2. Following the attack on
Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941,
why do you think many
Americans were suspicious
of Japanese Americans?
3. Many people were afraid that Japanese
Americans that lived
on the West Coast might be
acting as spies helping
Japan attack the U.S.
HOWEVER…There was NEVER any
evidence that Japanese Americans
acted as spies during WWII.
4. Relocation
On Febr uar y 19, 1942,
Pr esident Roosevelt issued
Executive Or der 9066. This
for ced Japanese A mer icans to
move fr om their homes to
“inter nment” camps.
This was to keep them
fr om
spying by monitor ing their lives.
“Yellow Per il” became r ampant
thr oughout the U.S.
5. 11,000 Japanese families had to sell
their homes and businesses to r elocate
to these camps. Evacuees wer e allowed
to take only what they could car r y.
What they couldn’t sell was just left
for the taking.
6. Japanese Americans were put on
buses and shipped to one of 10
relocation centers around the United
States.
7. The barracks were
surrounded by barbed
wire and overseen by
high wooden
watchtowers. Privacy
was almost nonexistent.
Evacuees tried to make
the best of it by living
their lives with some
degree of normalcy.
Schools, libraries,
sports teams, churches,
and Americanization
classes were created.
8. Or iginally, FDR consider ed
the r elocation “legal” under
constitutional power s
gr anted to the pr esident
dur ing times of war .
The Supr eme Cour t suppor ted
this claim in the case of
Kor ematsu vs. U.S.
Later , this was over tur ned
and all camps wer e closed
by ear ly 1945.
But did these
feelings just go
away???
9. An Apology
In 1988, the U.S.
gover nment apologized to
Japanese A mer icans for
these inter nment camps
and paid all inter nees
$20,000.
10. An Apology
In 1988, the U.S.
gover nment apologized to
Japanese A mer icans for
these inter nment camps
and paid all inter nees
$20,000.
