Internment Camps

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Internment Camps

• By Lauren DeFelice, Adara Dusseau-Winters,
  Skyler Barnes, Louise Matthiesen

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Treatment of Internment Camps

• Internment camps- relocation and detainment of
  Japanese Americans from West Coast during WW2
• Issei Americans of Japanese birth
• Nissei children of Japanese born parents who
  were sent to internment camps (mostly survived)
• Japanese Americans suffered a lot more than any
  other aliens in USA did
• 12/7/1941- Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was bombed by
  Japanese natives
• ?US citizens began to feel threatened by Japan
  and Japanese Americans
  LD

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• -Japanese Americans had always been loyal to USA
  and stood behind FDR with decisions
• -Immigrant Japanese had been coming to USA for
  better lives were good workers
• - yellow flood of Chinese immigrants in the
  1870s where they took many jobs from Americans
  for lower wages which angered them
• They were feared during war that theyd turn
  their backs on USA
• They had strict cultures and greatly obedient
• LD

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• Germany and Italy also disliked for their beliefs
  of Nazism and Fascism
• Germans had been a potential threat from military
  to their control
• There were over 11,000 Germans alone brought into
  the Internment camps
• When they were taken from their homes, their
  belongings were broken and taken
• About 2,000 Germans and German Americans were
  taken and held by The Third Reich in Germany
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• FDR signs Executive Order 2/19/1942 power to
  define military areas where people may be
  excluded as necessary/desirable
• over 110,000 were relocated into camps with their
  families named by a number
• Most of the 110,000 were infants, young kids and
  adults
• Many that were in the internment camps didnt
  understand why
• Japanese American Citizens League limited
  membership to its people and stressed importance
  of Americanization and shortened ties with Japan
• Japanese Americans in CA, OR, WA, AZ sent to
  relocation camps rights to vote taken, lost
  jobs
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• 4 years later after the Executive Order was
  signed, FDR destroyed it and camps were finally
  closed after 1945
• 1968- government gave reparations to Japanese
  Americans for property they had lost
• 1988- awarded formal payments of 20,000 each to
  the surviving internees
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• Tule Lake and Manzanar northern Cali cramped
  camps with uncomfortable areas, families in small
  spaces, bad facilities for cooking/bathing

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• Weve always been told that we are the Quiet
  Americans. We think a lot in our own mind, but
  we dont say it with our words, because we dont
  like to make too many waves internee, Martha
  Yoshioka
• I know many who say, that was all so long ago.
  Lets forget it and leave well enough alone. But
  I just say, we were the ones that went through it
  the tears and the shame and the shock. We need
  to leave our legacy to our children. And also our
  legacy to America, from our tears, what we
  learned. Internee, Mary Tsukamoto

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• health problems included psychological anguish
  and cardiovascular disease
• Internees of the camps went through trauma
  constantly over
• - loss of culture and habits
• - low self esteem
• - pressure to follow along
• - disobedience of parents

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Lawsuits/Events

• After the bombing of pearl harbor the US became
  very suspicious of Japanese Americans
• they forced them from their homes and put them
  into interment camps
• Many of these victims were outraged and began to
  file lawsuits against the government

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• Hirabayashi v U.S
• Yasui v U.S.
• Korematsu v U.S
• These were all very famous lawsuits that were
  filed against the US government for taking away
  civil liberties of American citizens

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Hirabayashi v U.S

• Gordon Hirabayashi was attending the university
  of Washington and he was violating curfew and
  evacuation orders while in a military area
• Congress then provided the means of enforcing the
  order by criminalizing violations of military
  regulations in those areas, including the curfew
  and exclusion orders

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Yasui v U.S.

• The court said the curfew could not be applied to
  non-citizens
• Minoru Yasui was working at the Japanese
  consulate and had forfeited his citizenship
• Because he had become a citizen the curfew could
  be applied to him

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Korematsu v U.S

• During this time the US was removing all people
  of Japanese decent out of Military areas
• Korematsu was living in a military area and he
  was refusing to leave
• This was becoming a very controversial case,
  because the court was trying not to have any
  racial influence, and to keep it all about the
  safety of the military, but it was difficult to
  do at this time.

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Violating the Civil Rights
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• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• Conformity
• Fear
• The internment camps are known for being the
  event in US history that violated the civil
  rights the most

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Speak up

• Hirabayashi vs. US, 1943
• College student, refused to obey and challenged
  the law
• Korematsu vs. US, 1944
• They both argued their 5th amendment rights were
  violated by the US. Gov. because of the
  ancestry. The Supreme Court favored US gov. in
  both cases

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Americans reaction

• Some people will still claim that it did not
  violated the civil rights, because they were a
  threat to the national security (spying for
  Japan)

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• A line from the 5th amendment
• nor shall be compelled in any criminal case
  to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived
  of life, liberty, or property, without due
  process of law nor shall private property be
  taken for public use, without just compensation.
  
• Totally denied with the Excusive Order 9066
• A man is innocent until his guilt is proved

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• After the closing of the camps Japanese
  Americans regained their American citizenship.
• In 1968 the government began reparations to
  Japanese Americans for property they had lost.

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Habeas Corpus

• To protect the individual from harming actions
  from the state and keep the individual freedom
• Abraham Lincoln suspended it under the civil war,
  FDR did with his signing of the Excusive Order.

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Civil liberties Act of 1988

• The Act provided reparations to the Japanese
  Americans who had been interned. Payments of
  20,000 to each to the surviving 60,000
  internees.
• Apologized with "race prejudice, war hysteria,
  and a failure of political leadership". (Reagan)
  The act was signed by President Reagan

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Discussion Questions

1. Do you think there would have been much of a
   difference between treatment by Nazis or the
   officers in the internment camps?
2. Would you have taken action more quickly rather
   than the months it took to repay and apologize to
   the internees?

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Discussion Questions

• 3. With todays living standards, how would you
  handle being contained into an internment camp?
• 4. Would you feel more helpless having no rights
  back then or now? Why?