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The Salem Witch Hunt And The Internment Of Japanese-Americans During World War II

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The Salem Witch Hunt and the Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, which is based on the events of the Salem Witch Trials. In the play, a girl accuses innocent people of witch craft, and many people died because of the misunderstanding that it was all a lie. There are many historical events that are similar to the Salem Witch Trials, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. In this event, Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps, which were solitary camps made to separate these people from the rest of the U.S. The bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan caused the distrust of Japanese-Americans similar to those accused of witch craft in the Salem Witch …show more content…

The Salem Witch Trials “were fueled by residents’ suspicions of and resentment toward their neighbors, as well as their fear of outsiders” (Salem). Just like refugees that came to Salem were disliked, Japanese-American citizens were also unwanted in the U.S. “The press and interest groups further spread fear and prejudice that denied the constitutional rights of Japanese- Americans” (Internment). “In 1940, many Japanese-Americans lived in the U.S. on the West Coast. Many could not own land, be naturalized as citizens, or vote. President Roosevelt was pressured to remove persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. In 1942, he signed an Executive order which forced all Japanese-Americans to evacuate the West Coast” (Relocation). Because Americans didn’t want Japanese-American citizens in the U.S., the government separated them so that the people of the U.S. would feel safe in their own country. In Salem, many residents were uncertain about particular people because “several centuries ago, many practicing Christians had a strong belief that the Devil could give certain people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty” (Blumberg). Therefore, these particular people were considered threatening. During WWII, …show more content…

Many Americans also believed that Japan had resident spies living on the coast and feared that Japanese-Americans would aid their racial brothers” (Internment). After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government removed a possible threat inside the borders of the U.S. by relocating citizens of the same ancestry to Japan. The accusations that went on during the Salem Witch Trials were discovered to be a lie. Because of the innocent deaths, the family members of the victims got reimbursed. “In January 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared a day of fasting for the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. The damage to the community lingered, however, even after Massachusetts Colony passed legislation restoring the good names of the condemned, and provided financial restitution to their heirs in 1711” (Salem). “The colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted” (Blumberg). Just as many lives were ruined in the Salem Witch Trials, so were the lives of many Japanese-Americans. The internment of

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How does The Salem Witch Trials relate to The Japanese Internment? Did both events happen out of fear or was this meant to be? The Salem Witch Trials and The Japanese Internment were both out of fear, and they are very similar by the events that occurred. The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692.

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During the Salem Witch Trials a lot of people were accused of using witchcraft. As a result many people died for other people’s lies, rumors, and selfishness. There is one person that really caused and is most to blame for all the chaos, her name is Abigail. Abigail is to blame for all that has happened in the Witch Trials, the reason for that is because of all the accusing and lying she has done. In addition, it all leads up to her for instance, she used a doll to accuse people of witchcraft.

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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.

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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.

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In total, the process of his execution took two full days (Findling 162-163). Executions consumed the summer of 1692 for Salem Village. Finally realizing how awful the court system and executions were, the Salem Witch Trials came to an end. Although the chaos caused by the trials had started to resolve, some of the same original fits occurred in the years following (“Salem Witch Trials” n. pag.). Salem Village was ready to move on, so the victims were ignored.

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The Crucible The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a book/play that explains the witch trials that happened in Salem Massachusetts. Because we need a good reputation to have a good self- esteem, John Proctor struggles to decide what is the most important to him, life or reputation. In this book John has a conflict with himself on whether his life or his reputation is more important. In the book Proctor says “You are the high court, your word is good enough!

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In history there have been many major events that have shaped the times we live in. Two of the major events of our time are the "witchunts" of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a drama and fictional story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692-1693. Miller wrote the play as a parable for McCarthyism, when the United States government ostracized people for being communists.

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Abstract Imagine not being able to walk outside at night or having to sell your possessions and abandon your home to spend years behind barbed wire—even though you’d done nothing wrong. For Japanese Americans during World War II, this scenario was reality. The freedom they once had is now gone, as they are put into concentration camps no longer in their home. Now having to line up for meals and to do laundry, thing you did before on a normal basis, while being hovered over. The internment of Japanese Americans in the U.S. was the act of forcing those of Japanese decent to relocation and incarcerating them during World War II.

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There were signs in neighborhoods saying “Japs weren’t welcome anymore”. Many were not even able to rebuild the lives they had before. Even if you just looked Japanese, you were sent into one of the internment camps, no questions asked. The U.S. thought they were protecting themselves by putting them in the internment camps, but when doing that they were wrong. All those people they put in the camps were innocent.

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Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer.

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historic play but more importantly is a social and psychological drama that takes place in a small puritan town in Salem Massachusetts. Many different themes find their way through this play but the most important theme is the danger of Hysteria, reputation, and Intolerance can destroy a town no matter the strength of the people in the town. As this play was written during the red scare during the cold war this play shows many aspects as McCarthyism which had similar event that the Salem witch trials had but with the red scare. Hysteria was a major factor in the many accusations of witchcraft that occurred throu out the play “The crucible”, the first example is when the young girls of the community of Salem,

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Japanese-Americans living on the west coast were savagely and unjustifiably uprooted from their daily lives. These Japanese-Americans were pulled from their jobs, schools, and home only to be pushed to

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As a result, all Japanese were discriminated in the U.S.A. as biased perceptions were already set in their minds. They were judging the Japanese as the whole, just because the attack of a small part of the

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In the article of conspiracy theories in American history, written by Amanda Laugesen, she quoted that “ the belief in a Japanese “conspiracy” was not a new phenomenon—it built on a lengthy history of suspicion and racism toward Japanese Americans since their arrival in the United States in the late nineteenth century”(Langesen 1). When the Japanese arrived for the first time in America, the Americans became racist to them and used them as a labor, trade union, etc. The Americans became more violent toward Japanese after Pearl Harbor. They were being understood as inferior racist. They were not given the equal rights like the other Americans.

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