Teaching about
Japanese-American Internment
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When the United States entered World War II following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese immigrants and their
descendants, including those born in the United States and therefore
citizens by birth, were placed in a very awkward situation. The immigrants
were resident aliens in the United States, a country at war with their
country of birth.
Amid the hysteria following the U.S. entry into World War II, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19,
1942. This order authorized the War Department to prescribe military areas
from which any group of people could be excluded. This served as the legal
basis for the evacuation and internment of over 110,000 Japanese
immigrants and Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Most were forced to
sell their homes and businesses and suffered huge losses. Schooling and
careers were completely disrupted.
Even more than 55 years after the closing of the camps, the
Japanese-American internment experience continues to deeply affect the
Japanese-American community. This period of U.S. history illustrates how
the constitutional rights of individuals of a minority group may be at
risk during a time of national crisis. This Digest provides six
suggestions for teaching about the Japanese-American internment and guides
to resources for teachers and students.
1. SET THE CONTEXT FOR
JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENTTHROUGH AN EXAMINATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS.
Students should discuss the definition of "civil rights" and consider
the importance of civil rights in their lives. They should also consider
the U.S. Constitution as a document that describes the basic rights of
U.S. citizens. Particular attention should be given to the Bill of Rights
and selected amendments, e.g., XIII, XIV, and XV. Point out that the
denial of due process to Japanese Americans was the central civil rights
violation in their experience with internment. Due process refers to a
course of legal proceedings carried out regularly and in accordance with
established rules and principles.
2. INTRODUCE THE
JAPANESE IMMIGRATION EXPERIENCE IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY.
Like the historical experiences of many other ethnic groups in the
United States, the Japanese-American historical experience was, at its
core, the story of an ethnic minority struggling to find its place within
U.S. society. Unlike European immigrants, all Asian immigrants to the
United States were considered "aliens ineligible to citizenship" until
1952. Because of this, they could not vote. Asian Americans also
experienced segregated schools. In 1906, the San Francisco Board of
Education ordered 93 Japanese Americans to attend a segregated "Oriental
School" with Chinese and other Asian Americans. Laws such as the Alien
Land Law of 1913 in California were directed at Asian immigrants to
prohibit them from purchasing land. The Immigration Act of 1924 barred
further immigration from Asia.
3. INTRODUCE
PERSPECTIVES ON JAPANESE AMERICANS FROM THE MEDIA FOLLOWING THE JAPANESE
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR.
Japanese Americans were thrust into a precarious position following the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This is an important issue to present to
students. The U.S. media would often make no distinction between Japanese
Americans and Japanese imperial soldiers. This racial fear and prejudice
combined with other forces, such as desire for economic gain, hysteria
generated by sensationalistic journalism, political opportunism, and a
sincere concern for national safety. The result was a complex mixture of
motives that impelled the U.S. government to forcibly intern over 110,000
people of Japanese descent from the West Coast, two-thirds of whom were
U.S. citizens, into internment camps located in isolated regions of the
United States. It is also important to point out that some
non-Japanese-American groups, such as the Quakers, did speak out against
internment. While the Japanese-American Citizens League, a civil rights
organization, urged compliance with the internment orders, several
Japanese Americans protested and/or deliberately violated one or more of
the evacuation orders. These violations were attempted to test the
legality of the evacuation in the courts.
4. INTRODUCE PERSPECTIVES ON
THE QUESTION OF "LOYALTY."
In February 1943, after the internment of Japanese Americans from the
West Coast had been completed, the War Department and the War Relocation
Authority required all internees 17 years of age and older to answer a
questionnaire. This questionnaire presumably tested their "loyalty" to the
United States. Two questions proved particularly vexing. Question #27
asked, "Are you willing to serve in the armed services of the United
States on combat duty, wherever ordered?" Question #28 asked, "Will you
swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and
faithfully defend the United States from any and all attack by foreign or
domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese
Emperor or any other foreign government, power, or organization?" Response
to this questionnaire was mixed. Out of this confusion emerged three
noteworthy groups of individuals: those who answered "yes-yes" and served
in the armed forces, those who answered "yes-yes" (or provided qualified
responses) but refused to serve in the military from internment camps, and
those who answered "no-no." Introduce not only the experiences of the
Japanese Americans who served in the military in Europe (100th Infantry
Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team) and those who served in the
Pacific War (primarily in the Military Intelligence Service as translators
and interrogators of Japanese prisoners of war), but also those who
answered "no-no" and those who became known as "draft resisters of
conscience." The "draft resisters of conscience" refused to serve in the
military until their rights as U.S. citizens were restored. Most of those
who answered "no-no" were segregated at Tule Lake internment camp; many
"resisters" were sent to prison from the camps.
5. INTRODUCE REDRESS AND
REPARATIONS.
The redress and reparations movement refers to efforts by the
Japanese-American community to obtain an apology and compensation from the
U.S. government for wrongful actions toward Japanese Americans during
World War II. Arguments for and against this movement should be presented
as well as the final outcome. Redress payments of $20,000 along with
letters of apology (signed by President George Bush in 1990) were
presented to approximately 60,000 survivors of the Japanese-American
internment.
6. PRESENT DIVERSE
PERSPECTIVES ON THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT EXPERIENCE.
Extensive primary and secondary sources exist on Japanese-American
internment. Consider incorporating some of the following as a way of
expanding upon the limited coverage of internment in textbooks:
* Utilizing a U.S. government newsreel from 1943, "Japanese
Relocation," that presents the government's rationale for internment
* Obtaining information from the Japanese American National Museum
* Incorporating art and poetry from the internment camps
* Showing the video "Days of Waiting," which analyzes the internment
experience of a Caucasian woman married to a Japanese American
* Incorporating literature, such as "No-No Boy" by John Okada or
"Journey Home" by Yoshiko Uchida
* Examining Japanese-Latin American perspectives on internment (2,264
members of the Japanese community in Latin America were deported to and
interned in the United States during World War II)
WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
FOR TEACHING ABOUT JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT.
* A More Perfect Union: Smithsonian National Museum of American
History. Examines the constitutional process by exploring experiences of
Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Reveals how in a time
of national crisis, concerns for national security and racial prejudice
swept away rights to freedom and due process of law guaranteed by the U.S.
Constitution. Primary sources, including photographs and documents, are
included. http://americanhistory.si.edu/youmus/ex04unio.htm
* American Concentration Camps. Collection of photographs and
audiotapes about the experiences of Japanese Americans in the internment
camps of World War II. Compiled by Masumi Hayashi of the Art Department of
Cleveland State University. http://www.csuohio.edu/art_photos/
* Children of the Camps Project. Over half of the Japanese Americans in
the internment camps were children. These children's experiences are
depicted in a documentary video program, "The Children of the Camps,"
which is highlighted at this Web site. The video "Days of Waiting" is also
featured. Teacher's guides to the video programs are provided along with
related documents and information about the camps. http://www.naatanet.org/
* Japanese American National Museum.
Fact sheets are provided about relocation and incarceration of Japanese
Americans during World War II. Information is also provided on Japanese
Americans in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. http://www.janm.org/nrc/
* Zenger Media. The 1943 newsreel "Japanese Relocation" is available
through this site. http://www.zengermedia.com/
REFERENCES AND ERIC
RESOURCES.
The following list of resources includes references used to prepare
this Digest. The items followed by an ED number are available in
microfiche and/or paper copies from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service
(EDRS). For information about prices, contact EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road,
Suite 110, Springfield, Virginia 22153-2852; telephone numbers are (703)
440-1400 and (800) 443-3742. Entries followed by an EJ number, annotated
monthly in CURRENT INDEX TO JOURNALS IN EDUCATION (CIJE), are not
available through EDRS. However, they can be located in the journal
section of most larger libraries by using the bibliographic information
provided, requested through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from commercial
reprint services.
Crost, Lyn. HONOR BY FIRE: JAPANESE AMERICANS AT WAR IN EUROPE AND THE
PACIFIC. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1994.
Daniels, Roger, Sandra C. Taylor, and Harry H.L. Kitano, eds. JAPANESE
AMERICANS: FROM RELOCATION TO REDRESS. Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 1991.
Instructional Unit Committee. THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT,
1942-1945: A LESSON FROM RECENT HISTORY. Seattle: Asian American Studies
Program of the University of Washington, 1983. ED 240 042.
Nagata, Donna K. "The Japanese-American Internment: Perceptions of
Moral Community, Fairness, and Redress." JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES 46
(Spring 1990): 133-136. EJ 415 965.
Pickering, Susan M., and Lori B. Walker. "Japanese-American Internment:
A Historical Narrative." SOCIAL STUDIES AND THE YOUNG LEARNER 8
(November-December 1995): 1-6. EJ 518 975.
Wojtan, Linda J. "Teaching Resources for Understanding the
U.S.-Japanese Relationship." SOCIAL EDUCATION 55 (November-December 1991):
455-456. EJ 445 152.
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Portions of this ERIC Digest were summarized from the curriculum module
"Civil Rights and the Japanese-American Internment," SPICE, Stanford
University, 2000.
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Gary Mukai is Director of the Stanford Program on International and
Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) at Stanford University.
Title: Teaching about Japanese-American Internment. ERIC Digest.
Note: Portions of this ERIC Digest were summarized from the
curriculum module "Civil Rights and the Japanese-American Internment,"
Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education, Stanford
University, 2000.
Document Type: Guides---Non-Classroom Use (055); Information
Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information
Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);
Available From: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social
Science Education, 2805 East Tenth Street, Suite 120, Bloomington, IN
47408-2698; Tel: 800-266-3815 (Toll Free); Fax: 812-855-0455; e-mail: (ericso@indiana.edu).
For full text: http://www.indiana.edu/~ssdc/eric_chess.htm.
Descriptors: Controversial Issues (Course Content), Japanese
American Culture, Japanese Americans, Minority Groups, Secondary
Education, Social Discrimination, Social Studies, United States History,
World War II
Identifiers: ERIC Digests, Internment Camps
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