japanese internment 1942-1945. many americans were suspicious of the japanese-americans living...
TRANSCRIPT
Japanese Internment
1942-1945
Many Americans were suspicious of the Japanese-Americans living within the U.S. after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Why? Were these fears justified?
Many people were afraid that Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast might actually be spies for Imperial Japan. Many Japanese were fishermen or worked on the docks.
HOWEVER…There was NEVER any evidence that Japanese Americans
acted as spies during WWII.
RelocationRelocation On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.
This forced Japanese Americans to move from
their homes to “internment” camps.
This was to keep them from spying by monitoring
their lives. “Yellow Peril” became rampant throughout the
U.S.
11,000 Japanese families had to sell their homes and businesses
to relocate to these camps. Evacuees were allowed to take
only what they could carry. What they couldn’t sell was just left
for the taking.
Japanese Americans were put on buses and shipped to one of 10
relocation centers around the United States.
The barracks were surrounded by
barbed wire and overseen by high
wooden watchtowers. Privacy
was almost nonexistent.
Evacuees tried to make the best of it by living their lives
with some degree of normalcy. Schools,
libraries, sports teams, churches, and
Americanization classes were created.
Originally, FDR considered the
relocation “legal” under constitutional powers
granted to the president during times of war.The Supreme Court
supported this claim in the case of
Korematsu vs. U.S. Later, this was overturned
and all camps were closed by early 1945.
An ApologyAn ApologyIn 1988, the U.S.
government apologized to
Japanese Americans for these
internment camps and paid all
internees $20,000.
U.S. Government U.S. Government ExplanationExplanation
Official U.S. Film (1942)Official U.S. Film (1942)
http://youtu.be/5_rk3RP5KQs