What are some questions that you could ask that could figure out the

connection between these two pictures? Don’t overthink them! Come up with
at least 5, but keep going if you can think of more.
Japanese Internment in the US:
1942-1946
What is “Japanese Internment?”
- Japanese Internment refers to a period of time during (and shortly after) World
War II where 100k+ Japanese-Americans were forcibly removed from their
normal way of life into concentration camps
- Occurs alongside the internment of German and Italian-Americans, though at a
much lower number
- Authorized by President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066
(Do not need to write) Use the
previous slide and this map to
consider and discuss the
following questions with your
classmates:
1. Why do you think the areas
marked in red were chosen
as the exclusion area? What
reasons might explain this
decision?
What is “Japanese Internment?” Cont.
- Mostly occurred on the West Coast, where the largest groups of people of
Japanese descent were living
- Much of West Coast became an “exclusion zone”, meaning that Japanese
people had to leave those areas
- What made someone a target for internment varied:
- Some argued that people with that were “1/16th” Japanese should be targeted.
- Karl Bendetsen, architect of Japanese Internment, argued that anyone with
“one drop” of Japanese blood should go to the camps
 - Signs like these (->) were posted in excluded
areas to let Japanese Americans know what
was going to happen moving forward
- Information regarding re-location, government
assistance, etc.

Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think Japanese-Americans were

targeted?
Causes of Internment (Why?)
- Multiple similar, but distinct factors played into the decision to intern
Japanese-Americans
1. Pearl Harbor
a. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shocked American citizens
b. Gave “legitimacy” to fears over invasion
2. Racism
a. Japanese people (and Asian people in general) were already seen in negative light
3. Fear of Espionage (Spying)
a. Fear that Japanese people were helping out Japanese military
b. IMPORTANT: No evidence was found to suggest espionage had occurred
4. Relative weakness of Japanese population
a. Small population with not much social/economic influence
US entry in to war fuels Anti-Japanese Sentiment
Question: Put yourself in the shoes of a Japanese American in 1942. Your family
owns a small business in Washington and is doing quite well. After Pearl Harbor,
you and your family are concerned for the United States, which has provided you
with a good life thus far.

News comes out, however, that you and other Japanese-Americans will have to
leave your homes and move to a camp somewhere you have never heard of. You
are given pretty short notice and nothing is mentioned about your families property.

How might you feel? What concerns might you have for the future?
Life inside the camps
- Evacuation process extremely rushed
- Moving out, selling what you could in less than a week at a much lower value
- Only allowed to take what they could carry with them
- Arrived at camps in the middle of the nowhere with little care for people who
were going to live there
- Multiple families in one living space
- School, work, and other activities constantly monitored by guards and fences
- Harsh treatment of prisoners
- A 63 year old man was shot and killed for simply walking near the fences
Despite difficult conditions, Japanese Americans persisted
Legacies and memories from Japanese Internment
- Japanese Internment is still an issue
worthy of discussion today
- Numerous memorials and sites
made in honor of those unjustly
interned
- In 1988, the US passed the Civil
Liberties Act
- Acknowledged US misconduct
- Gave reparations to some Japanese
Americans who were interned Many (particularly on the west coast) mark Feb 19th
(EO 9066) as a “Day of Remembrance.” This picture
is from 2021.
Memorial in the U.S. Capitol
"Japanese by Blood

Hearts and Minds American

With Honor Unbowed

Bore the String of Injustice

For Future Generations"

Tanka poem, a classical form of

Japanese poetry, written by Akemi Dawn
Matsumoto Ehrlich
One Final Note: Korematsu vs. United States
- 23 year old Fred Korematsu, who lived in San Leandro, California, refused to
evacuate once orders came out
- Korematsu did a number of things, including getting plastic surgery, in order to
hide his identity
- He was later found and arrested, where he was presented with the opportunity
to legally challenge Japanese Internment for racial discrimination
- The case made it up to the Supreme Court, which ruled 6-3 that racial
discrimination had not occurred, and that Japanese Internment was a military
necessity
Korematsu v. United States
The following description of the Supreme Court’s ruling might not make much sense in a
day-to-day conversation:
“...the Court held that compulsory exclusion of citizens during times of war is justified in order
to reduce the risk of espionage.”
(Source: Oyez.org)
Break this down with your classmates and try to explain it in your own words.
Once you have done so, consider the potential impact of this ruling, and discuss it with your
classmates. (Hint: “What might this mean in the long term?”)
Korematsu v. United States: Condemned in 2018

- Ruling in Korematsu v. United States was recently

condemned by the Court’s Chief Justice in 2018’s
Trump v. Hawaii case
- So, not as much worry about this happening again
(Whew!)
What is another potential legacy of
Japanese Internment (In the US and the rest
of the world) that you know about?
Resources
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation
https://www.britannica.com/event/Japanese-American-internment
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/japanese
-internment-1942
https://www.congress.gov/bill/100th-congress/house-bill/442
https://www.britannica.com/story/what-was-life-like-in-japanese-american-internme
nt-camps