Japanese-American Internment Camps
19 February 1942 - 29 April 1945
Japanese Internment Camp
After the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, terror seized America, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pressured by State representatives to act upon this fear, and take action against those of Japanese descent living in the United States. On the 19th of February, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This order proclaimed that the 120,000 people of Japanese descent were to be removed from their homes and placed in remote Internment Camps, also known as “War Relocation Camps”. This act was justified by the government by stating that they could not take the risk of those of Japanese descent spying on America for the Japanese forces. Over 62% of those interned were American citizens.
Japanese descended families were forced to sell the majority of their belongings, including their homes, at scandalously low prices and were moved to one of 10 different Internment Camps located in desolate and arid areas of the United States. In multiple cases they had been given only 48 hours to evacuate their homes. During the transitional time between being put into an Internment Camp and evacuating their homes, the Japanese were lodged in old stables until they could be moved permanently. At the Internment Camps, they lived in unsanitary, shabby barracks, with communal washing and eating centers. The food was mass produced, army-style grub. Life in the Internment Camps was horrible for its inhabitants. Adults and occasionally children were forced into working for the camps, under harsh and difficult conditions for little or no pay at all. Armed sentries were posted throughout the camps, and would not hesitate to harm the inhabitants or commit acts of violence against them. The people in the Internment Camps were often starved and emaciated from lack of substantial food or even food at all. These terrible living conditions prompted multiple riots which only ended in deaths and punishment for the whole of the inhabitants of these camps.
In December, 1944 Public Proclamation 21 was drafted, and put into effect on the 29th of April, 1945. This proclamation allowed internees to return to their homes, which, more often then not were no longer available to them, and they had to scatter across the country to find homes. Even after the government declared that the Japanese were not a threat, a high level of hostility was still maintained towards those of Japanese descent. In 1988, Congress passed and President Reagan signed a legislation that apologized for the internment, on behalf of the American Government. The legislation stated that the government’s actions had been based on racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. This led to the U.S. government distributing over 1.6 billion dollars in reparations to the surviving Japanese-American internees, which attributed to $20,000/person.
During the entire war, and span of time that the Internment Camps were utilized, only 10 people were convicted or spying on the U.S. for the Japanese forces. They were all Caucasian.
Japanese descended families were forced to sell the majority of their belongings, including their homes, at scandalously low prices and were moved to one of 10 different Internment Camps located in desolate and arid areas of the United States. In multiple cases they had been given only 48 hours to evacuate their homes. During the transitional time between being put into an Internment Camp and evacuating their homes, the Japanese were lodged in old stables until they could be moved permanently. At the Internment Camps, they lived in unsanitary, shabby barracks, with communal washing and eating centers. The food was mass produced, army-style grub. Life in the Internment Camps was horrible for its inhabitants. Adults and occasionally children were forced into working for the camps, under harsh and difficult conditions for little or no pay at all. Armed sentries were posted throughout the camps, and would not hesitate to harm the inhabitants or commit acts of violence against them. The people in the Internment Camps were often starved and emaciated from lack of substantial food or even food at all. These terrible living conditions prompted multiple riots which only ended in deaths and punishment for the whole of the inhabitants of these camps.
In December, 1944 Public Proclamation 21 was drafted, and put into effect on the 29th of April, 1945. This proclamation allowed internees to return to their homes, which, more often then not were no longer available to them, and they had to scatter across the country to find homes. Even after the government declared that the Japanese were not a threat, a high level of hostility was still maintained towards those of Japanese descent. In 1988, Congress passed and President Reagan signed a legislation that apologized for the internment, on behalf of the American Government. The legislation stated that the government’s actions had been based on racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. This led to the U.S. government distributing over 1.6 billion dollars in reparations to the surviving Japanese-American internees, which attributed to $20,000/person.
During the entire war, and span of time that the Internment Camps were utilized, only 10 people were convicted or spying on the U.S. for the Japanese forces. They were all Caucasian.