Overview Japan bombed the United States military base at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Even before this happened there was racism against Japanese people, but after this happened the fear and racism soured. After the Pearl Harbor bombing, on February 19,1942, President Roosevelt issued an executive order out of “military necessity” that required over 120,000 Japanese people to leave their homes in California, parts of Arizona, Washington, and Oregon. It is important to note that about two-thirds of these people were Americans and were sent to these camps because of the way they looked and their ancestry. The Japanese-Americans had to evacuate their homes so fast that they did not have time to sell their belongings for a fair price, and in many cases the government took control over their property. Some of the Japanese people were able to relocate to other states but the majority were put into internment camps. These camps were poorly constructed and there was little space. Often times families were put into one-room quarters where there was little space to move around let alone live in. People lived in these terrible conditions for years under the false perception that they were a threat to the United States. In fact many of these families were second and third generation Americans. There was no compensation for the Japanese people until 1988 when President Regean signed the civil liberties act of 1988. This act gave $20,000 to the people of Japanese ancestry who were force to evacuate or be put into internment camps. Money was also given to educate the public about the internment period during World War II.

Pre-War Hysteria November 7, 1941 Curtis Munson issued his report on the Japanese Americans living on the coast. The Munson Report In October and November of 1941, Special Representative of the State Department Curtis B. Munson, under Roosevelt's orders, carried out an intelligence gathering investigation on the loyalty of Japanese Americans. What follows are excerpts from that report. "The story was all the same. There is no Japanese `problem'on the Coast. There will be no armed uprising of Japanese.... The Japanese are hampered as saboteurs because of their easily recognized physical appearance. It will be hard for them to get near anything to blow up if it is guarded. There is far more danger from Communists and people of the Bridges type on the Coast than there is from Japanese.” December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. A blanket presidential warrant authorized U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle to have the FBI arrest a predetermined number of "dangerous enemy aliens," including German, Italian, and Japanese nationals. 737 Japanese Americans arrested by the end of the day 2. December 8, 1941 U.S. entered World War II. February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed 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.” The days following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were dark days of the American spirit. Unable to strike back effectively against the Japanese Empire, Americans in the Western states lashed out at fellow citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry. Executive Order 9066, signed by President Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, was the instrument that allowed military commanders to designate areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." Under this order all Japanese and Americans of Japanese ancestry were removed from Western coastal regions to guarded camps in the interior. March 2, 1942 General DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 1, creating military areas in Washington, Oregon, California, and parts of Arizona and declaring the right to remove German, Italian, and Japanese aliens and anyone of "Japanese Ancestry" living in Military Areas No. 1 and 2 should it become necessary.

Life Within the Internment Camps Over 100,000 Japanese people were evacuated from their homes. Some of the Japanese people were able to relocate to other states, but the majority were put into internment camps. About 2/3 of the people put into the camps were American citizens. Some of the families were second and third generation Americans. The United States government even recruited Japanese people from these camps to go fight in the war. A large portion of the Japanese people willingly went to these camps because they thought they were showing their loyalty to the United States by cooperating. Many of these families lived in these horrible camps for more than three years. These camps were poorly constructed and there was little space. Often times families were put into one-room quarters where there was little space to move around let alone live in. The living quarters in these camps were made with thin walls and nothing more than tarpaper covers. Often times tar could be seen dripping from the ceilings onto the army cots that were considered beds. Many times families of 5 or 6 people were living in 25 by 20 foot rooms with no plumbing or cooking facilities. One internee said that the hardest thing to get used to was the community bathroom. Around 250 people shared the bathrooms. These bathrooms usually contained five holes side-by-side cut into a piece of wood. There was only one bath and sometimes there was a place to do laundry. The internees did not have any cooking facility in their barracks so there was a large mess hall that held about 250 to 300 people. According to some of the internees the main thing served there was some kind of horrible lamb stew. The people in the camps worked on government owned farms to produce the food served in the mess halls. Employment could also be found in the schools, hospitals, and internal police force located in the camps. Although they had hospitals in the camp they were not much use for someone who was really sick. If a person got really sick they could pay a fee to have outside help. This was a problem because the people in the camps had little or no money. An employed internee work about 45 hors per week and only earned an average of $12 a month. Some people tried to make extra money by cutting hair or repairing clothes and shoes. They worked so hard because they did not know what was going to happen to them when they got out of the camps. Many families sold all of their positions, including their homes, when they learned that they were going to have to go to the camps. “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 though I was jut imagining it as an adult much later…I though it couldn’t have been bayonets because we were just little kids.” Form “children of the camps” “Until we can talk about the experience and make a connection with our grief and anger, we will each still be unconsciously trying to get out of our own personal camps. Our experience was unique, but it’s an example of the broader experience of racism, how it permeates lives, and how we each attempt to survive it. It’s about trauma and suffering, but it also is about our strength.” Dr. Satsuki Ina, PhD “There is nothing more sorrowful than war. Here alone, all of lifes sadness is brought together” Keiho Soga

Effects on Japanese Americans After WWII Japanese internment was originally justified as a military necessity, but since has been viewed as an act of injustice committed by the U.S. government against a group of people on the basis of race.  A public apology was issued and reparations of $1.6 billion dollars have been paid out ($20,000 for each surviving former internee).  Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.  The question that most ask though, is was this enough to repay them for the lasting effects that they suffer? Effects: *Labor market withdrawal induced by the internment reduced the annual earnings of males by as much as 8-12% 25 years afterwards. *Internment increased the probability of self-employment, and reduced the probability of holding high-status professional and technical occupations. *Loss of civilian labor market experience -work in the camps was a poor substitute for work experience in civilian labor markets. *Some skills deteriorated while in the camps through lack of incentive or opportunity to practice them. *Many older internees had worked for years in their own farms and small businesses prior to internment, and many of these enterprises were lost as a result of internment. *Long-term health consequences included Psychological anguish as well as increased cardiovascular disease.  Survey information has found that former internees has a 2.1 greater risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular mortality, and premature death than did a non interned counterpart. *There were occupational declines among Japanese Americans after the war. *The number of first-generation business owners dropped to half of what it had been in prewar years, with the number of house servants of the same generations more than doubling. Some say that there were positive effects that came from this terrible time in our history, here are a few that I came across. *The second and third generations steamed along at an accelerated rate.  As American citizens, American educated they Japanese sought lucrative professions. In 1959 Japanese American income reached the family income of whites and by 1969 it surpassed the national average in family income by 32 percent. *The long run labor market impact of the internment on working age internees is still an open question because, during internment the internees might have acquired skills valued by the civilian labor market.  Example:  There was vocational training and adult language classes in the camps.  Also, since the internees participated in all aspects of camp operations, they might have gained experience in jobs that were previously inaccessible to them because of racial discrimination , such as secretarial jobs and jobs in schools and hospitals. Something interesting that I found was, and article written by a man who was a young boy in the camps surrounded by women.  He was in awe of how strong that the women were and how they kept everything together he recalls and older women saying that "the bad get worse, and the good get better"  He thinks that through his experiences with these women in camp his long term effects were that he is alive because of these women, he has abiding interest, liking, and respect for women.  And he says that if he absorbed and retained even a little of their worth, he must be a better man for it.

Links http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/ clinton.html http://php.ucs.indiana.edu/~eciernia/wq. html www.iwf.org/pubs/twq/su95f.shtml http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Japan ese.html http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/ eo9066.html http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/ main.html http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/students/jintern/jfly.html http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/students/jintern/Internment.html http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Programs/Diversity/exhibit2.html http://www.csuohio.edu/art_photos/gallery.html http://www.umbc.edu/history/CHE/techerpages/Coleman/JapaneseInternmentCamps.htm http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/list-internment-detention-camps.htm http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/health.html http://www.oz.net/~cyu/internment/politicians.html http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/ http://education.nebrwesleyan.edu/eisenhower/partsites/northeastpage/safarik/internmentpage.html