Japanese Internment Camps Dbq Essay

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On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, an American naval base in Hawaii, was attacked. The attack was launched by the Japanese Empire in an effort to weaken the US’s pacific military fleet because Japan was planning on invading China, one of America’s allies. The attack on Pearl Harbor was extremely concerning for many Americans because the US had never been attacked by a foreign nation before, aside from the Revolutionary War. As a result of this increase in concern, the US joined World War ll and Japanese- Americans became the victim of lots of scrutiny. Slowly Americans of Japanese descent had their rights stripped away. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 into law that allowed for the relocation of Japanese- Americans into internment …show more content…

From 1941 to 1946 Japanese- Americans were incarcerated and kept in internment camps strictly because of their race. Document E is a passage taken from a newspaper that promotes civil rights. The newspaper tells its readers that, “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps,” (Document E). Japanese- Americans were being incarcerated and it was mainly because of the prejudice against their race. Racism was a contributing factor in the decisions that surrounded the incarceration, therefore, Japanese- American internment was unjustified. However, some believe that this racism stems from the danger of Japanese- Americans. The USA was at war with Japan, so many were afraid that people of Japanese ancestry could be partaking in sabotage or espionage against the USA in order to help their home country. Document C is a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Korematsu V. United States. Fred Korematsu was an American citizen of Japanese descent who was convicted of evading incarceration. He brought his case to the Supreme Court, which decided in favor of the United States. The ruling says, “To cast this case into outlines of racial prejudice, without reference to the real military dangers which were presented, merely confuses the issue. Korematsu was not excluded from the Military Area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire,” (Document C). Some believe there was a danger to Japanese- Americans because the US was at war with the Japanese Empire. Those people felt the racism existed and was justified because of the dangers in having Japanese- Americans who might be helping the nation the US was at war with. These people are wrong because racial prejudice against Japanese- Americans existed before the war. Document H is a photo taken in 1920. This photo is a