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Citizenship Denied: An Integrated Unit on the Japanese American Internment

By: Judy Woo and Jolynn Asato

  1. Abstract
  2. Introductory Time Line
  3. Goals & Objectives
  4. Sample Lessons
  5. Glossary of Terms
  6. Bibliography
  7. Supporting Materials
    1. Civilian Exclusion Order
    2. Relocation Centers
    3. Poetry
    4. Wartime Hysteria Documents

Abstract

In 1942, 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States were relocated to ten internment camps. It took another forty years for the US government to recognize the violations of this population's constitutional rights. From studying the experiences of those interned, students will recognize and discuss a multitude of other issues such as civil rights, citizenship, and the legacy of racism. Using a variety of resources, students will investigate and interpret diverse points of view among those interned. The lessons ore organized around the central question of' "Whet are our rights and responsibilities as American citizens?" Our goal is to empower students to recognize social injustices and advocate for the constitutional rights of everyone.

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Timeline of the Japanese American Internment

This is a brief timeline to help organize the scope of this unit. This is not a comprehensive introduction to the experiences of those interned. We highly recommend that teachers use a variety of resources to familiarize themselves with the historical context of the internment. We have provided a bibliography to direct you to such resources.

1912 Japanese Americans owned 12,726 acres of farmland in California. l
1913 California Alien land Law prohibited "aliens ineligible to citizenship" lie. all Asian immigrants) From owning land or property, but permitted three year leases. l
1920 California Alien land law prohibited leasing land to 'aliens ineligible to citizenship." By 1925, it was also prohibited in Washington, Arizona, Oregon. Idaho Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Missouri. During World War II, Utah, Wyoming, and Arkansas also joined. l
1922 In Ozawa v. U.S., the Supreme Court reaffirmed that Asian immigrants were not eligible for naturalization. 2
Feb. 28, 1933 The day after the Reichstag fire, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to sign Article 38, an "emergency" decree authorizing Hitler to suspend civil rights, arrest, imprison and execute suspicious persons (communists, socialists, and labor union leaders), and outlaw non-Nazi press. 4
March 20, 1933 Dachau, the First Nazi concentration camp, opened. 3
April 7, 1433 Jews barred from German civil service. 3
July 14, 1933 Hitler obtained the right to revoke German citizenship for persons considered a threat or "undesirable" to the government. 4
June, 1935 Congress passed an act making aliens otherwise ineligible to citizenship eligible if (al they had served in the U.S. armed Forces between April 6, 1917, and November ii, 1918, and been honorably discharged, and they were permanent residents of the United States. A, small number of Issei obtained citizenship under this act before the deadline on January 1, 1937. 10
Sept. 15 1935 Nuremberg Laws ended German citizenship for Jews. 3
September 21, 1935 Jewish doctors forced to resign from private hospitals by Nuremberg Laws. 4
Nov. 16, 1937 Jews could obtain passports for travel outside of Germany only in special cases. 3
July 22, 1938 Effective January 1. 1939 in Germany, all Jews forced to carry special identification cards. 4
Nov. 15 1938 German schools expelled all Jews. 3
Nov. 28, 1939 German Jews restricted by curfew. 4
Feb. 1939 The Wagner-Rogers bill (by Massachusetts Republican Congress member Edith Nourse pagers and New York Democrat Senator Robert F. Wagner) died in Congress. Roosevelt refused to take a position on it. It would have admitted 20,000 additional Jewish refugee children under the age of 14 into the United States from Germany and Austria.
1939 Lists of dangerous enemy aliens and citizens began to be compiled in various government departments, such as the FBI, special intelligence agencies of the Justice Department, the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the army's Military Intelligence Division. 8
Nov. 26 1940 Jews in Warsaw began to be forced into a ghetto enclosed by an 8-foot high wall. The German government denied that anti-Semitism áwas its motivation. 4
1940 The census found 126,947 Japanese Americans; 62.7% were citizens by birth. In addition, 157,905 were in the Territory of Hawaii, and 263 in the territory of Alaska. 2
June 13, 1941 5000 Jews sent From Paris to labor camps. 4
June 1941 Vichy Government revoked civil rights of French Jews in North Africa. 3
Summer 1941 The Hawaiian National Guard (mode up largely of Nisei) was federalized and later become the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. 1
Sept. 6, 1941 Effective September 19, Jews prohibited from appeanng in public without the Jewish star and prohibited from leaving their residential areas without police permission. 4
Nov. 1941 The Japanese Language School at the Presidio of San Francisco was formed. In the first class were 45 Nisei and Káibei and T5 others. It was moved to Camp Savage, Minnesota, renamed the Military Intelligence Service language School (MISLS) and later moved to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. 1
Dec. 7. 1941 Japan bombed pearl Harbor. A blanket presidential warrant authorized U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle to have the FBI arrest a predetermined number of "dangerous enemy aliens," including German, Italian, and Japanese nationals. 737 Japanese Americans arrested by the end of the day. 2
Dec. 8, 1941 U.S. entered World War II.
Dec. 11, 1941 FBI detained 1370 Japanese Americans classified as "dangerous enemy aliens." 2
Dec. 22, 1941 The Agriculture Committee of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce recommended that all Japanese nationals be put under "absolute Federal control." 2
Dec. 29, 1941 All enemy aliens in California, Oregon Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada were ordered to surrender contraband. 2
Jan. 5, 1942 Japanese American selective service registrants classified as enemy aliens (IV-C). Many Japanese American soldiers discharged or assigned to menial labor such as "kitchen police." 2
Jan. 6, 1942 "I do not believe that we could be any too strict in our consideration of the Japanese in the face of the treacherous way in which they do things," wrote Leland Ford, L.A. Congressman, in a telegram to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, asking that all Japanese Americans be removed from the West Coast. 2
Jan. 28, 1942 The California State Personnel Board voted to bar all 'descendants of natives with whom the United States [is] at war' from all civil service positions. This was only enforced against Japanese Americans. 2
Jan. 29 1942 Attorney General Francis Biddle began the establishment of prohibited zones forbidden to all enemy aliens. German, Italian, and Japanese aliens were ordered to leave San Francisco waterfront areas. 2
Jan. 30 1942 'Unless something is done it may bring about a repetition of Pearl Harbor,' said Earl Warren, California Attorney General, calling Japanese Californians the "Achilles heel of the entire civilian defense effort." 2
Feb. 4, 1942 The U.S. Army established 12 "restricted areas in which enemy aliens were restricted by a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, allowed to travel only to and From work, and not more than 5 miles from their home. Major Bendetsen is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. On Feb. 14, he was again promoted to Colonel. 2
Feb. 6. 1942 A Portland American Legion post urged the removal of "enemy aliens, especially from critical Coast areas," including Japanese American citizens. 2
Feb. 13, 1942 The West Coast congressional delegation requested that the President remove "all persons of Japanese lineage... aliens and citizens alike, from the strategic areas of California, Oregon and Washington." 2
Feb. 16, 1942 California Joint immigration Committee urged that all Japanese Americans be removed From the Pacific Coast and any other vital areas. 2192 Japanese Americans under arrest by the FB1. 2
Feb. 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the secretary of war to define military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded as deemed necessary or desirable. "The only significant opposition would come from the Quakers Society of Friends) and the AQU (American Civil Liberties Union). 1
Feb. 20 1942 Secretary of War Henry Stimson appointed Lieutenant General John DeWitt to carry out Executive Order 9066. 2
Feb. 26 1942 Navy ordered Japanese American residents of Terminal Island, San Pedro, California, to leave within 48 hours to settle wherever they could. 2
Feb. 28, 1942 House Committee on Un-American Activities released its 300 page Yellow Book containing almost every possible charge against Japanese Americans. 2
March 2, 1942 General DeWitt issued public Proclamation No. 1, creating military areas in Washington, Oregon, California, and parts of Arizona and declaring the right to remove German, Italian, and Japanese aliens and anyone of "Japanese Ancestry" living in Military Areas No. 1 and 2 should it become necessary. 2
March 16. 1942 DeWitt issued public Proclamation No. 2, creating Military Areas 3 to 6 in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Utah, respectively. 2
March 18, 1942 Roosevelt created the War Relocation Authority (WRA). Milton Eisenhower became responsible for a plan to remove designated persons from the restricted areas. 2
March 2, 1942 DeWitt imposed penalties for those who refuse to obey orders to enter or leave designated military areas. Manzanar, the first American concentration camp, opened. 2
March 23, 1942 DeWitt issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1, giving alien and non-alien persons of Japanese ancestry one week to leave Bainbridge Island near Seattle. 2
March 24, 1942 Public-Proclamation No. 3 included Japanese American citizens among "enemy aliens" who must obey travel restrictions, curfew, and contraband regulations. 2
March 27, 1942 Public Proclamation No. 4 prohibited Japanese aliens from voluntary evacuation of Military Area No. 1. 2
April 7, 1942 Milton Eisenhower asked the governors and representatives of Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Washington, and Arizona to accept Japanese American evacuees. Colorado Governor Ralph Carr was the only one to offer cooperation. 2
May 13, 1942 Ichiro Shimoda shot and killed for trying to escape from Fort Sill.
June 7, 1942 General DeWitt announced completion of the removal of 100,000 Japanese Americans from Military Area.
June 12, 1942 Fred T. Korematsu was charged with violation of Exclusion order No. 34 in U.S. District Court for Northern California. 2
June 17, 1942 Dillon S. Myer replaced Milton Eisenhower as WRA Director. 2
June 29, 1942 1600 detainees sent from assembly and relocation centers to fill sugar beet labor shortage in Oregon, Utah, Idaho, and Montana. 2
July 1942 Grave of the first Japanese American to die while imprisoned at Manzanar. 7
July 13, 1942 Mitsuye Endo filed for Writ of Habeas Corpus. 2
July 27, 1942 Two ill pnsoners shot to death in the early morning at Lordsburg, New Mexico. 8
Aug. 7, 1942 Removal of all Japanese Americans (over 110,000) completed in Military Areas No. 1 and 2. 2
Aug. 18 1942 The War Department assigned military area status to the four relocation centers outside the Western Defense Command. 2
Oct. 20, 1942 Trial of Gordon K. Hirabayashi started in Seattle with Judge Lloyd L Black. 2
Oct. 24, 1942 Over 8000 detainees were at work saving the crop harvest in various western states. 2
Nov. 18, 1942 Poston demonstration against the arrest of two prisoners accused of beating an alleged "informer." A general strike followed, 5 days later. 2
Dec. 6, 1942 At Manzanar, arrest of prisoners accused of informer-beating led to protest and violence. Military police fired into the crowd, killing two protesters and wounding at least 10 more. 2
1942 27 U.S. Department of Justice Camps (most at Crystal City, Texas, but also Seagoville, Texas; Kooskia, Idaho; Santa Fe, NM; and Ft. Missoula, Montana) were used to incarcerate 2260 "dangerous persons" of Japanese ancestry deported from 12 Latin American countries. Approximately 1800 were Japanese Peruvians. The U.S. government wanted them for potential hostage exchanges with Japan. After the war, 1400 were not allowed to return to their former countries (ie. Peru). Over 900 Japanese Peruvians were "voluntarily" deported to Japan. 300 fought it in the courts and were allowed to settle in Seabrook, NJ. Military Intelligence Service (MIS) soldiers served in the Pacific Theater, translating captured communication, interrogated prisoners, broadcast propaganda, and would eventually work on the surrender, war crimes trials, and occupation forces. 1
Jan. 5 1943 Hirabayashi's conviction for curfew violation reaffirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 2
1943 Over 2500 volunteer for the military as restrictions on Nisei service ore removed. 2
Feb. 3, 1943 WRA began processing the loyalty questionnaire. U.S. Army officially activated the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed of the 100th Battalion from Hawaii and Japanese American volunteers from the mainland concentration camps. 2
Feb. 20, 1943 Seven months after it was filed, Mitsuye Endo's case was forwarded to the Supreme Court by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 2
April 11, 1943 Elderly man shot to death at Topaz.
April 19, 1943 Warsow Ghetto revolt began. SS troops crushed the uprising. 4
June 9, 1943 California Governor Earl Warren signed prohibition of commercial fishing licenses from 3 being given to alien Japanese. 2
June 23, 1943 Hirabayashi's conviction reaffirmed by Supreme Court. 2
July 31, 1943 WRA designated Tule Lake as a "segregation comp." 2
Nov. 1, 1943 Mass demonstrations held in Tule Lake after it was placed under Army control. 2
1943 The 100th Infantry Battalion fought in North Africa and Italy joining the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in June 1944. They Fought in Italy, France, and Germany, rescued the "Lost Battalion," and their 522nd Field Artillery Battalion liberated the survivors at the Dachau death camp. OF the 10,000 volunteers for the all-American combat unit, 1200 came from mainland U.S. concentration camps and the rest from Hawaii, where Executive Order 9066 did not apply. 1
Jan. 14, 144 Tule Lake no longer under Army control. 2
Jan. 20, 1944 Secretary of War Stimson announced that Japanese Americans were eligible for the draft. 2
May 24 1944 Shoichi James Okamoto shot by camp soldier.
July l8, 1944 In Cheyenne, Wyoming, a Federal district court convicts 63 men from Heart Mountain of draft resistance and sentenced them to three rears in federal penitentiary. 2
Dec. 17, 1944 Public Proclamation No. 21 issued by Major General Henry C. Pratt (effective January 2, 1935), allowing evacuees to return home and lifting contraband regulations. The next day, two years and give months after it was filed, the Endo case was ruled on in the Supreme Court; the WRA cannot detain loyal citizens. Executive Order 9066 and the evacuation was upheld in the Korematsu case. 2

Justice Frank Murphy disagreed: I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our demacratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting but it is utterly revolting among free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States. 11
Aug. 14, 1945 Japan surrendered. World War II ended.
1948 In Oyama v. California, the Supreme Court struck down the Alien Land Laws as violations of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Evacuation Claims Act authorized payment to Japanese Americans who suffered economic loss during imprisonment: with the necessary proof, 10 cents was returned for every S1.00 lost. 1
1952 The McCarran-Walter Immigration and Naturalization Act ended the racially based naturalization ban and the 1924 ban on Asian immigration. 1
  1. Frank and Joanne Iritani; Ten Visits; Asian American Curriculum Project, Inc.; San Mateo, CA; © 1995.
  2. Ed. by Pager Daniels, Sandra Taylor, and Harry Kitano; Japanese Americans, from Relocation to Redress; University of Utah Press; Salt Lake City, Utah; © 1986.
  3. South Carolina ETV, Holocaust Time Line, © 1995.
  4. Ben S Austin, The Holocaust Page - Chronology, © 1996.
  5. Yoshiko Uchida, Desert Exile, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, © 1982.
  6. Smithsonian Institution, A More Perfect Union, © 1995.
  7. Edward Spicer, Asael Hansen, Katherine Luomala, Marvin Opler; Impounded People, Japanese-Americans in the Relocation Centers, University of Arizona Press; Tucson, Arizona; © 1969.
  8. Tetsuden Kashima, "American Mistreatment of Internees During World War II: Enemy Japanese" in: Ed. by Roger Daniels, Sandra Taylor and Harry Kitano; Japanese Americans, from Relocation to Redress; University of Utah Press; Salt Lake City, Utah; © 1986; p. 52-56
  9. Michi Weglyn, Years of Infamy, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York, © 1976.
  10. Dorothy Swaine Thomas and Richard S. Nishimoto, The Spoilage, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, © 1946, p. 2.
  11. Ed. by Melvin I. Urofsky, Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy -- Korematsu v. United States, United States Information Agency, Washington D.C. © 1996.

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Goals & Objectives

With help from the following resource:

Tiedt. Pamela L. & Iris M. Tiedt. Multicultural Teaching: A Handbook of Activities, Information, and Resources. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, © 1995.

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Sample Lessons

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Glossary of Terms/Issues To Clarify/Discuss

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Partial Bibliography of The Japanese American Internment Camps

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Civilian Exclusion Order"

WESTERN DEFENSE COMMAND AND FOURTH ARMY

WARTIME CIVIL CONTROL ADMINISTRATION

Presidio of San Francisco, California

May 3, 1942

INSTRUCTIONS

TO ALL PERSONS OF

JAPANESE

ANCESTRY

Living in the Following Area:

All of that portion of the City of Los Angeles, State of California, within that boundary beginning at the point at which North Figueroa Street meets a line following the middle of the Los Angeles River; thence southerly and following the said line to East First Street; thence westerly on East First Street to Alameda Street; thence southerly on Alameda Street to East Third Street; thence northwesterly on East Third Street to Main Street; thence northerly on Main Street to First Street; thence north - westerly on First Street to Figueroa Street; thence northeasterly on Figueroa Street to the point of beginning.

Pursuant to the provisions of Civilian Exclusion Order No. 33, this Headquarters, dated May 3, 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the above area by 12 o'clock noon, P.W.T., Saturday, May 9, 1942.

No Japanese person living in the above area will be permitted to change residence after 12 o'clock noon, P.W.T., Sunday, May 3, 1942, without obtaining special permission from the representative of the Commanding General, Southern California Sector, at the Civil Control Station located at:

Japanese Union Church
120 North San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, California

Such permits will only be granted for the purpose of uniting members of a family, or in cases of grave emergency.

The Civil Control Station is equipped to assist the Japanese population affected by this evacuation in the following ways:

  1. Give advice and instructions on the evacuation.
  2. Provide services with respect to the management, leasing, sale, storage or other disposition of most kinds of property, such as real estate, business and professional equipment, household goods, boats, automobiles and livestock.
  3. Provide temporary residence elsewhere for all Japanese in family groups.
  4. Transport persons and a limited amount of clothing and equipment to their new residence.

The Following Instructions Must Be Observed:

  1. A responsible member of each family, preferably the head of the family, or the person in whose name most of the property is held, and each individual living alone, will report to the Civil Control Station to receive further instructions. This must be done between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. on Monday, May 4, 1942, or between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, May 5, 1942.
  2. Evacuees must carry with them on departure for the Assembly Center, the following property:
    1. Bedding and linens (no mattress) for each member of the family;
    2. Toilet articles for each member of the family;
    3. Extra clothing for each member of the family;
    4. Sufficient knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls and cups for each member of the family;
    5. Essential personal effects for each member of the family.

    All items carried will be securely packaged, tied and plainly marked with the name of the owner and numbered in accordance with instructions obtained at the Civil Control Station. The size and number of packages is limited to that which can be carried by the individual or family group.
  3. No pets of any kind will be permitted.
  4. No personal items and no household goods will be shipped to the Assembly Center.
  5. The United States Government through its agencies will provide for the storage at the sole risk of the owner of the more substantial household items, such as iceboxes, washing machines, pianos and other heavy furniture. Cooking utensils and other small items will be accepted for storage if crated, packed, and plainly marked with the name and address of the owner. Only one name and address will be used by a given family.
  6. Each family and individual living alone will be furnished transportation to the Assembly Center or will be authorized to travel by private automobile in a supervised group. All instructions pertaining to the movement will be obtained at the Civil Control Center.

Go to the Civil Control Station between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.,
Monday, May 4, 1942, or between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.
Tuesday, May 5, 1942, to receive further instructions.

J. L. DeWITT
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army
Commanding

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Relocation Centers

from Ten Visits, by Frank and Joanne Iritani, Asian American Curriculum Project, Inc.; San Mateo, CA; © 1995.

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