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Internment video This short, silent film from 1942 shows scenes of Japanese-Americans being shipped out of California on their way to "internment."

http://archive.org/details/ssfjapint

Time: 23 seconds, format: AVI, file size: 5.6 M

People involved in the incarceration:

Identify the following figures who helped make the decision to intern Japanese Americans:

Agencies involved in Incarceration

  • Western Defense Command was an army command area consisting of eight western states.
  • Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) was responsible for the "assembly centers" evacuation.
  • War Relocation Authority (WRA) ran the concentration camps.

Read the following pieces of evidence and explain:

  • Why did the U.S. decide to relocate the entire west coast Japanese American population?
  • Who was most responsible for this decision?

Primary Source Documents:

1941

1942

1943

Salinas, California. Japanese-Americans boarding bus for transportation to reception center. Russell Lee,photographer, 1942 May. Library of Congress.
Salinas, California. Japanese-Americans boarding bus for transportation to reception center.
Russell Lee, photographer, 1942 May. Library of Congress.

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