Name____________________ Period____

Japanese Americans in World War II

In groups of 3, you will have a summarizer, questioner, and a connector.
Read the following article.
At the end, the Summarizer will summarize what happened.
The Questioner will think of at least three questions about the article.
The connector will connect what happened with the Japanese to a movie, tv show, current
event, or something else happening today.
Then you will identify the stereotypes you see
You may help each other, and everyone must write the questions, connection, and summary in the
space provided.

You will then read the headlines and answer the questions that follow.

When you finish, see Ms. H for the next step.

Context of Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of

about 122,000 Japanese Americans:
Between 1861 and 1940, approximately 275,000 Japanese immigrated to Hawaii and the
mainland United States, the majority arriving between 1898 and 1924, when quotas were
adopted that ended Asian immigration. Many worked in Hawaiian sugarcane fields as contract
laborers. After their contracts expired, a small number remained and opened up shops. Other
Japanese immigrants settled on the West Coast of mainland United States, cultivating marginal
farmlands and fruit orchards, fishing, and operating small businesses. Their efforts yielded
impressive results. Japanese Americans controlled less than 4 percent of Californias farmland in
1940, but they produced more than 10 percent of the total value of the states farm resources.

As was the case with other immigrant groups, Japanese Americans settled in ethnic
neighborhoods and established their own schools, houses of worship, and economic and cultural
institutions. Ethnic concentration was further increased by real estate agents who would not sell
properties to Japanese Americans outside of existing Japanese enclaves and by a 1913 act passed
by the California Assembly restricting land ownership to those eligible to be citizens. In 1922 the
U.S. Supreme Court, in Ozawa v. United States, upheld the governments right to deny U.S.
citizenship to Japanese immigrants.

Envy over economic success combined with distrust over cultural separateness and long-standing
anti-Asian racism turned into disaster when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941. Lobbyists from western states, many representing competing economic
interests or nativist groups, pressured Congress and the President to remove persons of Japanese
descent from the west coast, both foreign born (issei meaning first generation of Japanese in
the U.S.) and American citizens (nisei the second generation of Japanese in America, U.S.
citizens by birthright.) During Congressional committee hearings, Department of Justice
representatives raised constitutional and ethical objections to the proposal, so the U.S. Army
carried out the task instead. The West Coast was divided into military zones, and on February 19,
1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing exclusion.
Congress then implemented the order on March 21, 1942, by passing Public Law 503.

After encouraging voluntary evacuation of the areas, the Western Defense Command began
involuntary removal and detention of West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry. In the next 6
months, approximately 122,000 men, women, and children were moved to assembly centers.
They were then evacuated to and confined in isolated, fenced, and guarded relocation centers,
known as internment camps. The 10 relocation sites were in remote areas in 6 western states and
Arkansas: Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Tule Lake and Manzanar in California, Topaz in Utah,
Poston and Gila River in Arizona, Granada in Colorado, Minidoka in Idaho, and Jerome and
Rowher in Arkansas.

Nearly 70,000 of the evacuees were American citizens. The government made no charges against
them, nor could they appeal their incarceration. All lost personal liberties; most lost homes and
property as well. Although several Japanese Americans challenged the governments actions in
court cases, the Supreme Court upheld their legality. Nisei were nevertheless encouraged to serve
in the armed forces, and some were also drafted. Altogether, more than 30,000 Japanese
Americans served with distinction during World War II in segregated units.

For many years after the war, various individuals and groups sought compensation for the
internees. The speed of the evacuation forced many homeowners and businessmen to sell out
quickly; total property loss is estimated at $1.3 billion, and net income loss at $2.7 billion
(calculated in 1983 dollars based on the Commission investigation below). The Japanese
American Evacuation Claims Act of 1948, with amendments in 1951 and 1965, provided token
payments for some property losses. More serious efforts to make amends took place in the early
1980s, when the congressionally established Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment
of Civilians held investigations and made recommendations. As a result, several bills were
introduced in Congress from 1984 until 1988, when Public Law 100-383, which acknowledged
the injustice of the internment, apologized for it, and provided for restitution, was passed.

For more information and other documents regarding the War Relocation Authority and the
incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, visit the National Archives Truman
Presidential Museum and Library.

(Information excerpted from Documents from the National Archives: Internment of Japanese
Americans [Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1989] pp. 910.)

For more information and education lesson plans visit the National Park Service site "The War
Relocation Camps of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger Than Justice."

https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=74

Summary:
Questions:

Connections:

Stereotypes you see (Use textual evidence to support your response):

Headlines:
Jap: an offensive term for people of Japanese origin.

Determining the Facts

Fear!

The following headlines and excerpts from articles appeared in The Los Angeles Times between
December 1941 and February 1942. They provide a glimpse of what people living in Los
Angeles could read in the papers in the months following Pearl Harbor:

SUICIDE REVEALS SPY RING HERE. Japanese Doctor Who Killed Self After Arrest
Called Espionage Chief. (Dec. 19, 1941)

WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF POISON GAS ATTACKS. (Dec. 19, 1941)

JAP SUBS RAID CALIFORNIA SHIPS. Two Steamers Under Fire. (Dec. 21, 1941)

JAPAN PICTURED AS A NATION OF SPIES. Veteran Far Eastern Correspondent Tells

About Mentality of Our Enemies in Orient. (Dec. 23, 1941)

[U. S.] REPRESENTATIVE FORD WANTS ALL COAST JAPS IN CAMPS. (Jan. 22,
1942)

NEW WEST COAST RAIDS FEARED. Unidentified Flares and Blinker Lights Ashore Worry
Naval Officials. (Jan. 25, 1942)

OLSEN SAYS WAR MAY HIT STATE. Shift of Combat to California Possible, Governor
Declares. (Jan. 26, 1942)

EVICTION OF JAP ALIENS SOUGHT. Immediate Removal of Nipponese Near Harbor and
Defense Areas Urged by Southland Officials. (Jan 28, 1942)

THE QUESTION OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS

by W. H. Anderson
Perhaps the most difficult and delicate question that confronts our powers that be is the handling-
-the safe and proper treatment--of our American-born Japanese, our Japanese-American citizens
by the accident of birth. But who are Japanese nevertheless. A viper is nonetheless a viper
wherever the egg is hatched. (Feb. 2, 1942)

CALIFORNIANS SEEK MORE ALIEN CURBS. Washington and Oregon Members of

Congress Join in Plea for Expansion of Program. (Feb. 3, 1942)
AMERICAN JAPS REMOVAL URGED. Internment of All Dual Citizens Asked by [Los
Angeles] County Defense Council. (Feb. 3, 1942)

VENTURA COUNTY URGES REMOVAL OF ALL JAPANESE. Supervisor Demands

Drastic Measures in Seeking Evacuation From Coast Area. (Feb. 4, 1942)

LOYAL JAPS MUST AID FIGHT AGAINST SABOTAGE, SAYS OLSON. Governor
Asserts Action Will be Taken to Curb Spy and Fifth Columnist Activities. (Feb. 5, 1942)

JAPANESE HERE SENT VITAL DATA TO TOKYO. American-Born Nipponese Had

Powerful Radios to Transmit Messages, Dies [Chairman, House Un-American Activities
Committee] Will Disclose. (Feb. 6, 1942)

BOWRON ASKS REMOVAL OF ALL JAPANESE INLAND. Mayor would Establish Both
Alien and Native-Born Hundreds of Miles From Coast. (Feb. 6, 1942)

ARMY ORDERS SABOTAGE ALERT HERE. Warning Issued for All California. City
Placed on Air Raid Alert. (Feb. 7, 1942)

ALIEN ISOLATION PLEA MISUNDERSTOOD. Washington Seems to Feel Coast is

Panicky; [Says] All Necessary Measures Have Been Taken. (Feb. 8, 1942)

MILITARY CONTROL OF ALIENS ADVOCATED. Defense Council Wants Army and

Navy to Police Foreigners in Combat Zones. (Feb. 12, 1942)

LINCOLN WOULD INTERN JAPS. [Mayor] Bowron Says Civil War President Would Move
Aliens If In Office Today. (Feb. 13, 1942)

DANGER IN DELAYING JAP REMOVAL CITED. Congress Warned Speed Necessary to

Prevent Widespread Sabotage Attempts on West Coast. (Feb. 14, 1942)

THE FIFTH COLUMN ON THE COAST

by Walter Lippmann
The enemy alien problem on the Pacific Coast, or much more accurately, the fifth column
problem, is very serious and it is very special. . . .The peculiar danger of the Pacific Coast is in a
Japanese raid accompanied by enemy action inside American territory. . . . It is the fact that the
Japanese navy has been reconnoitering the Pacific Coast more or less continually and for a
considerable period of time, testing and feeling out the American defenses. It is the fact that
communication takes place between the enemy at sea and enemy agents on land. These are facts
which we shall ignore or minimize at our peril. It is the fact that since the outbreak of the
Japanese war there has been no important sabotage on the Pacific Coast. From what we know
about Hawaii and about the fifth column in Europe, this is not, as some have liked to think, a
sign that there is nothing to be feared. It is a sign that the blow is well organized and that it is
held back until it can be struck with maximum effect . . . The Pacific Coast is officially a combat
zone; some part of it may at any moment be a battlefield. Nobody's constitutional rights include
the right to reside and do business on a battlefield. And nobody ought to be on a battlefield who
has no good reason for being there. (Feb. 13, 1942)

Following is text from Executive Order No. 9066, signed by President Roosevelt on February 19,
1942:

WHEREAS the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against
espionage and against sabotage, . . . I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War . . . to
prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he may determine, from which any
or all persons may be excluded, and with such respect to which, the right of any person to enter,
remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the
appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby
authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such
transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary . . . to accomplish
the purpose of this order.

Answer the following questions about the headlines:

1. Based on the headlines, what do you think people living in Los Angeles were afraid of? What
do you think W. H. Anderson meant when he said: "A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the
egg is hatched"?

2. If you were a Japanese American living in Los Angeles, how would you react to these
headlines?

3. Walter Lippmann was a highly respected correspondent for the New York Tribune, who had
just returned to the East after a visit to California. What facts did he cite as justification for his
conclusion that a Japanese "fifth column," or spy network, existed on the Pacific Coast? Japanese
submarines were patrolling off the California coast, but neither the Federal Bureau of
Investigation nor the Federal Communications Commission could find any evidence of
communication from the shore. Why do you think officials and others were so willing to believe
that Japanese living on the West Coast were signaling the submarines? Why do you think
Lippmann said that the fact that no sabotage has occurred proved that it would? Answer this
question on the back of this page.
4. Why do you think Executive Order 9066 never mentions the Japanese, even though they are
the people most directly affected?

5. How do these headlines compare to newspaper or television coverage of events occurring

today?

https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/89manzanar/89facts1.htm
For accelerated students: read the following executive order and then provide a summary, questions,
connections to today, and stereotypes you see. Then they would look at the headlines just like everyone
else. They could even move onto to working through the reality-stereotype diagram.

Transcript of Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942)

Executive Order No. 9066

The President

Executive Order

Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas

Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against
espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and
national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended
by the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655
(U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104);

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War,
and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any
designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in
such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine,
from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any
person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War
or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is
hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such
transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of
the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to
accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality
shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the
Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of
the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted
areas.

I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to
take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to
enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area hereinabove authorized
to be designated, including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority
to accept assistance of state and local agencies.

I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and
other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in
carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food,
clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities,
and services.

This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way the authority heretofore
granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as
limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with
respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the
Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8,
1941, prescribing regulations for the conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty
and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The White House,

February 19, 1942.

https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=74&page=transcript

Summary:

Questions:

Connections:

Stereotypes you see:

Name____________________________ Period______________
Based on our study of the Japanese internment camp, fill out this diagram as we discuss these
topics in class. Be sure to include textual evidence to support your answer for each column.

Reality Assumption Stereotype Prejudice

What is the reality What assumption What is the stereotype? How does the
behind the stereotype? connects the reality to stereotype influence
the stereotype? peoples judgement of
Japanese?

Reflection: What could you have done at the time to see beyond the stereotype? To help others see
beyond the stereotype?

What are some stereotypes in todays world? What can we do to see beyond them?