The Japanese American internment camps
Japanese Americans were brought to an internment camp, for no real reason.
Some of the internment camps were not finished when the Japanese Americans were
supposed to move into them. They had to stay temporarily in cramped smelly horse
stables as rooms. The Japanese Americans were brought to an internment camp for
being potential Japanese spies. Japanese Americans that lived on the West Coast of
America were put in 1 of 10 internment camps.
The camps had bad conditions and horrible medical care, because
they did not have enough medicine, pillows, linens and bed pans. They had 4
apartments for each barrack. The apartments were single rooms and measured 20 ft.
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Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Americans thought that
the Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, could be spies so they decided to
put them in internment camps. President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 on
February 19, 1942. ‘‘It says that all people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast will be removed from their homes and placed in ten War Relocation
Authority [WRA] camps”. ( Hanel, Rachael. "Freedom." The Japanese American Internment: An Interactive History Adventure. Mankato, Minn.: Capstone, 2008. 112. Print.)
120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to live at at ten camps they were
located in Colorado, 2 in Arizona, Wyoming, 2 in Arkansas, 2 in California, Idaho, and
Utah”. (Hanel, Rachael. "Freedom." The Japanese American Internment: An Interactive History Adventure. Mankato, Minn.: Capstone, 2008. 112. Print.) ,
The Japanese Americans had between 48 hours to a week’s notice to pack up their
belongings. They had to leave their homes and businesses that they owned. Some of the
Japanese Americans had to leave their families behind. The could bring a couple of
Beginning in March of 1942, in the midst of World War II, over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully removed from their homes and ordered to relocate to several of what the United States has euphemistically labeled “internment camps.” In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes in frightening detail her family’s experience of confinement for three and a half years during the war. In efforts to cope with the mortification and dehumanization and the boredom they were facing, the Wakatsukis and other Japanese-Americans participated in a wide range of activities. The children, before a structured school system was organized, generally played sports or made trouble; some adults worked for extremely meager wages, while others refused and had hobbies, and others involved themselves in more self-destructive activities.
During World War II, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans in the western United States were forced into internment camps because the government felt as though the Japanese were dangerous if they were not relocated. These camps were usually in poor condition and in deserted areas of the nation. The Japanese were forced to make the best of their situation and thus the adults farmed the land and tried to maximize leisure while children attempted to enjoy childhood. The picture of the internee majorettes, taken by internee and photographer Toyo Miyatake, shows sixteen girls standing on bleachers while posing in front of the majestic Sierra Nevada mountain range and desolate Manzanar background. Their faces show mixed expressions of happiness, sadness and indifference, and their attire is elegant and American in style. With the image of these smiling girls in front of the desolate background, Miyatake captures an optimistic mood in times of despair. Though this photograph is a representation of the Manzanar internment camp and, as with most representations, leaves much unsaid, the majorette outfits and smiling faces give a great deal of insight on the cooperative attitudes of Japanese Americans and their youth's desire to be Americanized in this time.
During 1941 many Americans were on edge as they became increasingly more involved in WWII. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese decided to take matters to their own hands. They attacked the naval base Pearl Harbor and killed 68 Americans in order to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with their military. After this surprise attack, the Americans officially entered the war, which caused many people to become paranoid (Baughman). Many people feared the Japanese because they thought they were spies for Japan, and because of this the Executive Order 9066 was signed and issued by FDR which sent many Japanese Americans to live in internment camps (Roosevelt). This caused the Japanese to become a scapegoat of America’s fear and anger. The Issei and Nisei who once moved to this country to find new opportunities and
The camps were located away from Japan and isolated, so if a spy tried to communicate, word wouldn't get out. The camps were unfair to the Japanese, but the US was trying to be cautious. Even more than 66% or 2/3 of the Japanese-Americans sent to the internment camps in April of 1942 were born in the United States and many had never been to Japan. Their only crime was that they had Japanese ancestors and they were suspected of being spies to their homeland of Japan. Japanese-American World War I veterans that served for the United States were also sent to the internment camps.
Japanese Internment Camps Ten weeks after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) singed an Executive Order of 9066 that authorized the removal of any people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable”(FDR). The west coast was home of majority of Japanese Americans was considered as military areas. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans was sent and were relocated to the internment camps that were built by the United States. Of the Japanese that were interned, 62 percent were Nisei (American born, second generation) or Sansei (third-generation Japanese) the rest of them were Issai Japanese immigrants. Americans of Japanese ancestry were far the most widely affected.
Marsh, James H. "Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. .
The novel, Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, tells her family’s true story of how they struggled to not only survive, but thrive in forced detention during World War II. She was seven years old when the war started with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942. Her life dramatically changed when her and her family were taken from their home and sent to live at the Manzanar internment camp. Along with ten thousand other Japanese Americans, they had to adjust to their new life living behind barbed wire. Obviously, as a young child, Jeanne did not fully understand why they had to move, and she was not fully aware of the events happening outside the camp. However, in the beginning, every Japanese American had questions. They wondered why they had to leave. Now, as an adult, she recounts the three years she spent at Manzanar and shares how her family attempted to survive. The conflict of ethnicities affected Jeanne and her family’s life to a great extent.
The San Francisco News stated that Thomas C. Clark, alien control coordinator, stated he hoped the Japanese were evacuated within 60 days but he wasn’t “going to push them around.” “We are going to give these people a fair chance to dispose of their properties at proper prices, it has come to our attention that many Japanese farmers have been stampeded into selling their properties for little or nothing” (The San Francisco News, 1942).... ... middle of paper ... ... (Roxworthy, 2013)
21 . Robinson, Greg By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans,2003, Harvard University Press
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was filled with panic. Along the Pacific coast of the U.S., where residents feared more Japanese attacks on their cities, homes, and businesses, this feeling was especially great. During the time preceding World War II, there were approximately 112,000 persons of Japanese descent living in California, Arizona, and coastal Oregon and Washington. These immigrants traveled to American hoping to be free, acquire jobs, and for some a chance to start a new life. Some immigrants worked in mines, others helped to develop the United States Railroad, many were fishermen, farmers, and some agricultural laborers.
Cultural diversity has helped us understand other culture contributions by learning about Japanese- American internment camps, 1960’s Harlem, and mexican american culture. To begin with, Japanese- American internment camps made America weaker but, when they got out of the camps it made America stronger. “A fellow came running down the wharf shouting that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor”(Houston, 6). This means that the Japanese who did nothing wrong were to get hurt. The bombing was the beginning point of the book and made it start all of the events. “Bare floors, blanket partitions, one bulb in each apartment dangling from a roof ceiling, and open ceilings overhead”(Houston, 28). This shows that the Americans
everything he owned. He took refuge in criminal activity, and was sent to prison. His
They thought it was a enemy, and it was a huge threat. So the Japanese started shooting down every U.S military base they knew. When the code talkers spoke on radio they had to make sure to use the words ‘New Mexico’ or Arizona so they knew it wasn't a problem.
On February 1942, President Roosevelt issued an executive order, which was 9066 stating that Japanese Americans to evacuate their homes and live in an internment camp. This autobiographical called, “Farewell to Manzanar” by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. Jeanne wanted to write this book to give details on her experience during World War II internment camps. “It is a story, or a web of stories my own, my father’s, my family’s -- tracing a few paths that led up to and away from the experience of the internment” (pg XI). Mrs. Houston had other books beside this particular book, some of the others were called, “Don't Cry, It’s Only Thunder” and “The Legend of Fire Horse Woman”.
Maybe it is effortless for those who had never felt the sear conditions of internment camps to say, “stay there.” But when you have witness savage crowds torch your mothers and fathers homes by wish and stone your sister and brothers on impulse; when you have witnessed soldiers overflow with loath burn, curse, and even murder your sisters and brothers; when you have witnessed an excruciating amount of your one hundred twenty thousand japanese brothers thrown into the frightening ring of oppression in the heart of a free government; when you unexpectedly find yourself flummoxed and stuttering as you search for an excuse to tell your nine year old sister why she cannot go to the new ice cream bar that opened around the block, and notice despondency