1. Fitting Fiction with Facts for Japanese-American Internment
Barney & Pamela Rickman
bubble-gum cards entitled
"The Horrors of War”

2. (anonymous poem circulated at the Poston Camp)
“THAT DAMNED FENCE”
(anonymous poem circulated at the Poston Camp)

3. Japanese American Internment, WWII
By Dec. 1942, >110,000 people of Japanese ancestry interned as an “enemy race”
65% of "evacuees“ = U.S. citizens
None ever charged with treason
February 19, President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the secretary of war to define military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded as deemed necessary or desirable." Under this order, military authorities can exclude civilians from any area without trial or hearing. Although the order did not specify Japanese Americans, they are the only group to be imprisoned without individual hearings. During WWII, 3,200 resident aliens of Italian background are arrested and about 11,000 German residents, including some naturalized citizens, are arrested, but all those of European ancestry who are arrested are granted trials where they face specific charges – a process denied to Japanese Americans. Eventually more than 300 resident aliens of Italian background are interned and more than 5000 German residents are interned. 14

4. Final destinations: 1 of 10 camps constructed by War Relocation Authority in 7 states.

5. Reasons: Immediate Reasons: Longer-term Reasons (since late 1800s):
Pearl Harbor attack
Fear of attack on West Coast after Japan’s early victories
Longer-term Reasons (since late 1800s):
Racism
Economic competition
On American anger at the Pearl Harbor attack, see Alice Yang Murray, “The History of ‘Military Necessity’ in the Japanese American Internment,” in Major Problems in American Immigration History: Documents and Essays, 2nd Ed., by Mae Ngai and Jon Gjerde, (Boston, 2013), , and Greg Robinson, “Another Sort of Pearl Harbor Infamy for Japanese Americans” ( )
On the fear of an attack on the West Coast after Japan’s early victories, see John W. Dower, War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York, 1986), 114.
On the role of racism and economic competition, see Murray, “The History of ‘Military Necessity’ in the Japanese American Internment,” , and Robinson, “Another Sort of Pearl Harbor Infamy for Japanese Americans” ( )

6. Asian immigrants to USA suffer discrimination (see Timeline)
Immigration restrictions:
1882: suspend Chinese immigration
1907 & 1908: significantly restrict number of Japanese immigrants

7. No Japs in Our Schools / Citizens' Mass Meeting" "Under the Auspices of the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League / The Meeting will be Addressed by Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz... and Other Prominent Citizens / Be Sure to Attend and Register Your Protest By Your Presence"   CREDIT: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkley   DATE December 10, 1906

8. Woman pointing to sign displayed above porch
Woman pointing to sign displayed above porch. Signs in front window: "Japs Keep Out" "Member Hollywood Protective Association"   CREDIT: National Japanese American Historical Society   DATE ca. 1920

9. Post Pearl Harbor
CREDIT: Rebecca Damren, Japanese American Internment, Photo 3 Photo: Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

10. Post Pearl Harbor DESCRIPTION
Garage door, painted with words "NO JAPS WANTED/ HERE"
Seattle, 1942.
CREDIT: Museum of History and Industry, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection

11. "A Jap's a Jap. It makes no difference whether the Jap is a citizen or not."
Lt. General John L. DeWitt, Commander, Western Defense Command, 1942
CREDIT: National Archives &
"I am determined that if they have one drop of Japanese blood in them, they must go to camp."
— Colonel Karl Bendetsen, DeWitt's chief aide for the mass removal
CREDIT: National Archives &