Japanese American Internment

A map of relocation centers in the western U.S.

• FDR issued Executive Order 9066– Forced removal of

Japanse-Americans to Internment Camps.

• 110,000 Issei (Japanese nationals) and Nisei (Japanese Americans) from the West Coast

• About two-thirdswere citizens

Prejudice Against Nisei

This propaganda poster displays typical American-held

stereotypes of the Japanese

• Long history of anti-Japanese sentiment in California

• Falsely accused Nisei of helping plan Pearl Harbor

• No evidence of sabotage or espionage ever found

“I Am an American”

Despite this Oakland, California, grocer’s sign, he was interned

and his business sold

• Some Nisei tried to demonstrate patriotism

• Interned regardless• Most Japanese

accepted internment• Wanted to show their

loyalty to the U.S.

Life in the Camps

• Nisei forced to sell homes, businesses, property

• Lost an estimated $2 billion• Poor conditions:– Barbed-wire enclosures– Barracks with cots and

no plumbing–Meager food budget– Low temperatures

Prompt

• One paragraph arguing whether internment was or wasn’t justified– Must include a thesis: Japanese Internment

was/wasn’t justified because…..– Use a minimum of 2 documents as factual

evidence in your paragraph– Identify your evidence within your sentences“Sentence sentence sentence” (Doc B).

• Reflection – 2 sentences

Manzanar

Manzanar in the winter

• Located in California• Best known of

relocation camps• Camp held nearly

12,000 internees

Korematsu v. U.S. (1942)Relates to Document D

• Fred Korematsu refused to obey the relocation order

• Arrested and placed in a relocation camp with his family.

• Convicted in federal court and sentenced to probation.

• Appealed conviction on constitutional grounds• Decision overturned in 1984, due to government-

withheld evidence in the first trial