U.S. Internment History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65zZUjZShq8&feature=related

Executive Order 9066February 19, 1942

The military was permitted to bypass the constitutional safeguards of American citizens in the name of National Defense.

Why Intern Japanese-Americans?• Fears of

participation in a West Coast invasion.

• Spies

• Disloyalty

• Hysteria

Japanese life before internment• Hawaii, California,

Alaska, Oregon, Washington.

• Buy Homes

• Own Farms/Businesses

• Go to School

What happens?Racial Prejudice

“I’m for catching every Japanese in America, Alaska, and Hawaii now and putting them in concentration camps….Damn them! Let’s get rid of them now!”

--Congressman John Rankin, Congressional Record, Feb.19,1942

What happens?• 110,000 persons

(W. Coast) are removed to relocation camps.– Japanese in Hawaii

“ignored”

• 2/3 were Nisei– American Born– Citizens

U.S. Relocation Camps

Life during the internment

• Tar paper shacks / no insulation

• No plumbing

• Isolated, Cramped living

• Barbed-wire fences

• Ok, if you follow the rules

Japanese-Americans “prove” loyalty

• 442nd Regiment– “Purple Heart” Unit

• Most decorated unit in U.S. military history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hKEShL8OUU&feature=related

Civil Liberties Act of 1988

• Congress apologies

• Make resitituion

• Provide education to the public about the internment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgmY2P-xT_Y&NR=1&feature=fvwp