1. Japanese- American Internment Camps during World War II

2. Vocabulary
Internment-To place in confinement (to shut or keep in), especially in wartime
Barracks-A building, or group of buildings used to house military personnel.

3. Map of Internment Camps

4. How it started
December 7th 1941: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (a military base in Hawaii). United States was scared of another attack and war hysteria seized the country.
February 19th 1942: Executive Order 9066 moved 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes into internment camps.
The US justified their action by claiming there was a danger of Japanese Americans spying for Japan
More than 2/3 of those interned were American citizens and 1/2 of them were children.
Some family members were separated and put in different camps.

5. Loss of Property
Much personal property stored in government warehouses was stolen or lost.
Farms and land had to be sold in days at a great loss.
Tenant farmers (Issei- so unable to own land) lost farming rights.

6. Coming to the camps

7. What was it like to live there?
Life in the camps was hard.
The families had about 2 days to pack for the camps
They were only were allowed to bring what they could carry
They were housed in barracks and had to use communal areas for washing, laundry and eating.

8. What did the Japanese Americans do while in the camps?

9. School Time

10. How did it end?
January 1945 : the Public Proclamation 21 became effective in which allowed internees to return to their homes.
At the end of the war some remained in the US and rebuilt their lives.
Others were unforgiving and returned to Japan.

11. Were the internment camps necessary?
None of the people interned had ever previously shown disloyalty to the United States.
German Americans and Italian Americans were not interned.
The 442nd Infantry, comprised primarily of Japanese Americans- most highly decorated.