Japanese Internment WWII

- Temporary Detention Centers -
1. Were Japanese Americans given adequate care and accommodations as they were rounded up? Were they given assurances and clear information on what the future held for them?

- Japanese Americans were not treated fairly in the detention centers. They lived in unsanitary places like horse stalls or poorly constructed barracks. The Japanese Americans also had no privcay in concern with their toilet and bathing facilities. The internment camps were like prisons, so they did not know what their future was accountable for. They tried to make the best of what their surroundings by organizing essential services.

- Permanent WRA Camps -
2. Discuss the claim by the U.S. Government that the camps were for the protection of Japanese Americans. Were the barbed wire fences and guard towers meant to keep vigilantes out or Japanese American inmates in?

-In late 1942, the Army transferred the inmates from the temporary camps to permanent WRA camps which were controlled by the department of inferior. The camps were made to keep the Japanese Americans in, being that they were located in isolated inland areas.

- Camp Life -
3. Were the camps “resettlement communities,” or prisons? What’s the difference between the two?

-The camps were like prison. A resettlement community is like a place where you move to but as it says in the name is still a community; whereas a prison is a building of confinement of people guarded by police and having barbed wire fences, similar to the Japanese American's habitat.

4. Did the War Relocation Authority take measures to protect family life and privacy?

-No, the families were subjected to staying in overcrowded rooms with no furniture but cots and cast iron wood-burning stoves. Their attempt to provide recreational activities failed since the communal argument for all activites caused children to spend time away from their family.

- Questions of Loyalty -
5. How did Japanese Americans respond after being incarcerated without due process of law, to questions asking them whether or not they were unquestioningly loyal to this country?

- The Japanese Americans were outraged by the WRA questioning their loyalty. Them even being asked to answer the questionare caused dissension among the camp inmates, resulting in classification based on answers.

- Tule Lake Segregation -
6. Were those who answered “no” to the loyalty questions clearly “disloyal” or were they voicing discontent with their treatment?

-Some of the people who answered "no" on the questionare were seventeen years old or less and had no choice but to follow their parents. They didn't make their own decisions.

-Draft Resisters -
7. Why did these young men resist being drafted into the military? Write or improvise a conversation between two brothers in an internment camp who make two different opposing decisions on the draft: one enlists, the other resists. What are their points of agreement, if any? How do they differ? Is one brother more patriotic than the other ?

-Some men resisted the draft saying that there constitutional rights were violated as well as family their family members by being incarcerated. Carl and Mike made controversial decisions when Carl decided to enlist in the military and Mike didn't. Mike says that even though he feel that his rights are being are being violated, he has to put his country first before his emotions. Carl also feel that his rights are being violated, which is why he shouldn't fight for a country who doesn't carry out what they believe in. They both agree that the incarceration is unconsitutional, but differ about whether this affects them being drafted into the military. Carl is more patriotic because he put his feelings aside to fight for the country.

- Military Service -
8. What did it take to fight for a country that kept your family interned behind barbed wire?

-Many volunterred out of desire to prove that they were loyal and in response to the urging of JACL.

1. How do we prevent the injustice of internment from happening again? Perhaps it starts with learning about this historic mistake, as well as working to
eliminate the causes for continuing racial prejudice today.

-We can prevent injustice in our nation by knowing what happened in our history and coming together to stop the racial injustice of our nation.

2. What do you think? What is your responsibility? What can you do as one individual? Your  voice and actions can be an important part not only of preventing the gross  injustice of internment from happening again, but also preventing the other  negative effects of racial hatred and prejudice.

-We as a community of people should stand up for what we believe in. We should come together as one despite our race and be able to speak up if we don't agree with what the government has done for us. After all, the government works to better serve us as a nation & it is up to us to agree with them.

-Photo Essay-

Two Boys Laughing

Photographer: Dorothea Lange
(Dusty barracks and mountains behind boys laughing.)
Despite their lack of recreational activites, the families tried to have fun in what they had at the camps.

Lined Up For Meal

Photographer: Dorothea Lange
(Women and children shade themselves with parasols)
When the Japanese Americans were relocated to the internment camps, they had to adjust to the harsh weather at the isolated location of the camp.

Mrs. Nakamura and family buying toys (with Fred Moriguchi).

 Photographer: Ansel Adams
Families had to find different ways to make better of the situation they were in.


Nurse Aiko Hamaguchi, Mother Frances Yokoyama, Baby Fukumoto.

 Photographer: Ansel Adams
The Japanese Americans weren't used to the weather of the camps, which caused them to get sick.

Manzanar from Guard Tower, view west.

Photographer: Ansel Adams
The internment camp was located in an isolated inland in the desert that had harsh weather.