Presentation Transcript

1. Civil Liberties During WWII and Japanese-Americans
2. Background: West Coast Most Japanese-Americans (“J-A”) lived on West Coast. 1/3 of Hawaii’s population was of Japanese origin. Economic success of many J-A families, especially during Great Depression, led to discrimination (especially California J-A farmers). Pearl Harbor attack made people fear J-A were poisoning food supply and mining coastal harbors. Rumors encouraged by newspapers.
3. Backlash 1942: FDR issues Executive Order 9066 All people of Japanese ancestry in “military exclusion zones” (California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona) would be moved into “War Relocation Camps” in order to “maintain national security during WWII.” 110,000 Japanese-Americans sent to camps. 2/3 of these are “Nisei” (born on American soil to Japanese immigrants). Hawaii: Approx 1,500 Hawaiians interned; martial law imposed.
4. War Relocation Centers
5. Government Newsreel Answer these: Why does the narrator call it a “mass migration”? How does the narrator justify the camps throughout the video? How does the tone of the newsreel (including music) affect the overall interpretation of the video?
6. What would you answer? In 1943, “evacuees” at all camps were given a loyalty questionnaire. Two questions were meant to separate out 1 group of evacuees: 27) Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty whenever ordered? 28) Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the USA and faithfully defend the US from any and all attacks by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese Emperor or any other foreign government, power, or organization? Yes/Yes: You go off to war! Yes/No: You go off to war! No/Yes: You go off to a federal prison! No/No: You get sent to Tule Lake, a camp for “trouble makers”!
7. No-No boys got sent to Tule Lake.
8. Facts About Tule Lake One of the largest camps (18,700); only high-security segregation center, occupied by the Army and run by martial law. The last camp to close, in 1946, due to internal turmoil and strife. Japanese-American Citizens League condemned residents as trouble-makers, creating a rift in the Japanese-American community. Squalid housing and sanitation, unsafe working conditions, and inadequate food and medical care led to strikes and demonstrations at the camp. Public Law 405: Permitted American citizens (at Tule Lake) to renounce their citizenship. 73% of families at Tule Lake renounced citizenship, sending kids back to Japan and keeping remaining family members lived with limited rights in America.
9. From Life Magazine, 1944 Caption: “These five Japs are among 155 trouble makers imprisoned in the stockade within the Tule Lake Segregation Center.”
10. Who is fredkorematsu? Nisei (born in Oakland, 1919). Refused to comply with Executive Order 9066. Adopted an alias and had plastic surgery on his eyes to make him appear less Japanese…but still got arrested. ACLU represented him, with the goal of testing the constitutionality of E.O. 9066 in court. Found guilty. Placed on probation and sent to internment camp in Topaz, Utah.
11. Korematsu v. United States (1944) Korematsu appealed to the Supreme Court. His argument: E.O. 9066 violated basic liberties and rights of citizenship. The question: Did the President and Congress go beyond constitutional war powers by restricting the rights of Americans of Japanese descent? Supreme Court upheld Korematsu’s conviction and E.O. 9066 by a vote of 6 to 3. Their rationale: The President’s duty of ensuring national security justifies overstepping civil liberties and rights of individual citizens.
12. Legacies Korematsu v. United States has never explicitly been overturned, though there have been formal apologies and reparations paid. Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) (pushed government to compensate for J-A lost property; in 1965, Congress authorized $38 million for this purpose (only 1/10 of actual losses), but it was not received until 1990)
13. Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1998
14. Fred Korematsu with Rosa Parks “The government was wrong, and I was right.”
15. Various memorials
16. Your Homework (YESSSSSSS!) Homework is so hot right now! Read the questions that go along with the Supreme Court Justice’s opinion that you received. Read the actual opinion. Read it again, and highlight it. THEN, answer the questions thoroughly. Due: Monday
17. It’s primary source time!
18. Japanese Internment Camps What fears are being expressed? What would be specific evidence of this fear? What liberties or rights are potentially being violated? (General John Dewitt, February 1942; Fifth columnist – someone involved in spying or espionage) "I know the Hawaiian Islands. I know the Pacific coast where these Japanese reside. Even though they may be the third or fourth generation of Japanese, we cannot trust them. I know that those areas are teeming with Japanese spies and fifth columnists. Once a Jap always a Jap. You cannot change him. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear..."
19. Civil Liberties Civil Rights One’s right to be able to access the benefits of political and social freedom and equality. Civil rights laws often help discriminated-against groups access their civil liberties. Examples: Americans with Disabilities Act (public places provide access for people with disabilities) Civil Rights Act of 1964 (prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, religion, etc.) Title IX (prohibits discrimination in schools based on gender; boys and girls have equal access to sports, classes, etc.) One’s freedom to exercise one’s rights as defined by the idea of unalienable rights and guaranteed under the Constitution. Examples: Freedom of speech Freedom of religion Freedom of assembly The right to privacy The right to be free from unreasonable searches The right to a fair court trial The right to vote (in general) Other rights you get as a citizen (14th Amendment rights)