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Inevitably, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that began World War II, Japanese-Americans were frowned upon and stereotyped because of their descent. However, Japanese immigrants contributed to economic expansion of the United States. Whites resented the Japanese immigrants, but reaped economic profit from the Japanese-American residents' discipline and hard work. Japanese-Americans of this time seem to be attacked; however, they choose to uphold their disconnection with the rest of the Americans. Many Japanese felt they had superiority over Americans, creating tension and disconnection.
Nevertheless, Japanese were resented and disliked by whites. Due to pressure from state leaders near the west coast, President Roosevelt, on February 19, 1942, signed Executive Order 9066. This resulted in the which resulted in the violent imprisonment of 120, 000 people of Japanese ancestry. When the government gave its internment order, whites rounded up, imprisoned, and exiled their Japanese neighbors.
In 1942, 110, 000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States were relocated to ten internment camps. More than two thirds of those sent to internment camps, under the Executive Order, had never shown disloyalty and were also citizens of the United States. In April 1942, the War Relocation Authority was created to control the assembly centers, relocation centers, and internment camps, and oversee the relocation of Japanese-Americans. It took another forty years for the US government to recognize the violations of this population's constitutional rights. The internment camps were permanent detention camps that held internees from March, 1942 until their closing in 1945 and 1946. Although the camps held captive people of many different origins, the majority of the prisoners were Japanese-Americans.
There were ten different relocation centers located across the United States during the war. These Japanese Americans, half of whom were children, were incarcerated for up to 4 years, without due process of law or any factual basis, in bleak, remote camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs; in some cases family members were separated and put into different camps. President Roosevelt himself called the 10 facilities 'concentration camps. ' The "camps" had temporary tar paper covered barracks, guard towers, and barbed-wire fences. Accept for the camps which were isolated, boundaries were identified by guard towers and barbed wire fences.
Not only were there these boundaries but they were guarded by military police, with rifles and baronets. Numerous Japanese-Americans in Internment camps were killed by military guards, for not following orders or resisting officers. Many Japanese died inside the camps due to a lack of sufficient medical care and malnutrition. In many accounts of the camps, Japanese-Americans always mention the dust storms. A dust storm would blow, sometimes for hours. Inmates were given a tin cup and a bowl with milk, dust would form on top of the milk, but they were forced to drink it because it was all they had.
The only things the government would provide for a barrack were the cot, the mattress, and the blankets. Cots were very close to each other with possibly only three to four feet in between them. Meals at the concentration camps were served in cafeteria style with lines often stretching out the doors into the hot sun. It is a good thing that there are not still places like this in the United States. It is another one of Americas sore spots that is not a very good one to remember when looking at the history of the United States, however it is part of out history, therefore it must be included.
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Research essay sample on Internment Camps Japanese Americans
