Japanese Internment camps

Few Japanese lived on the North American continent before the late 1800’s. Then, as Japanese industry grew, it drove farmers from their land. Many of the homeless moved to America looking for new chances to succeed.  American businessmen were looking for cheap labor to build the railroads and work long hours in the fields. The Chinese had been doing this, but in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act stopped them from moving to America. The Japanese quickly took their place. In 1890 the census counted 2,039 Japanese in the U.S. Twenty years later there were more than 72,000, including 40,000 in farming, 10,000 railroad workers, and 4,000 cannery workers.


The first group of Japanese moving to America were young men, ready to work. Most of these men planned to get rich then go back to Japan. But this changed in the early 1900’s, when many settled down and started families. Many Japanese Americans rented or leased property and were incredibly successful at growing large amounts of fruits and vegetables on small pieces of land. They used Japanese businesses that began to bunch up in areas of west coast cities. Japanese Americans rarely had to look outside of their own ethnic group for anything, including marriage.  

At least part of the reason that Japanese kept to themselves was a result of prejudice. As the Empire of Japan gained power in the Pacific, Japanese Americans gained success and power in their new country, and many whites disliked them. The tradition of discriminating against Asians that began with the Chinese continued with the Japanese, as state and national governments passed laws limiting their rights. These laws banned Japanese immigrants, or Issei, from owning or renting land. It was almost impossible for Japanese Americans to get skilled jobs in businesses outside their community. The Issei were forbidden from citizenship themselves, so they focused their hopes on their children. This first generation of Japanese born in America, or Nisei, appreciated both their cultural background and their adopted country. Both generations focused on hard work and education as the keys to success. But often even that wasn’t enough, and many educated Nisei could not find jobs in the areas in which they studied. Still, the Nisei continued to accept many of the American ways while mixing them with their ethnic traditions and identities.

The attack on Pearl Harbor scared many Americans.  They suddenly came to see the Japanese Americans living in their country as a threat to national safety.  A day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The request was approved, with 
only one representative voting against it. On the west coast particularly, many citizens believed the Issei and Nissei were loyal to Japan.  Large numbers of Japanese Americans on the coast combined with traditional prejudices led to cries for action. People worried that a Japanese attack could strike again at any time.  President Roosevelt suddenly had a decision to make about what to do with the thousands of Japanese Americans living in the United States. 

President Roosevelt gave in to political and public pressure and signed a bill. Executive Order 9066 gave the War Department the power to create military exclusion areas, or places where Japanese would not be allowed to live. By 1943, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans had been forced from their homes and moved to camps in far-off inland areas of the United States. 

Today, the decision to intern Japanese Americans is usually seen by historians and legal scholars as a serious mistake.  In fact, no Japanese were convicted of spying or sabotage. In 1988, the US congress passed laws which officially apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation said that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership".  The U.S. government eventually gave more than $1.6 billion to pay back Japanese Americans who had been interned or their surviving family members. 

Watch this video about Japanese Internment  Camps. 

Comment on the blog: What are your thoughts on the Japanese being relocated during this time?