 One
of the most pressing issues facing the federal government after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor was what to do about Japanese Americans
living in Hawaii and on the West Coast. Many Americans were
convinced that these Asian Americans were part of Japan’s master
plan for destroying the United States, although no evidence existed
that any of them were spies.
Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the war department called for mass evacuations of all Japanese Americans from Hawaii. On the West Coast, panic and prejudice combined to create an atmosphere of hysteria and hostility. Day after day, newspapers ran ugly stories attacking Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, President
Roosevelt signed an order requiring the removal of people of
Japanese ancestry from California and parts of Washington, Oregon
and Arizona. He justified this step as necessary for national
security. In the following weeks, the Army rounded up some 110,000
Japanese Americans and shipped them to ten hastily constructed
internment camps. About two-thirds were Nisei, or Japanese Americans
who were born in this country and were thus American citizens.
After reading the article above, answer the following questions.
Complete the following section in a small group (4-5 people).Within your group, give each a person a family position (i.e., mother, father, children, grandparents, etc.). Write your position under your name on the top of this sheet. You will fulfill this role when addressing the following situation. Every group must assign one “parent” to act as the group leader.Imagine that you are a Japanese-American living in California in 1942. You and your family have received an order to report to an evacuation center in two days for relocation at an internment camp. You are to bring along only the things you can carry. Create your list and discuss your family list when everyone is finished.
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