Japanese American Internment During World War II

Use this activity while teaching about Japanese American internment or World War II, or in a unit on civil liberties or civics. Students can complete the activity individually, in small groups, or in pairs. For grades 10-12 through college/university (or upper middle school students with a solid background in historical document analysis). Approximate time needed is 60-90 minutes.

A note on terminology:

The historical primary source documents included in this activity reflect the terminology that the government used at the time, such as alien, evacuation, relocation, relocation centers, and Japanese (as opposed to Japanese American).  The activity also uses the terms of forced relocation, forced removal, internment, incarceration, and Japanese American. (See more about terminology from the Densho website.)

Before beginning the activity, ask students to collaboratively define the term civil liberties and brainstorm some examples. You can share with students the following definition, which is also presented during the activity:

Civil liberties are basic or natural rights and freedoms that people have, or protections from government interference or against unjust government actions.

Explain to students that they will be learning about the violation of the civil liberties of Japanese Americans during World War II. Ask them to open and begin the activity by reading through the introduction and instructions. They will then read and analyze a series of primary source documents and photographs, while responding to prompts throughout to guide them in their understanding of the “relocation” of Japanese Americans.

Possible student responses to the activity questions might include:

What clues did you find as to why the government specifically targeted Japanese Americans? Did anyone disagree with these reasons?

• After the Pearl Harbor attack, government officials at the federal and state levels feared that Japan would attack the West Coast of the United States, specifically defense installations and war production factories.
• There was suspicion that Japanese Americans weren’t culturally tied to the United States and still loyal to Japan, and were spying on behalf of Japan.
• After the Pearl Harbor attack, American ships leaving the West Coast kept being attacked by submarines, and the Army suspected Japan was getting information about ship traffic from “enemy alien” spies.
• Some government agencies, including the Justice Department, did not agree that allegations about Japanese-American espionage were true.

What civil liberties were Japanese Americans denied?

• They were not permitted to move freely.
• They had no choice but to leave or be forcibly moved.
• They had to sell, lease, or leave behind their property, and lost businesses and livelihoods.
• They could bring only limited clothing and supplies (bedding, toiletries, a personal set of dishes and utensils, and “essential personal effects”).
• They could not take other personal items or household goods, and had to leave pets behind.
• People were transported, tagged, and “processed” in large groups without their individual differences or circumstances being considered.
• Failure to comply resulted in a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.
• They could not appeal their loss of property and personal liberty.

In the government report about the relocation program, what kind of language and wording is used? How do you think this would have been written differently if from the perspective of the people imprisoned in the camps?

• The report is written in a matter-of-fact way without consideration to the civil liberties being denied.
• It uses euphemisms like evacuation and relocation centers which don’t convey that people had no choice and were being forced. It emphasizes that the “evacuation” was “voluntarily” at first, even though people were not allowed to remain in the restricted areas.
• The tone is that this was completely necessary for the war effort, and that it even protected Japanese Americans.
• Sparse living conditions are listed without mention about how different or less comfortable these were than what people were used to.
• It says “evacuees are accorded about the same freedoms they would have outside” even though people were being forcibly confined.
• It highlights how certain people can get permits to leave to go to work outside the camps, though several conditions had to be met.

Looking through the photos, list at least two examples of how they attempt to depict “normal life,” as well as at least two ways that they show civil liberties being denied.

• Photos show children playing, the presence of facilities like schools and hospitals, sports, jobs, and civic actions like voting and courts.
• But people were forced to live in simple barracks in group settings, eat in group settings instead of family units, were often outside due to a lack of buildings like schools, and had limited possessions, all in camps located in remote and often desolate locations.

Why did government officials think the program was necessary? How did they argue that it didn’t violate the Constitution?

• Even though 2/3 of Japanese Americans who were “relocated” were U.S. citizens, the government felt that these extraordinary measures were warranted for military security because Japanese Americans were “not wholly assimilated” and an “unrecognizable minority of them might have greater allegiance to Japan than to the United States.” They said that “relocation” was “humanely conducted” and not based on race, nor intended to punish.
• The government argued that it was legal because they created a procedure by which “loyal citizens” could ultimately leave the “relocation centers.” An individual could leave if 1) the War Relocation Authority (WRA) determined they were not a security threat and they took a loyalty oath (though many refused on principle), 2) they had a job to go to, 3) the community they were going to would accept Japanese Americans being there, and 4) they kept the WRA informed of where they were living.

After students have made their way through all of the primary sources and questions, they should click on “When You’re Done” and respond to additional information about actions that the government took in the 1980s to redress these past injustices:

• In 1980, Congress appointed a Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to conduct an official study of what happened.
• In 1984, a federal court voided the 1944 Supreme Court conviction of Fred Korematsu (Korematsu v. United States), who had been found guilty of resisting “relocation” and internment.
• In 1988, based on the CWRIC’s findings, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that acknowledged the injustice of internment, apologized for it, and provided a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was interned, totaling $1.6 billion in reparation.

Students will read an excerpt from the 1984 Korematsu decision and summarize the lesson that the court wanted Americans to learn from this history.

A historical note:

In addition to Japanese Americans, other groups of people had their civil liberties violated during World War II. After Japan attacked and occupied southeastern Alaska, the United States “relocated” 881 Aleut/Unangax̂ from the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands to four internment camps in Alaska. On their return, some Aleuts/Unangax̂ found their villages leveled, while others found their homes and property had been looted or destroyed by American troops. Additionally, hundreds of German and Italian nationals and U.S. citizens were excluded from the West Coast military zones; and over 14,000 people of German and Italian ancestry were incarcerated in Justice Department and Army camps around the country.