As a kid, I’ve heard about Japanese internment and it captivated me. My grandma would tell me how life was like in the internment camp. My fascination with Japanese internment lead me to choose it for National History Day. I wanted to learn more about this important mark in US History. My grandparents, Tom Inouye and Jane Hideko Inouye were put through this so I decided what better way to learn about it while presenting it as a project.
I decided to tackle my research first by finding primary sources. I knew that these were key to establishing a good project. I found pictures and important primary sources on online databases and archives. These helped paint a picture of how the internees felt while being held in camps. I also discovered many secondary sources on reliable websites to find more information about my topic. I also conducted an interview with former internee Jane Hideko Inouye which gave me lots of detailed information and personal opinion. This was one of my best sources because of the events described
…show more content…
It ties into explore by the government making the decision of signing Executive Order 9066. The government explored new ways of keeping any Japanese spies contained in internment campss. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese experienced racism and exclusion of other people. Signs were put on stores and neighborhoods saying, “No Japs!” Also, military was encountered on a daily basis for the Japanese while in internment camp. Guards made sure that there would be no escapees by surrounding the camp with guard towers. Finally, the government exchanged human rights for the safety of the country. They forced the Japanese into internment camps for two years. The people of Japanese ancestry had their rights taken away from them in order to keep spies from giving critical information to Japan while World War II. Japan finally lost the war, allowing the internees to be set
After 3 years of life at internment camps, they were out. They return to their homes after all the time. Forty years later, 100,000 Japanese Americans get payed $20,000 as an apologize. Nowadays, Japanese Internment camps are very sad.
As opposed to righteous view that America was safeguarding its position in the war, the Japanese American internments were created out of resentment and racial prejudice fostered by other Americans. As the article “Personal Justice Denied” stated, the internments were led by “widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan” (Doc E, 1983). It may seem like a precautionary cause to make internments but there aren’t any other extreme measures for other fronts. Caused by a hatred stirred by media and society’s view, many people disdain the Japanese.
In this paper, I will discuss the signing of Executive Order 9066, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, regarding the Japanese relocation and connecting back to the Pearl Harbor attack, thus, resulting in further negative opinions of both the first generation Japanese and the second generation of Japanese Americans. Event Description: Internment was brought about by a justifiable fear for the security of the nation. Japan had figured out how to pull off the assault on Pearl Harbor, which nobody had thought was conceivable. The possibility that they may assault the West Coast while the US military was still in shock was on everyone’s mind. Secondly, it was caused by racism.
On December 7th, 1941, Japan launched one of the most devastating attacks that occurred on United States soil killing over 2000 citizens. Ironically, the death of these citizens resulted in the United States government violating the rights of over 100,000 Japanese Americans living along the Pacific Coast. The attack on Pearl harbor exacerbated the already present anti-Japanese sentiment within the United States resulting in the removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps. This historiographical essay will examine the trends of historical thought regarding Japanese internment during World War II examining sources chronologically by publication date from 1972 to 2017. Early historiographical interpretations, referred to
In 1988, Public Law 100-383 was passed by congress that states that the internment was unjust. This was due to the idea that many people thought of the relocation center as the concentration camps where the Nazis kept the Jews restricted in certain areas during WWII. Congress came to an agreement that the internment was unjust, so they presented $20,000 to each person who was interned during that time. On the 50th anniversary in 1991 of the Pearl Harbor attack President George H. W. Bush stated, “The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was a great injustice, and it will never be
World War II was a very traumatizing time for the soldiers that fought in it. Unfortunately, the War was also a very traumatic experience for the Japanese Americans that were forced into internee camps. Key examples of those who have struggled through awful conditions are Miné Okubo and Louie Zamperini. Miné is a Japanese American artist who was forced to live in squalor conditions surrounded by armed guards. Louie is an American soldier and a previous Olympic athlete that was beaten daily and starved almost to death in prisoner of war camps.
The internment of Japanese-Americans was justified because there were Japanese suspects. Between ten internment camps in Arizona, California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas, about 250-300 people in each camp were suspects under surveillance. Only around 50-60 people were actually considered dangerous. “It is easy to get on the suspect list, merely a speech in favor of Japan being sufficient to land one there” (Munson 2). Clearly, America was taking extreme precautions.
In our world today, we are always hearing about social issues that lead to a fight for equality for a certain group, like the LGBTQ+ community. “Students gain a greater understanding of power dynamics, develop respect for cultures different from their own, and learn how to affect positive change in their communities.” (University of Texas at Arlington) These wise words show that social injustices are something that impacts the world we live in today and we need to teach the importance of them. By teaching students about Japanese-American internment camps, we can help students understand the complexity of social
These guys felt the blunt force of discrimination during this time. Japanese-Americans were forced into one of ten permanent camps. This was the result of Executive Order 9066 and Pearl Harbor. These camps were given the name internment camps. The point of internment was to test the loyalty of the Japanese-Americans.
Previously, material concerning Japanese American Interment has been highlighted and even accentuated. Examples, such as Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and No-No Boy by John Okada, as well as secondary material from historians like John Dower, emphasize just how absent stories and material concerning German and Italian American internment have been from history books. This paper will aim to bring to light just significant accounts from German and Italian Americans who were present in these internment camps on an level playing field compared to material that accentuates the Japanese American side of the story. While it would be wrong to propose that internment towards any one group was worse than the other, the thesis of this paper claims that while many Americans believed they were fighting the “Good War” against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, many Americans were paradoxically discriminating on all three of these ethnic groups through the process of internment. This contradiction in American thought undermines the
Jayna Marie Lorenzo May 23, 2023 Historiography Paper Professor Kevin Murphy Historiography Final: Japanese Internment “A date which will live in infamy,” announced President Roosevelt during a press conference after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Due to the military threat by the Japanese on the West Coast, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering for the incarceration of all people of Japanese descent. The Order forced about 120,000 Japanese Americans into relocation centers across the United States where they remained in captivity until the war ended.
The internment of the Japanese during WWII was a direct effect of racism towards Japanese people. The Japanese had been facing discrimination from the time that they began immigrating into the United States being accused of stealing jobs and land. However, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and relocation of Japanese Americans allowed for the racism to show. During 1942, Japanese people along the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington were uprooted from their homes, farms, and jobs to be placed in internment camps in the Midwest, away from the Pacific Ocean. The location of the internment camps the Japanese were placed in was an environmental decision, choosing deserts far away from any cities and sign of life.
The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was not justified. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were scared of the Japanese Americans because they could sabotage the U.S. military. To try and solve the fear President Franklin D Roosevelt told the army in Executive order 9066 to relocate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They were relocated to detention centers in the desert. Many of them were in the detention centers for three years.
How would you feel if one day you were told to leave your whole life behind to live in captivity just because people halfway across the world did something wrong? This horror story was all too true for the thousands of Japanese Americans alive during World War II. Almost overnight, thousands of proud Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced to leave their homes and give up the life they knew. The United States government was not justified in the creation of Japanese internment camps because it stripped law-abiding American citizens of their rights out of unjustified fear.
December 7th of 1941 America would face a horrific scene in their own homeland, the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor with their Air Force not once but twice. That same day President John F. Kennedy would decide to place the Japanese Americans, living in the country at the time, in internment camps. The civilians would not have a clue what they would be put up against, now they would have to encounter various obstacles to make sure they would be able to survive. “The camps were prisons, with armed soldiers around the perimeters, barbed wire. and controls over every aspect of life”(Chang).