlefield.”5 Columnist Henry McLemore took it a step further, declaring:

"I am for the immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in

the interior. I don't mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd 'em up, pack 'em off and

give 'em the inside room in the badlands... Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes

for all of them."6

As the days continued, more and more newspaper columnists would join Peggler and Lippman in

their cries for action, stoking public fear and creating a frenzied and anxious state among the

general population calling for Roosevelt to take action against the Japanese.

In addition to the pressure from newspaper columnists and the public at large, Roosevelt also

faced mounting political pressure from Congressmen. Senator Harly Kilgor wrote to Roosevelt

on the 19th

of February urging him to put the Japanese, “under military law, permitting their

removal, regardless of their citizenship rights, to internal and less dangerous areas.” 7 As

pressure from politicians grew Roosevelt also encountered military advisers who recommended

the exclusion of persons of foreign descent, including American citizens, from sensitive areas of

the country. Military General John L. De Witt was the most prominent and forceful among them

saying,

* The Japanese 5

th column was a term used to describe the common perception that there was a large group of

Japanese forces who were loyal to Japan but lived in the United States and could rise up at any moment.

I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese ancestry] here. They are a dangerous

element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is

an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily

determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped

off the map.8

In the weeks leading up to the decision to intern, Roosevelt faced a terrified public and a forceful

and vocal group of politicians, military advisors and newspaper columnists all crying for him to

intern Japanese Americans.

There were however, those who urged the president to exercise restraint and argued that

internment was unconstitutional. Attorney General Francis Biddle repeatedly pressed the

president not to carry out an internment order. In the weeks after Pearl Harbor, Biddle chided

the newspaper columnists for stoking public anger while at the same time warning Roosevelt not

to bend to pressure from Congress and the hysteria being created by outspoken columnists.9

Biddle was joined in his attempts to steer the president away from internment by his assistant

James R. Howe, who denounced the proposal to intern Japanese Americans as unconstitutional,

and believed that it was being forced on the administration by irrational public fear. 10

As you can see, the decision

to intern was certainly not

an easy one. However,

despite the protests of the

Justice department, on

February 19, 1942, President

Roosevelt caved in to

political and public pressure

and signed into law

Executive Order 9066

granting the War

Department broad powers to

create military exclusion

areas. By 1943, more than

110,000 Japanese

Americans had been forced

from their homes and moved

to camps in remote inland

areas of the United States.

Today, the decision to intern Japanese Americans is widely viewed by historians and legal

scholars as a grave mistake. In fact, no Japanese were ever convicted of espionage or sabotage.

In 1988, the US congress passed legislation which officially apologized for the internment on

behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation said that government actions were based on "race

prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership".11

The U.S. government eventually

disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned

and their heirs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparation_(legal)

Citations

1 Takaki, Robert. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. New York:

Penguin, 1989. 2 Full Pearl Harbor Casualty List, available at http://www.usswestvirginia.org/ph/phlist.php

3 One Vote Against War With Japan. Ask the Editors. Infoplease, June 21, 2011

http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/one-vote-against-war-japan.html. 4 Peggler, Westbrook. “The Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1942

5 Lippman, Walter. American Columnist February 1942

6 Neiwert, David. The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right. 2009,

page 195 7

Sen. Harley M. Kilgore. Letter to President Roosevelt, February 19, 1942: 8 Mullen, Fred. "DeWitt Attitude on Japs Upsets Plans," Watsonville Register-Pajaronian,

April 16, 1943. p.1 9 Memorandum to the President from Attorney General Francis Biddle, February 17, 1942

10 Memorandum from James H. Rowe, Jr. to Grace Tully, February 2, 1942

11 100th Congress, S. 1009

Photo Credits:

Japanese Internment Order, http://www.dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/order-

posting.gif.

Attack on Pearl Harbor, http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/ww2-pix/pearl.jpg

Japanese Internment Camps Map,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/4/4b/20100301145638!Map_of_World

_War_II_Japanese_American_internment_camps.jpg

http://www.usswestvirginia.org/ph/phlist.php

http://www.dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/order-posting.gif


http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/ww2-pix/pearl.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/4/4b/20100301145638!Map_of_World_War_II_Japanese_American_internment_camps.jpg


BACKGROUND NARRATIVE: MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL

Unit Question: What was the American response to Japanese American internment?

Imagine your family was given six days’ notice to pack all of your belongings and move to an

unknown place. You are only allowed to take what you can carry. Everything else must be sold

and left behind. For five days you watch your parents sell all your things. Some buyers offer a

fair price, but many take advantage and buy your family’s effects at a fraction of their worth.

You’re forced to take your clothes and other items you need instead of what you want. You give

your favorite games to your best friend and say goodbye. She is acting odd. You know she is sad,

but she also seems confused and quiet. You wonder what she has been hearing on the radio and

from other people.

You watch your neighbors, who you

used to think were friends, turn their

backs and ignore your troubles. Some

of them even call you names and shout

at you from across the street. Many

seem concerned, but do nothing but

look at you with pity. You load your

few suitcases into your neighbor’s van.

He doesn’t know what to say, but at

least he’s there to support you in his

own way. The drive is silent until you

approach the government holding area.

Then your neighbor and your parents

break down in tears as the neighbor

promises to take care of your pets and

fight for your quick return.

This scene was real for Japanese Americans in the spring of 1942. The American government

cleared the West Coast of Japanese families and moved them into internment camps – camps

were prisoners of war were forced to live. The question we will be exploring asks how people

who saw this happening reacted.

Background

Few Japanese lived on the North American continent before the late 1800’s. Then, as Japanese

industry grew, it drove farmers from their land. Many of the homeless moved to America

looking for new chances to succeed. American businessmen were looking for cheap labor to

build the railroads and work long hours in the fields. The Chinese had been doing this, but in

1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act stopped them from moving to America. The Japanese quickly

took their place. In 1890 the census counted 2,039 Japanese in the U.S. Twenty years later there

were more than 72,000, including 40,000 in farming, 10,000 railroad workers, and 4,000 cannery

workers.1

The first group of Japanese moving to America were young men, ready to work. Most of these

men planned to get rich then go back to Japan. But this changed in the early 1900’s, when many

settled down and started families. Many Japanese Americans rented or leased property and were

incredibly successful at growing large amounts of fruits and vegetables on small pieces of land.

They used Japanese businesses that began to bunch up in areas of west coast cities. Japanese

Americans rarely had to look outside of their own ethnic group for anything, including marriage.

At least part of this ethnocentrism was a result of prejudice. As the Empire of Japan gained

power in the Pacific, Japanese Americans gained success and power in their new country, and

many whites disliked them. The tradition of discriminating against Asians that began with the

Chinese continued with the Japanese, as state and national governments passed laws limiting

their rights. These laws banned Japanese immigrants, or Issei, from owning or renting land. It

was almost impossible for Japanese Americans to get skilled jobs in businesses outside their

community. The Issei were forbidden from citizenship themselves, so they focused their hopes

on their children. This first generation of Japanese born in America, or Nisei, appreciated both

their cultural background and their adopted country. Both generations focused on hard work and

education as the keys to success. But often even that wasn’t enough, and many educated Nisei

could not find jobs in the areas in which they studied. Still, the Nisei continued to accept many of

the American ways while mixing them with their ethnic traditions and identities.

World War II

World War II brought more problems for Japanese Americans. The war first involved European

nations, when Germany invaded Poland, leading France and Britain to declare war. Other

countries began to choose sides, forming opposing groups known as the Axis (Germany, Italy

and Japan) and Allies (Poland, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union). The United States chose

not to get involved, instead continuing the policy of isolationism it had adopted early in its

history. Most Americans believed this was a European conflict and did not see a reason for the

U.S. to get involved. That all changed on December 7, 1941.

That morning, the Japanese launched a surprise air

attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Much of the U.S.

Pacific Fleet was based there, and the Japanese

Empire did not want the fleet interfering in their

plans to take over European colonies in Southeast

Asia. The attack was truly a surprise, causing many

U.S. losses. Four navy battle ships were sunk and

another four damaged. The Japanese also sunk or

damaged smaller ships and aircraft. The human

costs were severe as well, with 2,402 men killed

and 1,282 wounded.2

The destruction shocked and

outraged Americans.

The attack on Pearl Harbor scared many Americans. They suddenly came to see the Japanese

Americans living in their country as a threat to national safety. A day after the attack, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The request was approved, with

only one representative voting against it.3 On the west coast particularly, many citizens believed

the Issei and Nissei were loyal to Japan. Large numbers of Japanese Americans on the coast

combined with traditional prejudices led to cries for action. People worried that a Japanese “5th

column”* could strike at any time. President Roosevelt suddenly had a decision to make about

what to do with the thousands of Japanese Americans living in the United States.

The Decision to Intern

In the days right after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI arrested approximately 1,200 Japanese

aliens within the United States, and President Roosevelt came under increasing pressure to do

something about the Japanese population in California. Fiery newspaper columnist Westbrook

Pegler wrote that “The Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the last man and

woman right now… until the danger is over.”4 Walter Lippman, another famous newspaper

columnist joined Peggler, claiming “Nobody’s constitutional rights include the right to reside

and do business on a battlefield.”5 Columnist Henry McLemore took it a step further, saying:

"I am for the immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in

the interior. I don't mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd 'em up, pack 'em off and

give 'em the inside room in the badlands... Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes

for all of them."6

As the days continued, more and more newspaper columnists would join Peggler and Lippman.

This stirred up public fear and created a wild and anxious feeling among the people. So the

people called for Roosevelt to take action against the Japanese.

In addition to the pressure from newspaper columnists and the public at large, Roosevelt also

faced growing political pressure from Congressmen. Senator Harly Kilgor wrote to Roosevelt on

the 19th

of February urging him to put the Japanese, “under military law, permitting their

removal, regardless of their citizenship rights, to internal and less dangerous areas.” 7 As

pressure from politicians grew Roosevelt also came across military advisers who recommended

the exclusion of persons of foreign ancestry from sensitive areas of the country. This included

Japanese American who had become citizens! Military General John L. De Witt was the most

well-known and forceful among them saying,

I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese ancestry] here. They are a dangerous

element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is

an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily

determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped

off the map.8

In the weeks leading up to the decision to intern, Roosevelt faced a terrified public and a strong

and vocal group of politicians, military advisors and newspaper columnists all crying for him to

intern Japanese Americans.

* The Japanese 5

th column was a word used to describe the common belief that there was a large group of Japanese

forces who were loyal to Japan but lived in the United States and could rise up at any moment.

There were also those who urged the president to use restraint and argued that internment was

unconstitutional. Attorney General Francis Biddle many times told the president not to intern the

Japanese. In the weeks after Pearl Harbor Biddle blamed the newspaper columnists for

encouraging public anger and at the same time warning Roosevelt not to give in to pressure from

Congress and the panic being created by outspoken columnists. 9

James R. Howe, Biddle’s

assistant, also criticized the plan to intern Japanese Americans as unconstitutional, and believed

that it was being forced on the administration by unreasonable public fear. 10

As you can see, the decision to

intern was certainly not an

easy one. However, despite

the complaints of the Justice

department, on February 19,

1942, President Roosevelt

gave in to political and public

pressure and signed the bill.

Executive Order 9066 gave

the War Department the power

to create military exclusion

areas, or places where

Japanese would not be

allowed to live. By 1943, more

than 110,000 Japanese

Americans had been forced

from their homes and moved

to camps in far-off inland

areas of the United States.

Today, the decision to intern

Japanese Americans is usually seen by historians and legal scholars as a serious mistake. In fact,

no Japanese were convicted of spying or sabotage (intentional damage to important work or

property). In 1988, the US congress passed laws which officially apologized for the internment

on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation said that government actions were based on

"race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". 11

The U.S. government

eventually gave more than $1.6 billion to pay back Japanese Americans who had been interned

or their surviving family members.

Citations

1 Takaki, Robert. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. New York:

Penguin, 1989. 2 Full Pearl Harbor Casualty List, available at http://www.usswestvirginia.org/ph/phlist.php

3 One Vote Against War With Japan. Ask the Editors. Infoplease, June 21, 2011

http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/one-vote-against-war-japan.html. 4 Peggler, Westbrook. “The Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1942

5 Lippman, Walter. American Columnist February 1942

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_States

http://www.usswestvirginia.org/ph/phlist.php

6 Neiwert, David. The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right. 2009,

page 195 7

Sen. Harley M. Kilgore. Letter to President Roosevelt, February 19, 1942: 8 Mullen, Fred. "DeWitt Attitude on Japs Upsets Plans," Watsonville Register-Pajaronian,

April 16, 1943. p.1 9 Memorandum to the President from Attorney General Francis Biddle, February 17, 1942

10 Memorandum from James H. Rowe, Jr. to Grace Tully, February 2, 1942

11 100th Congress, S. 1009

Photo Credits:

Japanese Internment Order, http://www.dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/order-

posting.gif.

Attack on Pearl Harbor, http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/ww2-pix/pearl.jpg

Japanese Internment Camps Map,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/4/4b/20100301145638!Map_of_World

_War_II_Japanese_American_internment_camps.jpg



http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/ww2-pix/pearl.jpg



JAPANESE INTERNMENT DBQ LESSON

Subject: U.S. History

Topic: Japanese Internment

Appropriate Grade Level(s): 10-12th

Oregon Social Studies State Standards:

SS.HS.HS.02 Compare and contrast institutions and ideas in history, noting cause and

effect relationships.

SS.HS.HS.04 Understand how contemporary perspectives affect historical interpretation.

SS.HS.SA.01 Define, research, and explain an event, issue, problem, or phenomenon and

its significance to society.

SS.HS.SA.02 Gather, analyze, use, and document information from various sources,

distinguishing facts, opinions, inferences, biases, stereotypes, and persuasive appeals.

SS.HS.SA.03 Understand what it means to be a critical consumer of information.

SS.HS.SA.04 Analyze an event, issue, problem, or phenomenon from varied or opposed

perspectives or points of view.

Goal: The student will evaluate and explain the decision to intern Japanese Americans during

the war. Students will analyze bias and perspective through letters, cartoon propaganda, and

poetry to create an essay explaining the decision to intern from the perspective of the general

public.

Lesson Objective:

Analyze documents for bias.

Write an essay using provided documents to support their response.

List of materials: Letters, cartoon, pictures, and poetry.

Activities:

Review the SOAPS technique of analyzing documents.

Use the SOAPS technique to analyze all the documents.

Write a short essay explaining the public perception of the decision to intern.

Scaffolding:

As a class you can go over the documents to ensure understanding.

Students can be paired weaker and stronger together to analyze documents.

Small groups can analyze documents separately and then meet to discuss the conclusions

they reached.

Evaluation:

Students can hold up their SOAPS forms or the teacher can go around and check them off

to make sure students filled them out.

The teacher can do a thumbs up/thumbs down to check for understanding of each of the

documents.

Evaluation of the final written product including appropriate usage of the documents.

NAME ___________________________________

Analyze each of the accompanying documents using the SOAPS technique and write your answers on the SOAPS sheet.

Using a minimum of seven of the documents and any background knowledge you have please write a one page essay addressing the following question: How did the general public perceive the need for Japanese Internment and how was that perception affected by media and other influences?

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SOAPS Questions to

Ask Responses

Subject

What is the topic?

What information does it contain?

What is included, what is left out?

What is the source of the information?

How accurate or reliable to you think the information is?

Occasion

When and where? What is important about the time and

place?

Audience Who is the target of

the information or the message?

Purpose

What point is trying to be made? What is trying to be proven?

Why was this created?

Speaker

Who made this?

Is the “author” credible (or biased)?

DOCUMENT A

DOCUMENT B

DOCUMENT C

Their Best Way to Show Loyalty

An Editorial

Japanese leaders in California who are counseling their people, both aliens and native-born, to co-operate

with the Army in carrying out the evacuation plans are, in effect, offering the best possible way for all

Japanese to demonstrate their loyalty to the United States.

Many aliens and practically all the native-born have been protesting their allegiance to this Government.

Although their removal to inland districts outside the military zones may inconvenience them somewhat, even work serious hardships upon some, they must certainly recognize the necessity of clearing the

coastal combat areas of all possible fifth columnists and saboteurs. Inasmuch as the presence of enemy agents cannot be detected readily when these areas are thronged by Japanese the only course left is to

remove all persons of that race for the duration of the war.

That is a clear-cut policy easily understood. Its execution should be supported by all citizens of whatever

racial background, but especially it presents an opportunity to the people of an enemy race to prove their spirit of co-operation and keep their relations with the rest of the population of this country on the firm

ground of friendship.

Every indication has been given that the transfer will be made with the least possible hardship. General

DeWitt’s order was issued in such a way as to give those who can make private moving arrangements plenty of time to do so. All others will not be moved until arrangements can be made for places for them

to go. They may have to be housed in temporary quarters until permanent ones can be provided for

them, but during the summer months that does not mean they will be unduly uncomfortable.

Their property will be carefully protected by the Federal Government, their food and shelter will be provided to the extent they are not able to provide it for themselves, and they will be furnished plenty of

entertainment and recreation. That is not according to the pattern of the European concentration camp

by any means.

Real danger would exist for all Japanese if they remained in the combat area. The least act of sabotage might provoke angry reprisals that easily could balloon into bloody race riots.

We must avoid any chance of that sort of thing. The most sensible, the most humane way to insure against it is to move the Japanese out of harm’s way and make it as easy as possible for them to go and

to remain away until the war is over.

The San Francisco News

March 6, 1942

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/editorial4.html

DOCUMENT D

DOCUMENT E

322-14-d

Poston, Arizona

November 16, 1942

Dear Miss Breed,

Guess who? Yup it's ole unreliable again, none other than yours truly, Tetsuzo. Gosh the wind's been

blowing all night and all morning. Kinda threatening to blow the roofs down. Dust is all over the place.

Gives everything a coating of fine dust.

The food has been all right except for quantity...The medical situation here is pitiful. For that matter in

all three camps. The main and the only hospital is at Camp I 15 miles away. Here in Camp III there is one

young doctor with not too much experience and one student doctor working in an emergency clinic.

They are supposed to take care of approximately 5000 people!!!! and they (the Big shots) wonder why

we squawk about inadequate medical attention.

No I haven't hiked to the river yet. I'd better do it soon cause there is going to be a fence around this

camp!!!!!! 5 strands of barbed wire!!!!!!!!!! They say it's to keep the people out. . . . It's also to keep out

cattle. Where in the cattle countries do they use 5 strands of barbed wire??

If they don't watch out there's going to be trouble. What do they think we are, fools?? At Santa Anita at

the time of the riot the armored cars parked outside of the main gates, pointed the heavy machine guns

inside and then the army had the gall to tell us that the purpose of that was to keep the white folks from

coming in to mob the Japs. Same thing with the guards on the watch towers. They had their

machineguns pointed at us to protect us from the outsiders, hah, hah, hah, [I'm] laughing yet.

I am sending you a few things in appreciation for what you have done for me as well as for my sister and

all the rest.... Your name plate I made from mesquite as are also the lapel pins. However the dark pin is

made from a pine knot from Santa Anita. The rest are all Poston Products.

I've got to close now so that I can make the outgoing mail today.

Very truly yours,

Tetsuzo

P.S. Have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. TH

P.S. Do you think you could send me some Welch's peanut brittle? TH

DOCUMENT F

DOCUMENT G

THAT DAMNED FENCE

They've sunk the posts deep into the ground

They've strung out wires all the way around.

With machine gun nests just over there,

And sentries and soldiers everywhere.

We're trapped like rats in a wired cage,

To fret and fume with impotent rage;

Yonder whispers the lure of the night,

But that DAMNED FENCE assails our sight.

We seek the softness of the midnight air,

But that DAMNED FENCE in the floodlight glare

Awakens unrest in our nocturnal quest,

And mockingly laughs with vicious jest.

With nowhere to go and nothing to do,

We feed terrible, lonesome, and blue:

That DAMNED FENCE is driving us crazy,

Destroying our youth and making us lazy.

Imprisoned in here for a long, long time,

We know we're punished--though we've committed no crime,

Our thoughts are gloomy and enthusiasm damp,

To be locked up in a concentration camp.

Loyalty we know, and patriotism we feel,

To sacrifice our utmost was our ideal,

To fight for our country, and die, perhaps;

But we're here because we happen to be Japs.

We all love life, and our country best,

Our misfortune to be here in the west,

To keep us penned behind that DAMNED FENCE,

Is someone's notion of NATIONAL DEFENCE!

DOCUMENT H

DOCUMENT I

JAPANESE INTERNMENT GEOGRAPHY LESSON

NAME __________________________________

This lesson will be used to visually show where Japanese Americans lived and worked prior to

internment. After completing this lesson you should be able to identify some of the

characteristics of the Japanese community as well as life in the internment camps.

Using Google Earth load Japanese Internment project (Japanese_Internment.kmz)

Unclick all checkmarks below Japanese internment

Double click on Exclusion Zone and read the summary

Click the Exclusion zone square

The red highlighted area shows the exclusion area. Where are the Japanese being moved from

and where are they being moved to?

Click off the exclusion zone square and double click on WRA Census (CA 1941) - ALL

where you will read the summary. Click the WRA square.

Once you have a partner, pick a city to examine and answer the following questions:

What do each of the yellow stars represent?

What information can you find from each star?

Click on 5 different stars and find the following information:

Star 1:

a. Family Name

b. Where the person was born

c. Their job/occupation

d. The internment camp the person was assigned to

Star 2:

a. Family Name




Star 3:

a. Family Name




Star 4:

a. Family Name




Star 5:

a. Family Name




Now click on 5 more stars to see what internment camp those people were sent to.

Were most of the people sent to the same camp? If not, was there any one camp that most

people were assigned to?

Look at your responses above, how many of the people you looked at were sent to the same

camp?

These people were neighbors, families, and friends all in the same community; how do you think

internment affected those communities?

How would feel if your best friend that lived next door was suddenly shipped off to a different

internment camp than you?

How do you think people felt to be separated from their parents, grandparents, cousins etc.?

What would the impact of that separation be on families?

Click off the WRA census square and click on the Internment Camps square. Choose one

of the internment camps people you looked at were sent to (you may need to zoom out to

find your camp). Click that camp’s square and then the highlighted link to get to the

camp’s website. Look through the pictures, stories, and other information provided on the

site to answer the questions below.

How would you describe the camp?

What types of things do people do to make a living?

What types of things do people do to have fun?

What does the camp look like?

What do the buildings look like?

How are the people kept in the camp?

Is this internment camp a place you would like to live? Explain why or why not using specific

things you found on the site.

How would you feel being moved to this internment camp and living in your new “home”?

Click off the Internment Camps square and click on the 1934-55 Business (Japanese) link.

Read the summary. Now also click on the Directories for Japanese Businesses squares for

each of the years 1934-1941.

Using this map of downtown Portland, what information can you get?

What do the pink squares represent?

What do you notice as you add more years to your search?

Please estimate how many Japanese businesses you think there were with just the 1934

Directories square clicked on:





Now once again click on the Directories for Japanese Businesses squares for each of the

years 1934-1941.

Please estimate how many businesses there were:

Pick 5 different squares to click on and answer the following questions:

Square 1:

The name of the business

The address

The type of business

Square 2:


The address


Square 3:


The address


Square 4:


The address


Square 5:


The address


What do you think happened to these businesses once their owners were sent to internment

camps?

How would you feel if you used your own money to start a business, pay for the building it sat

on, pay for all the materials you needed to run it, only to be forced to leave?

What would you have done with your business, all your supplies, inventory etc. if you were sent

away?

Click off all the squares and click on any of the 1949-1955 Directories- Japanese squares.

The map now shows Japanese businesses post-internment. Approximately how many Japanese

businesses are there now for each year?

1949:

1950:

1952:

1953:

1954:

1955:

Did the number of Japanese businesses increase or decrease after internment?

What do you think happened to these businesses?

Are any of the businesses you looked at pre-internment still there?

If you were a Japanese business owner would you restart your business? Why or why not?

What effect do you think the closing of Japanese businesses had on the Japanese community?

JAPANESE INTERNMENT IMAGE COMPARISON LESSON

Topic: Japanese Interment Camps

Appropriate Grade Level: 7-8

Oregon Social Studies State Standards:

1. 7.39. Analyze evidence from multiple sources including those with conflicting information.

2. 8.6. Use and interpret documents and other relevant primary and secondary sources

pertaining to U.S. History from multiple perspectives.

3. 8.7. Analyze evidence from multiple sources including those with conflicting accounts about

specific events in U.S. History.

4. 8.32. Examine a controversial event, issue, or problem from more than one perspective.

Goal: The students will gain an understanding of how propaganda materials were used to

describe daily life in the Japanese internment camps. Students will explore how the WRA

portrayed life in the Japanese internment camps to the general public as compared to other

competing historical accounts.

Lesson Objective: To compare, contrast, and draw conclusions based on competing historical

evidence related to the Japanese Internment camps on the west coast.

List of Materials:

1. The following four images:

a. http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/lessonplans/heartmountain/jpgs/hm09.jpg

b. http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/lessonplans/heartmountain/jpgs/hm10.jpg

c. http://cache3.asset-

cache.net/xc/92934127.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921CC759

DF4EBAC47D07B4657CE2754D82C5516A0515650933D176DEA7B73EAC499E3

0A760B0D811297

d. http://la8period3.pbworks.com/w/page/25942447/Living-Conditions-of-Japanese-

American-Internment-Camps

2. Student worksheet

Activities: The following is a summary of the lesson.

Background information: On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order

No. 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to establish military areas from which any or all

persons might be excluded. This order translated into the evacuation of more than 100,000

Japanese and Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States. Japanese Americans

who were unable to leave the Pacific Coast on their own were ordered to relocation camps

administered by the War Relocation Authority. One of these ten camps, Heart Mountain

Relocation Center, was located between Powell and Cody, Wyoming. At its peak, Heart

Mountain interned more than 10,000 Japanese Americans and was the third largest community in

Wyoming. [WRA is the War Relocation Authority. This was a United States Agency to handle

the internment of the Japanese, German, and Italian Americans during WWII.]

http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/lessonplans/heartmountain/jpgs/hm09.jpg

http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/lessonplans/heartmountain/jpgs/hm10.jpg

http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/92934127.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921CC759DF4EBAC47D07B4657CE2754D82C5516A0515650933D176DEA7B73EAC499E30A760B0D811297




http://la8period3.pbworks.com/w/page/25942447/Living-Conditions-of-Japanese-American-Internment-Camps

http://la8period3.pbworks.com/w/page/25942447/Living-Conditions-of-Japanese-American-Internment-Camps

Show Image One and Two to the class as a whole group. Explain to the students that Image One

and Two were produced by the WRA.

From Images One and Two the student will answer the following questions. This will be done

on a worksheet provided to each student.

1. Who are the people featured in the photograph?

2. What is happening in the photographs?

3. What is your impression of living conditions in the photograph? Are they good? bad?

4. Can you draw any conclusions about the people's feelings in the photograph? Do they seem

happy or sad?

Once the students have answered the questions for Image One and Two. Discuss as a group the

students’ responses.

Show image Three and Four to the whole class as a group. Explain to the students that Image

Three and Four are actual photographs of camp life taken by journalists.

From Images Three and Four the student will answer the following questions. This will be done

on a worksheet provided to each student.





happy or sad?

Once the students have answered the questions for Image Three and Four. Discuss as a group

the students’ responses.

Scaffolding: After images one and two have been shown and again after images three and four.

1. Give the students some time to respond to each question.

2. Have the students share their responses to a partner.

3. Have a class discussion on each the questions.

Evaluation: On the students worksheet the last two questions will be the evaluations of all four

images.

1. Why do some sources relay more accurate information than others?

2. Why were the WRA images so different than the actual images?

Name: Date: Period:

Japanese Internment Camp Life Worksheet

Image One and Two: WRA Images





happy or sad?

Image Three and Four: Acual Camp Life Images.





happy or sad?

Final Response to All Four Images:

1. Why might some sources relay more accurate information than others?

2. Why were the WRA images so different than the actual images?

JAPANESE INTERNMENT: Drama Script

SCENE #1: The Decision to Intern

(Background: Google Map projection of the exclusion zone and internment camp locations)

Narrator: It is February 19th

1942, the day President Roosevelt will sign Executive order No.

9066. Immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor the FBI incarcerated approximately

1,200 Japanese aliens living within the United States and considered to be disloyal or dangerous,

and in the months that followed there was a great public outcry for internment of all Japanese

Americans. Now, the same day that Roosevelt signs Executive order No. 9066 he has gathered

with the most vocal proponents and opponents to the military's proposed plan to dedicate huge

swaths of United States military areas as "exclusion zones," from which "any or all persons may

be excluded." This power will soon be used to declare all people of Japanese ancestry excluded

from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and most of Oregon and Washington,

except for those that would remain in internment camps. In the moment you are about to witness

however, Roosevelt continues to wrestle with the decision. Biddle and Taft try desperately to

steer him away from such drastic action, while DeWitt and Stimson argue vehemently for

internment.

(Prior to the start of the drama it may be useful to have students introduce the characters in

context)

Characters Introductions Scene #1

President Franklin D. Roosevelt: Today, the decision to intern Japanese Americans is widely

viewed by historians and legal scholars as a blemish on Roosevelt’s wartime record. However,

immediately after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt was under an enormous amount of public

and political pressure to do something about the “Japanese Problem.”

Attorney General Francis Biddle: Attorney General Biddle was strongly against the plan to

intern and relocate Japanese Americans and repeatedly attempted to steer the President away

from the plan being proposed by the military.

Assistant to the Attorney General James R. Howe Jr.: A strong opponent of internment,

Howe also attempted to derail the internment efforts.

Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt: Commanding officer of the 4th

Army and the Western

Defense Command. DeWitt was a passionate supporter of internment, repeatedly telling the

newspapers that "A Jap’s a Jap."

Henry Stimson: Secretary of War and an avid supporter of internment.

SCENE: The scene opens with a group of men huddled around a table. President Roosevelt

is at the head of the table and reading aloud from a newspaper:

President Roosevelt: Again in the paper today gentlemen, listen to McLemore now, "I am for

the immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. I

don't mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd 'em up, pack 'em off and give 'em the inside

room in the badlands... Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them."i Every day

this talk increases. Everyday I come closer to the realization that I must act. The situation in

California is currently unacceptable. The Justice department and the military are at odds while

our nation rips at the seams! I must make a decision on internment before I leave this room

today. Say your piece…

Stimson: Sir, the military’s position is quite clear. From the standpoint of national security

there is no other option. We simply must move these people to secure areas. With 100,000

Japanese living in California alone our borders are not safe. I believe the military has made its

position clear. Every second that passes the threat of attack increases. By delaying you put the

nation at risk sir. In my opinion the situation calls for immediate and stringent actions.ii

Dewitt: With all due respect to the justice department (gestures towards Biddle and Howe), they

know nothing of the price of war OR how to conduct one. In war there is no gray area, there is

only us, and them and in my view a Jap’s a Jap! Mr. President these men (gestures to Biddle and

Howe) cannot be trusted with matters of national security, they do not understand the threats that

our nations faces. IT IS YOUR SWORN DUTY to keep this country safe, and if there is one

thing that I can say about the people of California right now it is that they are not safe sir. From

a military standpoint this situation is unacceptable.

James H. Rowe Jr.: To keep us safe, but at what cost? It has not been determined that there is

a real threat from these…

Dewitt (interrupting): No threat!? No threat!? A viper is a viper wherever the egg is hatched! A

Japanese American born of Japanese parents, nurtured upon Japanese traditions, living in a

transplanted Japanese atmosphere... who happens to have the accidental citizenship of being born

on American soil, almost inevitably grows up to be a Japanese, and not an American!iii

Biddle (almost yelling at Dewitt): And what of the Italian Americans, and the Germans? Would

you have us round them up and stick them in camps as well? (Turns to Roosevelt) Mr. President,

what the military proposes is clearly unconstitutional! I simply cannot support it. They cry that

Japanese Americans are the greatest threat but fail to see that it is you who would lock up

thousands that present the real threat. It is you who would betray the constitution who poses the

threat! These people are citizens for God’s sake.

Stimson (calmly): We recognize sir (to the president) that it might cause injustice to a few to

treat them all as potential enemies, but (turns to Biddle) even you Mr. Biddle, cannot escape the

conclusion that such treatment should be given to each and all of them while we are at war with

their race.

Howe (yelling): Their Race?! With all due respect sir we are at war with the NATION of

JAPAN and not the Japanese race!

DeWitt: Easy for you to say from behind the comfort of a desk. Easy for you who does not

have to wash the blood of dead Americans from your hands. I don't want any of them here. They

are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... iv

Biddle (interrupting): And how would you propose we determine the loyalty of American

citizens General? By locking them up before they have committed any crime? Whether you like

it or not these people are entitled to the rights and protections of the Constitution of the United

States of America and while it may be YOUR sworn duty to protect our those rights from foreign

threats, it is MY sworn duty to make sure that all American citizens receive those rights within

our borders.

Dewitt: It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese.

American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty, but we must worry about the

Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map! This is war gentlemen not some fancy law

school tea party. The enemy is an enemy. Period! Mr. President listen to your people, listen to

congress. Drastic times call for drastic measure. You must act to secure American victory in the

coming war and for the safety of the American people!v This action is a military necessity!

Biddle: Safety?! Safety but at what cost General? The FBI itself has said the American

Japanese pose no threat; these decisions must be based on Data not political pressure and public

hysteria. I…

Roosevelt (interrupts and shouts): ENOUGH! I have made my decision…(pauses, breathes,

then signs a piece of paper). The Japanese will be relocated and interned. General Stimson,

General DeWitt, please begin the necessary preparations. Mr. Biddle, Mr. Howe, you are

relieved of this decision, it is in the hands of the Military now. That will be all…

SCENE #2: The Impact of the Decision on Families

Narrator: Although the decision to Intern was made in Washington DC it had very real and

very powerful affects on ordinary citizens thousands of miles away. Public hysteria was built on

past prejudices and fueled by newspaper columnists who cried out for immediate action.

Although most non-Japanese Americans did very little in the face of internment there are

moments that stand out in history where the opposite occurred. It is these moments that exist in

all times and places where injustice occurs, that have the power to restore our faith in humanity.

This scene is in no way intended to promote the idea that the majority of people stood up in the

face of danger, but rather to remind us that a few did, with the hopes that, should one ever find

him or herself in a similar situation they might take inspiration from the courageous actions of

these individuals. The following scene takes place at a train station as Emi K. Fijii a 13 year old

boy, and his father Toshio, wait to be deported to an internment camp. As they wait, they

encounter numerous opinions and reactions towards Japanese Americans and internment from

classmates to strangers, to teachers to friends. The words and actions of all of the characters in

this scene are based on the historical records of actual individuals.

Characters Introductions Scene #2

Emi Kimura Fujii: The 13 year old Nissei son of Toshio Kimura

Toshio Kimura: Emi's father who immigrated to America alone at the age of 15 and attended

American school in San Francisco.

Elie- A Jewish refugee from Germany and a classmate of Emi's

Ted Myer: A produce buyer from Consolidated Produce Company who purchased the best

produce local Nissei farmers could provide. Ted has worked for years with Emi's father Toshio

Kimura.

J. J. McRee: An adult male community member and supporter of FDR, and of internment.

SCENE: The scene opens as Emi and Toshio stand on a train platform. Their meager

possessions are piled behind them. Their neighbor, Ted Meyer, has agreed to drop them off and

as the scene opens, he is saying his goodbye.

Ted Meyer: Toshio, I have to tell you something now. I have to tell you that I have known that

his day was coming for quite some time. I had a meeting with my Bosses in Los Angeles and

they told me to start looking at the farmland of the Japanese. They told me, “Get the best farm

land you can, and all the equipment, and see what you can buy. Buy everything, soon the

Japanese farmers will be gone.”vi

Toshio, I didn’t know how to tell you this. I was embarrassed

and afraid for you…you are my friend. I want you to know now that I told my boss that I

couldn’t do it. That I knew you well, and that…well, I told them that you were my friends and

had always been faithful to me. I know that doesn’t change any of this, but I wanted you to

know. I hope you can find it in your heart one day to forgive…Goodbye Toshio, Goodbye Emi.

Good luck.

(Toshio and Emi stand on the platform and shift their weight from side to side. There is an

uncomfortable silence. A person soon approaches them. He is JJ. Mcree an outspoken member

of the community in favor of internment.)

JJ. Mcree: The president of the United States has seen fit to send YOU off for the protection of

THIS NATION. I’m all for it. You have to understand that you need to go in order to make the

rest of us safe and don’t expect me to feel sorry about it for one second. Good Riddance! vii

(Toshio shouts after JJ. Mcree as he walks away.)

Toshio: My name is Toshio Kimura and I am both Japanese and American! I have been in this

country for twenty years but they will not give me citizenship. I have put my hopes and beliefs

in this country by rearing my children in American traditions and values, along with Japanese

customs. I believe in the soundness of the United States government and its democratic

principles.

But now I do not know how I will move forward. This same government has taken away the

things I hold most dear, my ability to be a father and a husband. My livelihood has been

destroyed; my ability to provide for and protect his family has been undermined. I never

dreamed I would see my children behind barbed wire . . .." viii

(Toshio wanders to the side and sits on a suitcase. His hands on his head. A whistle blows in

the distance. Then, a young girl fights her way through the moving people and arrives

breathless, her name is Elie and she is a Jewish refugee from Germany that has fled Hitler, she

is a classmate of Emi's)

Emi: Eli! What are you doing here?

Elie: Emi, I had to come and see you. Do you remember what I said in class yesterday?

Emi: Of course I do Elie. I was worried for you. You were so angry.

Elie: Emi, I want you to tell me what you heard me say.

Emi: When the teacher told us it was going to be the last day for the Japanese students you got

mad. You stood up and you said, "I didn't come to the United States to see this kind of thing

happen. I don't know what's happening here, but this is not what I left Germany for.” But Elie, it

will not be like that here. This is the United States. I know that you are angry but my father

(gestures to Toshio), my father has said that we will be taken care of.ix

Elie: Emi I do not want you to be scared, but look at your father now. I have seen this before.

Here comes the train now even, as we speak the train is coming. I don’t…

Emi: (interrupting) Elie, we will be ok, this is all ok.

Elie: It is not ok Emi, none of this is ok. I want you to have this; maybe you can use it

someday. Good luck my friend.

(Elie places a white envelope in Emi’s hand and leaves. Emi looks at the envelope which

contains some money…then looks at the audience and the scene ends.)

SCENE #3: Internment

Narrator: The next scene takes place in an internment camp where Emi, Toshio and their

family now find themselves. In this brief scene Emi and Toshio are visited by Reverend Emry

Andrews and his daughter Sarah Andrews. Reverend Andrews moved his family and braved

insults and threats of the locals for his decision to minister to his displaced congregation in the

internment camp. Authorities didn't make it easy for outside communication; strict restrictions

applied especially in the early days, and packages were inspected and sometimes confiscated.

However, in this scene Emry and Brooks visit on Christmas and discuss, amongst other things,

the work Quakers are doing in the camps, as well as Toshio’s emotional response to being

interned and Sarah’s reactions to the camp. The scene is based on the actual accounts and

recollections of individuals and all characters are based on historical individuals.

Characters Introductions Scene #3:

Reverend Emry Andrews: Based on Reverend Emery Andrews of the Baptist Church in

Seattle, who moved his family to nearby Hunt, Idaho, and braved insults and threats of the locals

for his decision to minister to his displaced congregation in the internment camp.

Sarah Andrews: Daughter of Emry, a young girl who visits the Kimura Family on Christmas

Emi Kimura Fujii: The 13 year old Nissei son of Toshio Kimura

Toshio Kimura: Emi's father who immigrated to America alone at the age of 15 and attended

American school in San Frascisco.

SCENE: The scene opens as Sarah and Emry arrive at the camp on Christmas morning.

Sarah is visibly shaken by the experience of visiting her former friend Emi in this place on

what is supposed to be a happy day.

Sarah Andrews: Emi! Toshio! (Sarah runs to her friends but stops short). The, the barbed

wire, I didn’t think it would be like this. The pictures I have seen are not like this! The barbed

wire fence stretching, it seems like for miles around the camp. “And the guard towers, the

soldiers in the guard towers with guns, …always pointing in towards the camp,…never out." x I

don’t know what to say. I think people should know that…well, that…I mean, this is Christmas

and…(Sarah finds herself lost for words).

Emi: Sarah, thank you for coming to see me.

Sarah: Emi, is it bad here? The barbed wire, I just… (she trails off, glancing around the room

in disbelief)

Emi: It is not easy, we have one room shared among all nine of us, and the walls are full of

holes and cracks in which cold and chill air struck us in a funny way that I could not sleep at all

last night but we are making the best of it.xi

When we come home everything will be ok….

Emry Andrews: Toshio I can tell you that there is work being done for you outside. It is not

everyone but there is a small group. I am working with The Friends of the American way and

we are pushing our message, “Everywhere there is community feeling to be mended, vicious

legislation to be defeated, many urgent jobs calling for attention from real friends of the real

America. I have been preaching, and asking over and over, what is your community doing for

these people?xii

But I would be lying to you if most people are listening and the pictures, the

pictures that the government puts out, they don’t show what it is like for you here. Everywhere

people say that if we want to be safe you have to be here.

Toshio: Reverend: Safe? How can it be safe to keep my children in barbed wire? What threat

are they? "I never dreamed I would see my children behind barbed wire . . .this is a terrible place

to raise the children. We are not cattle, but 3 times day, in the morning, noon, and evening you

hear the gong, gong, gong, the bell. Then and there you will see men, women, and children come

out of stable-like shelters. . . Every time I see this sight I cannot help my hear aches."xiii

Emry Andrews: Toshio, I…I can’t imagine what it must be like for you in this place. You

should know that there are people who care for you and who love you and who are praying for

you every night.

Toshio: We cannot tell you what this means to us Reverend Andrews, that you have come to us

on Christmas. You should know also that we have found friends in places we did not think that

we had them. The Quakers have given us these presents,(gestures to Christmas presents on the

floor behind him). They send us letters about our constitutional rights, and come here to teach

us in the camps. They have said, that, when I am released from here, they will help even to find

me a job….

(A guard enters and informs Sarah and Emry that it is time to go)

Sarah: Goodbye Emi, write to me and to the class.

Emi: Goodbye Sarah, thank you for coming to see me. We will see each other soon on the

outside of these walls…

Toshio and Reverend Andrews shake hands and Sarah and Reverend Andrews depart..

SCENE #4: Reparations Commission

Narrator 1: When internment ended the nation was forced to deal with what it had done to its

own citizens. The following scene is included to illustrate the legacy of Internment and shed

light onto the process of reparations and of healing.

Characters Scene #4:

Narrator #1

Narrator #2

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Member #1



Emi Kimura Fujii: The now 40 year old Nissei son of Toshio Kimura

SCENE: The scene opens with 3 members of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and

Internment of Civilians(CWRIC) sit at a desk. Across from them sits the now 40 year old

Nissei son of Toshio Kimura. The narrators begin the scene.

Narrator 1: When Internment eventually ended, Japanese Americans were given $25 and a

train ticket home to attempt to rebuild their shattered lives. But the question of Justice haunted

the Japanese community and the country as a whole. What could the nation do to heal this hurt

and pain caused to American citizens during this time period? How could so many do and say

nothing as the rights of so many Japanese Americans were so clearly violated? How could the

United States move on after such destruction of democratic principals? How do people begin to

heal? How can we make sure things like this never happen again?

Narrator #2: In 1948 the US government passed the American Japanese Claims Act, in an effort

to restore some of the property lost by Japanese Americans during internment but it relied on the

Japanese Americans having documents that they had lost during internment. Most got nothing.

Narrator #1: Then, beginning in the 1960s, a younger generation of Japanese Americans began

what is known as the "Redress Movement," an effort to get an apology and reparations (or

money) from the federal government for interning their parents and grandparents during the war,

focusing the broader injustice of the internment. In 1980, Congress established the Commission

on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians(CWRIC) to study the matter. A year later,

Emi, now a full grown man of 40 years, was interviewed by this commission. The following

hearing is the actual words of Emi K. Fujji and provides us a window into how internment

affected Japanese Americans for their entire lives.

Commission Member #1: Please state your name.

Emi K. Fujii: My name is Emi K. Fujii, 7447 N. Aartesian, Chicago, Illinois. I was evacuated

from San Jose, California to the Santa Anita Assembly Center May 29, 1942 with my parents

and 6 brothers and sisters, ages 4-18. We were transferred to Heart Mt. On Sept. 13, 1942. I left

as a student on June 19, 1943.

Commission Member #2: Mr. Fijji, as you are well aware, the commission is here to determine

to what extent a wrong was committed against the Japanese people. We thank you for your time,

and your willingness to make this statement today.

Emi K. Fujii: The Commission is here to determine whether a wrong was committed. I don’t

know whether to laugh or cry. I respectfully submit that it is like showing you a skeleton and

asking you if the person is dead.

Most of the testimony has come from evacuees, which has been subjective and often repetitious.

So after weeks of testimony, I wonder what I am doing here. If you want the truth, the whole

truth, then let it come from the government archives, and from expert witnesses under oath, like

the military leaders, the law officers, the social scientists, the camp doctors and social workers,

and more panels like the ones we had this afternoon, as well as from the evacuees.

Commission Member #3: Mr. Fujii, we understand your emotion, but anything you can tell us

about your personal experience is of a great help to this commission.

Emi K. Fujii: Well, then, the focus of my testimony should be on the crushing impact of the

evacuation and incarceration upon my father, Toshio Kimura. He came to this country alone at

age 15, in the 1890’s. He attended American schools in San Francisco and worked at various

jobs. From 1916 on, he worked as a life insurance agent. Because of the Alien Land Laws, he

bought a house in San Jose in the name of an American citizen. Then in 1919, he met and

married my mother. They had 7 children. Culturally, he was both Japanese and American.

Denied citizenship, he put his hopes and beliefs in this country by rearing us in American

traditions and values, along with Japanese customs. Despite the years of anti-Japanese feeling

and legislation, he had an abiding faith in the basic soundness of the United States government

and its democratic principles. He gave much more than he ever got. We took all this for granted,

not realizing how lucky we were.

The evacuation seriously challenged my father’s faith and his identity as a husband and father.

Commission Member #1: We appreciate your honesty; please continue if you can sir.

Emi K. Fujii : While 5 of the children were still behind barbed wire, his oldest son was overseas

with the 442nd Combat Team. Linc’s volunteering was a natural extension of his and my father’s

beliefs.

My parents and 3 remaining children stayed at Heart Mt. Til June 1945 when they were finally

permitted to return home. A month later, my father was dead at the age of 62, as the result of a

stroke. "He moved heaven and earth to get the family back to San Joe," a friend observed. He

had been crushed, angered, and betrayed by this country which he believed in but which never

believed in him. What haunts me still is I do not know whether he died only broken or whether

he had hope.

Commission Member #2: Any more details you can give us please? Again, take your time.

Emi K. Fujii : It has been almost 40 years since Executive Order 9066. We were evacuated and

imprisoned without cause, without due process. Our rights as citizens and basic rights of the

person, which extended to the Issei, were violated. The one and only thing against us was our

race. If the leaders of our country had succumbed only to West Coast pressure groups, that would

have been bad enough. They went beyond that. They knowingly violated the laws of the land in

the name of military necessity where none existed. They did this in the face of the Munson

Report of early November 1941, stating "there is no Japanese problem." They did this, knowing

in the first weeks after Pearl Harbor that no sabotage had been committed by a Japanese of

Japanese American. The military was even preparing plans for concentration camps in October

1940.

Commission Member #2: Do you have anything else you would like to say?

Emi K. Fujii: Yes, sir, I would like you to know that it is my belief that the evacuation was

nothing short of criminal. xiv

i Neiwert, David. The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right. 2009, page 195 ii Statements by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, January 26, 1942

iii Niiya, Brian. Japanese American History. 1993, page 54

iv red Mullen, "DeWitt Attitude on Japs Upsets Plans," Watsonville Register Pajaronian, April 16, 1943. p.1,

reproduced by Santa Cruz Public Library. Retrieved September 11, 2006.) v Testimony of John L. DeWitt, April 13, 1943, House Naval Affairs Subcommittee to Investigate Congested Areas,

Part 3, pp. 739–40 (78th Cong ., 1st Sess.), vi Personal Testimony of Jimi Yamichi, www.densho.org/archive/default.asp

vii Letters to the editor, Bainbridge Island Review, March 2, 1942.

viii Statement of Emi K. Fujii, September 23, 1981. Records of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and

Internment of Civilians, Record Group 220.18.25, United States National Archives and Records Administration. ix Personal Testimony of Henry Miyatake, http://www.densho.org/archive/default.asp

x Personal Testimony of Brooks Andrews, http://www.densho.org/archive/default.asp

xi Personal Testimonyt of Tokunari, held at the Puyallup Assembly Center on the Washington State Fairgrounds,

http://www.densho.org/archive/default.asp . xii

Report from Friends of the American Way, a Quaker support group, 1940s. xiii

Statement of Emi K. Fujii, September 23, 1981. Records of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, Record Group 220.18.25, United States National Archives and Records Administration. xiv

Statement of Emi K. Fujii, September 23, 1981. Records of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, Record Group 220.18.25, United States National Archives and Records Administration.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/japanese_internment/stimson_statements.cfm

http://web.archive.org/web/20070928001103/http:/www.santacruzpl.org/history/ww2/9066/articles/rp/43/4-16.shtml

http://www.densho.org/archive/default.asp

http://www.nara.gov/

http://www.densho.org/archive/default.asp

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Japanese Internment: Annotated Bibliography

1. Real Friends Standing by the Japanese Americans, DENSHO: The Japanese American

Legacy Project, Available from: http://www.densho.org/

A fabulous collection of Primary Source documents and first hand accounts that illustrate

examples of ways everyday people showed support for Japanese American citizens and stood

against their internment. Densho's mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans

who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished.

They offer firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore

principles of democracy and promote equal justice for all. The website is an exhaustive and

incredibly beneficial resource for any educator engaged with the topic. Many of the actions of

support shown in our drama came from interviews of internees and bystanders located on this

website.

2. FDR and Japanese American Internment, Available from:

www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/pdfs/internment.pdf

An informative and interesting set of documents from the collections of the Franklin D.

Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum that provide excellent insight and reflection on the

many sides of the decision to intern Japanese Americans. The first act of our drama contains

many of the views expressed in these documents by individuals in the period leading up to the

decision to intern. This resource is a gold mine for educators looking to explore the behind the

scenes dialogue and arguments that occurred leading up to Executive order No. 9066.

4., After Internment: Seattle’s Debate Over Japanese’ Americans Right to Return Home, Seattle

Civil Rights and Labor History Project, University of Washington, Available from:

http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/after_internment.htm

An excellent narrative and collection of primary source documents focused on the issue of

Japanese Americans reentering their communities after internment. Initially intended to form the

basis for an entire act in our drama, this site evolved into a useful background source for our

discussion on reparations and the backlash faced by Japanese Americans after internment.

4. Lesson Plans: Heart Mountain Relocation Center, American Heritage Center, University of

Wyoming, Available from:

http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/lessonplans/heartmountain/fujii.htm

A wonderfully designed group of lessons that relies on excellent primary source documents from

the Heart Mountain Relocation Center and spans topics from propaganda to camp life. These

lessons also include the full testimony of Emi K. Fujii to the CWRIC in 1981, a document upon

which the entire drama was constructed. Some of the images used in the lesson plans were also

taken from this site.

5. Exploring the Japnaese American Internment through Film & the Internet, National Asian

American Telecommunications Association, Available from: http://caamedia.org/jainternment/

http://www.densho.org/

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/pdfs/internment.pdf

https://webmail.hsd.k12.or.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=8cacaa3511674aa98f51741d002db8be&URL=http%3a%2f%2fdepts.washington.edu%2fcivilr%2fafter_internment.htm

http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/lessonplans/heartmountain/fujii.htm

http://caamedia.org/jainternment/

This website spans the entire Internment experience and is a great resource for primary source

video clips relating to Japanese Internment. It can be accesses as great extension activity for the

lesson plans included in the Unit.

6. Japanese Internment Camps and Their Effects, Oracle ThinkQuest Education Foundation,

Available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312008/lifeafter.html

Another extension activity, this website walks students through life before, after, and during

internment.

Japanese Internment DBQ section

Document A: Johnston, Am. “Japanese Internment Camps.” [Online] 21 June 2011.

http://internmentcamps-johnston.blogspot.com/

As you look through the blog postings, you find a collection of primary source documents

detailing the Japanese-American internment. The first set of documents is a group of

documents and editorial cartoons that give some context into what the Japanese Internment

Camps were, and why they existed. The second set of documents is a collection of pictures

that capture moments in the Japanese Internment Camp process. The last set of documents is a

collection of personal accounts from the time spent in the internment camps. Some of the

accounts are from Japanese-Americans reflecting back on their childhood in an internment camp,

and some are letters written by a Japanese-American while in her camp.

Document B:

Estelle Ishigo, "Boys with Kite," Heart Mountain. September, 1944. Box 719, Estelle Ishigo

Papers (Collection 2010), Department of Special Collections, Young Research Library,

University of California, Los Angeles. Available at:

http://www.intimeandplace.org/Japanese%20Internment/reading/recollections/ishigo.html

This site provides two great internment lesson plans related to Californian internment using GIS

software. There are also supplemental readings and pictures which would be a great addition to

any lesson.

Document C: The San Francisco News. “Their Best Way to Show Loyalty.” [Online] 21 June

2011. http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/editorial1.html.

This site gives a wealth of information about all news related to San Francisco. It contains

newspaper articles and museum resources for Japanese internment from 1942 through 1944.

Document D: Wisconsin Historical Society. Boy eating. [Online Image] 21 June 2011.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/teachers/lessons/secondary/documents/japanese_clipping.pdf.

This site provides extensive resources about Wisconsin history including Japanese internment

but also archaeology, exhibits, genealogy, government services, and historic buildings.

Document E: Tetsuzo Hirasaki. “Letter to Miss Breed.” [Online] 21 June 2011.

https://webmail.hsd.k12.or.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=8cacaa3511674aa98f51741d002db8be&URL=http%3a%2f%2flibrary.thinkquest.org%2fTQ0312008%2flifeafter.html

http://internmentcamps-johnston.blogspot.com/

http://hamachi.library.ucla.edu/ishigo/surrogates/html/b719/719008C.html

http://www.intimeandplace.org/Japanese%20Internment/reading/recollections/ishigo.html

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/editorial1.html

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/teachers/lessons/secondary/documents/japanese_clipping.pdf

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