Japanese Internment Camps EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 February 19, 1942  After Pearl Harbor, FDR orders that all Japanese Americans be taken away from their homes and put into internment camps. “Whereas, the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage …”

Why did the U.S. relocate Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII?

"At Gila, there were 7,700 people crowded into space designed for 5,000. They were housed in messhalls, recreation halls, and even latrines. As many as 25 persons lived in a space intended for four." "I remember the soldiers marching us to the Army tank and I looked at their rifles and I was just terrified because I could see this long knife at the end . . . I thought I was imagining it as an adult much later . . . I thought it couldn't have been bayonets because we were just little kids." 

In 1943 all internees over the age of seventeen were given a loyalty test. They were asked two questions: 1. Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty wherever ordered? (Females were asked if they were willing to volunteer for the Army Nurse Corps or Women's Army Corp.) 2. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization?

Civil Liberties Act of 1988: "a grave injustice was done" and mandated Congress to pay each victim of internment $20,000 in reparations.

Japanese Internment: How did our Gov. get away with this? Read the handout: (do not write on it, used for other classes) 1.) 112,000 Japanese will be relocated during WWII? Name another time in history when something like this happened? 2.) What is the main constitutional issue with interning Japanese citizens? 3.) Make a list of the justifications: How did our democratic government justify this action?