Japanese Internment Camps Dbq

Japanese Americans faced internment camps, and African Americans faced civil rights issues. This so happens to be two different sides of the same coin. African Americans fought in the war, but also fought a war for civil rights back at home. Japanese Americans also helped support America in the war, but mainly faced discrimination and internment after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. One thing in common is that they both faced racial discrimination. These two groups had to fight hard both at home and on the battlefield for the rights of other people and rights for themselves. African Americans during World War II were extremely active, both in the war and back at home. They were supportive of our nation during conflict, and many even took the

Japanese Americans were judged and discriminated against, often being called names like “aliens”. They didn’t cause too many problems to society, yet that all changed in 1941. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the naval base at Pearl Harbor. After this, many Americans became paranoid of what Japanese Americans were here for. In Verger’s “Newsweek Rewind: How We Covered the Internment of Japanese-Americans During WWII” he states that a 285-page document called the Dies Report claims that Japan could be planning an invasion on the United States (Doc. C). This fear and paranoia circulating throughout the US could have been why President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The Executive Order set a basis for the relocation of tens of thousand of Japanese Americans; they were seen as a security threat. When the relocation took place, citizens or noncitizens of Japanese ancestry on the west coast were sent to internment camps. To avoid these camps, some went back to Japan, or enrolled in the army. Others even moved east to be outside of the exclusion zones. Most, however, endured their internment. Children left school and had to say goodbye to their friends to stay in these camps. Families were ripped from their homes, businesses, and communities, and didn't return until three years later in 1945 when the last internment camp closed. In Rob Verner’s “Newsweek Rewind: How We Covered the Internment of Japanese-Americans During WWII” he mentions the conditions of the camps, how in winter the temperature could have dropped to as little as minus 20 degrees. Or how the camps were surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed guards (Doc. C). The after effects of this event caused Japanese Americans to be economically devastated. They felt estranged from society and their rights. They were abandoned by the country they called home.This haunting reality of