Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin. President D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to designate military zones throughout the United States that "are forbidden to enter any person or all persons." Although the order did not target a particular group, it became the legal basis for the mass relocation and detention of some 110,000 Japanese-Americans, both U.S. citizens and non-citizens.
In March 1942, the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command Commander John H. Lieutenant General L. DeWitt signed several proclamations establishing a large-scale quarantine zone along the west coast, requiring all Japanese residents in the area to report to the civilian assembly center. In a short period of time, thousands of people have been forced to close their businesses, abandon their farms, abandon their homes and move into distant internment camps, also known as relocation centers. Some of the detainees were repatriated to Japan, some moved to other parts of the United States outside the quarantine zone, and some even signed up for the U.S. military, but most of them had to endure the years of detention in frustration.
In January 1944, a U.S. Supreme Court ruled to suspend the unjustified detention of U.S. citizens. The quarantine order was repealed, Japanese Americans began to leave the camps, and most returned home to rebuild their homes. The last camp closed in 1946, and by the end of the 20th century, the U.S. government had compensated detainees and their descendants with $1.6 billion.
April 1942, Oakland, California
In April 1942, in Oakland, California, the Japanese-American store was forced to close after the evacuation order was issued. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the owner placed a sign in the window of the store that read"I am An American.
February 3, 1942, Los Angeles, California
February 3, 1942, Los Angeles, California, Terminus Island, an important naval base and shipbuilding center, Japanese foreigners were taken out of their homes under the surveillance of two men in civilian clothes. About 400 Japanese-American male foreigners — all residents of The Terminus Island — were rounded up by 180 federal, city and county police officers on Feb. 2.
April 25, 1942, San Francisco, California,
On April 25, 1942, in San Francisco, California, under Order No. 20 of the Civilian Quarantine Order, Japanese-American families lined up outside civilian dispatch stations in the Great Hall of The Japanese-American Society to be dealt with.
March 27, 1942, Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington, March 27, 1942, these two photographs show the impact of the Japanese evacuation of Seattle on a second-grade class. The picture above is a classroom full of Japanese elementary school students, and the picture below is the same class without Japanese students.
Rachel. Lai Hai Photo taken in 1942
Many of the evacuees had attended Raphael in San Francisco, California. Will Public Secondary School. Rachel in this photo. Laihai is one of them, photographed in 1942.
1942, before the evacuation
In 1942, before the evacuation, a street view of the Post Street business district of San Francisco, a Japanese-American neighborhood.
Scene in 1942 when evacuated Japanese Americans were transported from the assembly center to the war migration center.
On March 30, 1942, a crowd of onlookers in Seattle huddled around an overpass to watch the mass evacuation of Japanese residents from Bainbridge Island, Washington
On March 30, 1942, a crowd of onlookers in Seattle huddled around an overpass to watch the mass evacuation of Japanese residents from Bainbridge Island, Washington. Somewhat confused, but not protested, about 225 Japanese-American men, women and children were transported by ferry, bus and train to internment camps in California. Evacuations were carried out by the U.S. Army.
Internment camp for Japanese-Americans on April 3, 1942
In Arcadia, Calif., the Santa Anita Park Racecourse is being converted into a detention camp for Japanese Americans who will live in barracks erected in the background of the photo. Photographed on April 3, 1942.
March 23, 1942, Manzana Migration Center, California
On March 23, 1942, at the Manzana Migration Center in California, Japanese Americans who had been evicted from their homes in Los Angeles arrived at the camp and lined up to receive their first meal. The menu had rice, beans, plums and bread.
Photograph taken in 1942 or 1943
Newell, California, Lake Tourie Migration Center Vista. Photograph taken in 1942 or 1943.
Japanese-American farm workers at the Lake Tourian Migration Center in Newell, California. Photograph taken in 1942 or 1943.
In 1943, Ansel. Adams remake of a photo of an evacue living at the Manzana Relocation Center in California
In 1943, Ansel. Adams remake of a photo of an evacue living at the Manzana Relocation Center in California. From the top left corner, clockwise directions are: Kai. Lady Shadow Mountain, Miyatake Toyo (photographer himself), Miss Toshiko Murakami, Mori Nakajima, Joyce. Yuki Nakamura (eldest daughter), Jimmy. Corporal Shinohara, Aiko Hamaguchi (nurse), Yoshio Muramoto (electrician). At its peak, more than 10,000 Japanese Americans were detained in Manzana.
On July 3, 1942, a sandstorm hit the Manzana Migration Center.
February 22, 1944, from the Granada Migration Center near Lamar, Colorado
On February 22, 1944, 48 Japanese-Americans from the Granada Migration Center near Lamar, Colorado, reported to the Denver recruiting station for a pre-enlistment medical examination.
Migration Center in Topaz, Utah, April 19, 1943,
On April 19, 1943, the Topazi Migration Center in Utah, for James M. Wakasa's funeral is underway. On April 11, 1943, a gendarme approached the barbed wire fence near Topaz by James. Wakasa shot and killed him. Japanese detainees protested the shooting and demanded a public memorial at the site where Wakasa was shot. The soldier who shot Wakasa was tried in military law and subsequently acquitted.
Shuichi Yamamoto – The last evacue who is about to leave the Granada Migration Center in Amachi, Colorado
After the orders to relocate and detain Japanese Americans were repealed, the evacuees began to return home and the camps were gradually closed. In this photo, Shuichi Yamamoto— the last evacue who was leaving the Granada Migration Center in Amachi, Colorado — bids farewell to program director James G. Lindley, which officially closed on October 15, 1945. Mr. Yamamoto, 65, will return to his hometown in Marysville, California.
July 30, 1945
On Monday morning, July 30, 1945, a seven-car special train honked into Sacramento, sending home some 450 Japanese-Americans in California who had lived for more than three years at the Roweville War Relocation Division Center in McGehee, Arkansas.
May 10, 1945, Seattle, Washington
On May 10, 1945, in Seattle, Washington, a Japanese family returning home from Camp Hunt, Idaho, found their home and garage damaged, littered with anti-Japanese signs and broken windows.
In September 1945, evacuees from the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona lined up at the station to receive ration books and bus tickets for home.