1. JAPANESE INTERNMENT

2. Treatment of Japanese
After Pearl Harbor, there were rumors that Japanese were committing sabotage by mining harbors and poisoning vegetables
Fear led to a wave of prejudice
Early 1942, War Department called for the evacuation of all Japanese Americans in Hawaii (37% of the population!)
1,444 eventually interned from Hawaii

4. From a US Army field manual, “How to Tell A Chinese from a Jap”

7. Japanese Internment
120,000 Japanese Amer rounded up by Army in CA, WA, OR, AZ
Shipped to 10 relocation centers
No delay for harvest; Japanese-Amer grew 95% of CA strawberries
1/3 were Issei: immigrants from Japan
2/3 were Nisei: children of immigrants who were born in the US
Japanese-American property, boats, and bank accounts were confiscated
Korematsu v. United States (1944): the Supreme Court ruled that the internment was justified based on “military necessity”

9. Relocation Centers
Assembly Centers

10. Relocation Centers Center Date of first arrival Peak population
Date of peak population
Date of last departure
Gila River
13,348
Granada
7,318
2-1-43
Heart Mountain
10,767
1-1-43
Jerome
8,497
Manzanar
10,046
Minidoka
9,397
3-1-43
Poston
5-8-42
17,814
9-2-42
Rohwer
8,475
Topaz
8,130
Tule Lake
18,789

11. Child and family being relocated by Army

12. Tule Lake entry processing

13. Tule Lake Fence

14. Tule Lake Housing

15. Manzanar from the Guard Tower

16. Tule Lake school

17. Tule Lake labor: $12/mo unskilled, $16 skilled, $19 professional

18. Results of Internment
No charges ever filed against Japanese Americans and no evidence of spying or sabotage ever found (10 Caucasians convicted of spying for Japan!)
Japanese American Citizens League worked for justice; in 1965, Congress authorized payments totaling $38 million (one-tenth of Japanese Americans’ actual losses of property and income)
In 1988, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act to pay $20,000 to every citizen sent to an internment camp; checks were sent in 1990 along with a formal apology by the US government