Topic 4.3:
The Internment of Japanese-Americans
The Internment of Japanese-Americans
Japanese-Americans
Japanese Americans faced the most profound discrimination during World War II. About 125,000 Japanese Americans lived in the United States in 1941. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Americans worried that Japan might soon attacked the west coast of the United States and Japanese Americans would help with this attack. As a result, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order #9066. When the United States entered the war, 110,000 Japanese Americans were moved to internment camps in the western deserts of the United States. They were forced to leave their homes and businesses with little warning and were imprisoned behind barbed wire fences without the right to a trial and without proof that they were disloyal to the United States. Nonetheless, the Japanese Americans continued to be loyal to the United States and thousands of Japanese Americans served in the military. Some of them served with distinction in military units in the European theater.