Asian Americans during WWII

1. Asian Americans during WWII Japanese Americans and Internment Camps

2. During World War II around 110,000 Japanese citizens and Japanese American citizens were rounded up and brought to internment camps. Many were even American citizens and yet because of their ancestry, they were all considered a “threat” to the nation.

3. Images of the camps

4. Map and locations • Amache (Granada) CO peak population: 7,318 • Gila River, AZ peak population: 13,348 • Heart Mountain, WY peak population: 10,767 • Jerome, AR peak population: 8,497 • Manzar, CA peak population: 10,046 • Minidoka, ID peak population: 9,397 • Poston, AZ peak population: 17,814 • Rohwer, AR peak population: 8,475 • Topaz, UT peak population: 8,130 • Tule Lake, CA peak population: 18,789

5. The conditions of these camps weren’t comfortable and life at these camps was hard. The living quarters were barracks with no indoor plumbing or cooking facilities, not to mention the barracks weren’t built for cramped families. • Many families were forced to evacuate their homes on very short notice, likely one to two days and had little time and no knowledge of where they would be sent, so they couldn’t prepare appropriately for the weather temperatures and changes depending on location such as the winters in the Wyoming area and the desert conditions in Arizona, so many had to literally “use the clothes on their backs” only. • Japanese citizens and Japanese American citizens were forced to abandon their jobs and homes. • Many families were even separated and broken apart with some being sent to separate camps • Many Japanese Americans also suffered major economic loss, humiliation and many even died at the camps due to inadequate medical care and the high level of emotional stress as well as weather conditions. • Although these would be considered comfortable compared to concentration camps the Jews were sent to, they still weren’t that much better off.

6. Loyalty questioned • By the year 1943, all internees at the camps that were over seventeen years of age were given a loyalty test. • Question 27: Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty? • Question 28: Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization? • Many responses to the questions were mixed results. Some even found them confusing, but they were expected to answer question # 27. Many answered yes to both questions in order to stay with their families or they were afraid of being deported. Some thought they were trick questions and asked for clarifications. Government officials did address the requests inconsistently, but some even refused and even threatened fines of $10,000 and even twenty years in prison for refusal in answering the questions.

7. These questions even caused major and bitter conflicts between family members and friends. This led to arguments about loyalties to family, to one’s country, and to the principles of the Constitution. This often led to these people being labeled as “loyal” or “disloyal” to the US. • Frank K. explains the tension that rose over the questionnaire. Well “I've always... never really thought that hard about why he didn't want to sign his. But when I think back on it, I'm thinking, here he was, taken away from his family with probably what he thought was no reason at all. And I, I found the papers where he petitioned to be, get out of Missoula and join us. And I'm thinking he was probably bitter at that time, pretty bitter at that time. Here he was being asked to, if he would be willing to serve in the U.S. Army, and if he would disavow any allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. And, and I'm thinking... now I'm thinking, if someone threw you into jail unjustly and without giving you hearing or anything... I mean, would you feel good about that? And would you feel good about saying, "Yeah, I really love my country, and I really love what's going on, and I'm willing to forgive whatever happened to me"? And I'm thinking, knowing my father and how, the type of person he was, he probably wasn't feeling really too good about that. So, he was refusing to sign "yes. "And my mother told me the story of how she pleaded with him to sign yes. She said, you know, "What would you do in Japan?" She knew, at that time, if you didn't sign "yes" and you couldn't prove you were a citizen that they were going to send you off (to) someplace else and maybe exchange you for Caucasian people that were trapped in Japan. She, she was saying to him, "What would you do in Japan? You can't write Japanese, you can't read Japanese, you know, what would you do there?" And she, she ended up saying, "I'd rather hang myself than go to Japan." And my dad was so angry with all this frustration that he said, "Go ahead.”” • Anyone who answered no to both questions 27 and 28 were sent to the Tule Lake camp which was designated as a “segregation center”

8. Many Japanese Americans felt like they needed to prove their loyalty to the US and they believed that enlisting or volunteering into the military service would be a way to do so. • Others questioned why they are expected to prove their loyalty to the US and wanted to know why they did not receive the same treatment as other Americans and decided that they would not serve in the military in any way until they were treated fairly.

9. After the war • When Public Proclamation # 21 became effective in 1945 allowed internees to return home, the whole experience of the camps left major scars for the people who lived there. • Many had to literally start from scratch in order to rebuilt their lives, while other saw these actions of the camps as unforgiving and returned to Japan.

10. Bibliography and sources • http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/camp.html • http://www.densho.org/learning/spice/lesson5/5reading5.asp • http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm  http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Images+of+internment+camps+during+WWII&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1048&bih=675&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=udtiiPP423Hy2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.whitenewsnow.com/30-06-hunting-lodge-steakhouse/14730-carolyn-yeager-2.html&docid=vb7Lkf_mRdXNHM&w=556&h=365&ei=v1OFTo3sGcifsQL7gtS1Dw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=398&page=11&tbnh=141&tbnw=188&start=138&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:138&tx=23&ty=73 http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Images+of+internment+camps+during+WWII&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1048&bih=675&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=T7RutQcz6uLN0M:&imgrefurl=http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-12-17-internment-camps-preservation_N.htm&docid=nA7Cl141MiUziM&w=472&h=337&ei=v1OFTo3sGcifsQL7gtS1Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=110&vpy=321&dur=998&hovh=190&hovw=266&tx=161&ty=106&page=1&tbnh=158&tbnw=206&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0 http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Images+of+internment+camps+during+WWII&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1048&bih=675&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=QN8EJNrTii8VBM:&imgrefurl=http://multimedialearningllc.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/japanese-internment-camps-during-wwii-1943/&docid=GqUabqnpxcFt4M&w=505&h=800&ei=v1OFTo3sGcifsQL7gtS1Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=791&vpy=275&dur=888&hovh=283&hovw=178&tx=114&ty=115&page=1&tbnh=158&tbnw=98&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0 http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Images+of+internment+camps+during+WWII&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1048&bih=675&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=QN8EJNrTii8VBM:&imgrefurl=http://multimedialearningllc.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/japanese-internment-camps-during-wwii-1943/&docid=GqUabqnpxcFt4M&w=505&h=800&ei=v1OFTo3sGcifsQL7gtS1Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=791&vpy=275&dur=888&hovh=283&hovw=178&tx=114&ty=115&page=1&tbnh=158&tbnw=98&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0 http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/07/8/1/8/471863863834526.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment