1. Japanese-Americans in World War II
Joe Johnson
Tommy Thompson
Japanese-Americans in World War II

2. Japanese-American internment camps
Joe Johnson
Japanese-American internment camps

3. 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.

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. 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.

6. 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

7. Were the internment camps necessary?
None of the people interned had ever previously shown disloyalty to the United States.
During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan
The ten people were all Caucasian.

8. Japanese-Americans: Battling Discrimination
Tommy Thompson
Japanese-Americans: Battling Discrimination

9. Pearl harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor made many Americans mistrust Japanese Americans
Japanese-Americans on West Coast were put in internment camps

10. Japanese-Americans Volunteer
Nonetheless, many Japanese-American young men volunteered to fight for America in World War II
They were determined to prove their patriotism and devotion to their adopted country

11. The 442nd Regimental
The most famous Japanese-American unit was the 442nd Regiment
They fought with distinction during the Italian Campaign

12. Korematsu v. United States
Some Japanese-Americans fought discrimination in the courts
The case of Korematsu v. United States took the case against Japanese internment all the way to the Supreme Court

13. Reparations
The U.S. government eventually admitted it was wrong to intern Japanese-Americans (forty years later)
U.S. government agreed to pay Japanese-Americans for their lost property

14. Sources