Transcript Internment2final

Internment
Camps
By: Lauren DeFelice, Adara
Dusseau-Winters, Skyler Barnes,
Louise Matthiesen
Treatment of Internment Camps
-Internment camps- relocation and detainment of
Japanese Americans from West Coast during
WW2
-Issei – Americans of Japanese birth
-Nissei – children of Japanese born parents who
were sent to internment camps (mostly survived)
-Japanese Americans suffered a lot more than any
other aliens in USA did
-12/7/1941- Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was bombed by
Japanese natives
-US citizens began to feel threatened by Japan
and Japanese Americans
LD
-Japanese Americans had always been loyal to
USA and stood behind FDR with decisions
-Immigrant Japanese had been coming to USA
for better lives & were good workers
- “yellow flood’ of Chinese immigrants in the
1870’s where they took many jobs from
Americans for lower wages which angered
them
- They were feared during war that they’d turn
their backs on USA
- They had strict cultures and greatly obedient
LD
• Germany and Italy also disliked for their beliefs
of Nazism and Fascism
• Germans had been a potential threat from
military to their control
• There were over 11,000 Germans alone brought
into the Internment camps
• When they were taken from their homes, their
belongings were broken and taken
• About 2,000 Germans and German Americans
were taken and held by The Third Reich in
Germany
LD
- FDR signs Executive Order – 2/19/1942 – power to
define military areas where people may be excluded as
necessary/desirable
- over 110,000 were relocated into camps with their
families – named by a number
- Most of the 110,000 were infants, young kids and adults
• Many that were in the internment camps didn’t
understand why
• Japanese American Citizens League – limited
membership to its people and stressed importance of
Americanization and shortened ties with Japan
• Japanese Americans in CA, OR, WA, AZ – sent to
relocation camps – rights to vote taken, lost jobs
LD
• 4 years later after the Executive Order was
signed, FDR destroyed it and camps were
finally closed after 1945
• 1968- government gave reparations to
Japanese Americans for property they had
lost
• 1988- awarded formal payments of
$20,000 each to the surviving internees
LD
•Tule Lake and Manzanar – northern Cali –
cramped camps with uncomfortable areas,
families in small spaces, bad facilities for
cooking/bathing
LD
LD
• “We’ve always been told that we are the ‘Quiet
Americans’. We think a lot in our own mind, but we
don’t say it with our words, because we don’t like
to make too many waves” – internee, Martha
Yoshioka
• “I know many… who say, that was all so long ago.
Let’s forget it and leave well enough alone. But I
just say, we were the ones that went through it –
the tears and the shame and the shock. We need to
leave our legacy to our children. And also our
legacy to America, from our tears, what we
learned.” – Internee, Mary Tsukamoto
LD
LD
LD
• health problems included
psychological anguish and
cardiovascular disease
• Internees of the camps went through
trauma constantly over:
- loss of culture and habits
- low self esteem
- pressure to follow along
- disobedience of parents
LD
Justifications
• Fear of Japanese spies.
• Military pushed for control to help calm
hysteria.
• War Hysteria people on West Coast
feared another attack.
ADW
Relevant Laws
• Executive Order #9066- ordered around
120,000 Japanese-Americans into
Internment Camps.
• Act of March 21st, 1942- commit a crime
in a Camp and know you are committing
a crime you can be fined $5,000 and/or
jailed for a year.
ADW
Relevant Laws Cont.
• Public Proclamation #21- allowed people
to return home from the Internment
Camps.
• Civil Liberties Act of 1988- says U.S. gov’t.
was wrong, sets up restitution, apologizes,
and sets up public knowledge fund.
ADW
Constitutional Issues
• Honoring Due Process- prisoners were
held but rarely charged.
• Maintaining Innocence Until Proven Guiltypeople would assume all JapaneseAmericans were spies.
• Equal Protection Clause- JapaneseAmericans were discriminated against.
ADW
Lawsuits/Events
• After the bombing of pearl harbor the US
became very suspicious of Japanese
Americans
• they forced them from their homes and
put them into interment camps
• Many of these victims were outraged and
began to file lawsuits against the
government
SB
•
•
•
•
Hirabayashi v U.S
Yasui v U.S.
Korematsu v U.S
These were all very famous lawsuits that
were filed against the US government for
taking away civil liberties of American
citizens
SB
Hirabayashi v U.S
 Gordon Hirabayashi was attending the
university of Washington and he was
violating curfew and evacuation orders
while in a military area
 Congress then provided the means of
enforcing the order by criminalizing
violations of military regulations in those
areas, including the curfew and exclusion
orders
SB
Yasui v U.S.
• The court said the curfew could not be
applied to non-citizens
• Minoru Yasui was working at the
Japanese consulate and had forfeited his
citizenship
• Because he had become a citizen the
curfew could be applied to him
SB
Korematsu v U.S
• During this time the US was removing all people
of Japanese decent out of Military areas
• Korematsu was living in a military area and he
was refusing to leave
• This was becoming a very controversial case,
because the court was trying not to have any
racial influence, and to keep it all about the
safety of the military, but it was difficult to do at
this time.
SB
Violating the Civil Rights
LM
•
•
•
•
Prejudice
Discrimination
Conformity
Fear
The internment camps are known for being
the event in US history that violated the civil
rights the most
LM
Speak up
Hirabayashi vs. US, 1943
College student, refused to obey and challenged
the law
Korematsu vs. US, 1944
They both argued their 5th amendment rights were
violated by the US. Gov. because of the
ancestry. The Supreme Court favored US gov. in
both cases
LM
Americans reaction
Some people will still claim that it did not
violated the civil rights, because they were
a threat to the national security (spying for
Japan)
LM
A line from the 5th amendment:
“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Totally denied with the Excusive Order 9066
A man is innocent until his guilt is proved…
LM
After the closing of the camps
Japanese Americans regained their
American citizenship.
In 1968 the government began
reparations to Japanese Americans
for property they had lost.
LM
Habeas Corpus
• To protect the individual from harming
actions from the state and keep the
individual freedom
• Abraham Lincoln suspended it under the
civil war, FDR did with his signing of the
Excusive Order.
LM
Civil liberties Act of 1988
• The Act provided reparations to the
Japanese Americans who had been
interned. Payments of $20,000 to each to
the surviving 60,000 internees.
• Apologized with: "race prejudice, war
hysteria, and a failure of political
leadership". (Reagan) The act was signed
by President Reagan
LM
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think there would have been
much of a difference between treatment
by Nazis or the officers in the internment
camps?
2. Would you have taken action more
quickly rather than the months it took to
repay and apologize to the internees?
Discussion Questions
3. With today’s living standards, how would
you handle being contained into an
internment camp?
4. Would you feel more helpless having no
rights back then or now? Why?