Background Infromation

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Pearl Harbor

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     On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, destroying much of the Pacific fleet battle group stationed there.  The picture shows the sinking of USS Arizona; more than one thousand people were trapped inside the ship when it were sent to the depths of Pearl Harbor on that sunny December day (UCA Archives).  On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

     The tension at that time was bad for Japanese Americans who were in the United States.  As a result of the war with Japan, many people in the United States did not trust people of Japanese ancestry.





Initial Government Action

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     Within hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor at Hawaii, FBI agents, many without evidence or search warrants, went house to house and rounded up 1,212 Japanese in the U.S. mainland and Hawaii islands.  Most of those arrested were prominent leaders in Japanese communities.  They included priests, teachers in language schools, officers of community organizations, and newspaper editors. All of them were taken to unknown destinations and treated as prisoners of war.

     Even Japanese-Americans who were born in this country were mistakenly thought to be loyal to Japan.  As seen in the picture above, racial prejudice against Japanese Americans was high after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and throughout World War II (UCA Archives). There were a lot of rumors that Japanese Americans were helping Japan by using special codes to make contact with them.  Nevertheless, there is no evidence that Japanese Americans were spying for Japan.

      Inspite of the fact that there was absolutely no proof that Japanese Americans were disloyal to America, the federal government and its leaders decided that no one of Japanese ancestry could live in the west coast of the United States.  On the morning of February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which began this prohibition.






Mass Removal

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     Over 120,000 people, including children and elderly, were forced to leave their homes in California and parts of Washington, Oregon, and Arizona.  Most did not have time to sell their possessions and properties at a fair price.  Though some people moved to other states, the majority were forced to go to internment camps also knowns as relocation centers.  They were only allowed to take a few belongings with them, and many families lost virtually everything they owned except what they could carry.

     As seen in the picture above, all Japanese were scheduled to gather at the place and time that was indicated to them by a letter from the governmet (UCA Archives).  After they gathered, they were forced to ride buses, trucks, or trains that transported them to internment camps.  Many Japanese children could not understand why they had to say goodbye to their friends because they had always thought that they were Americans. They could not understand the reason.

     All the Japanese Americans on the west coast were moved to ten internment camps located from California to Arkansas.  Internees spent many years in camps.   They were locked behind barbed wire fences, and armed guards patroled the camps.  Entire families lived in cramped, one room quarters that were poorly constructed.  As the picture shows, the living area in the internment camps were crowd and unclean (UCA Archives). There was not any hot water for bathing and washing clothes, and lice was a common problem inside internment camps.

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