Teaching about Japanese-American Internment.
ERIC Digest.
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 INTERNMENT
THROUGH 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)
REFERENCES:
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.