Transcript Japanese Internment - St. Francis School District

Internment of Japanese
Americans
1942-1945
Warm-up

What reasons do you think the United States
interned Japanese in the US during WWII?
 Do you think that the United States would
ever intern a group of people today?
Upfront article

Pages 16-18
How many Japanese lived in
America?

120,000 Japanese lived in the United States
during World War II
 Most were US citizens living on the West
Coast

Japanese American

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December
7, 1941
 Citizens feared US would be attacked by the
Japanese
 Citizens believed false rumors that Japanese
Americans were committing sabotage

Japanese Internment

Fear and uncertainty caused a wave of
prejudice against Japanese Americans
 1942US War Department called for mass
evacuation of all Japanese Americans from
Hawaii. 37% of island was Japanese
Japanese Internment

Internment

Newspapers attacked the Japanese
 1942, President Roosevelt signed an order
requiring the removal of people of Japanese
ancestry from California and parts of
Washington, Oregon, and Arizona
Add
Internment

President justified it as necessary for
national security
 110,000 Japanese Americans shipped to ten
remote “relocation centers”prison camps
 2/3s were Nisei Born in America

Internment

No charges were ever filed against Japanese
Americans
 No evidence of subversion ever found
 Terrified Japanese American families were
forced to sell their homes, businesses, and
all their belongings for less than their true
value

Going to the Camps

Supreme Court Case

Korematsu vs. United StatesSupreme
Court argued relocating Japanese was
justified on the basis of “military necessity.”
 Japanese American Citizens League pushed
government to compensate
 1965Congress authorized spending $38
million for the purpose of paying back
Japanese citizens losses…only covered 1/10
Korematsu

JACL

1978, called for payment of reparations to each
individual that suffered internment.
 Decade later, Congress pass, Reagan signed, a bill
that promised $20,000 to every Japanese
American sent to relocation camp.
 Pres. Bush” We can never fully right the wrongs
of the past. But we can take a clear stand for
justice and recognize that serious injustices were
done to Japanese Americans during World War II.”
Ronald Reagan

Questions

Should the Japanese Americans receive
reparations?

Could this ever happen again in the United
States? Please explain