Executive Order 9066
On February 19, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which allowed the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans on the west coast. Roosevelt felt pressured by military officials and the public, because of the Ni'ihau incident and questioned the Japanese-American's loyalty. Japanese-Americans in Hawaii however weren't incarcerated the same way. Although 40% of the Hawaiian population made up of Japanese-Americans, less than 2,000 were detained there. In the spring of 1942, 120,000 Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to one of 10 relocation camps. The 10 internment camps within the USA located in remote areas of California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Arkansas.
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Internment Camp Living Conditions
The camps were guarded with barbed wire, watch towers, and military police patrolling the perimeter to prevent anyone from escaping. The Japanese-Americans lived in barracks with little to no privacy. In each 20 by 25 feet room, any combination of 8 people were crammed inside. In addition, toilets and showers were shared between the genders. The internees were served poor food and ate in one mess hall. Along with poor living conditions, the internees were unaccustomed to the harsh weather. In the summer, temperatures rose as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit and below freezing during the winter.
The government didn't plan for an education system within the camps, so the schools in these camps received very little resources, and the teach to student ratio was 48:1 in elementary school and 35:1 in secondary schools. The national average was 28:1. Along with a poor education system, there was a lack of sufficient healthcare. Those who needed medical attention were unable to receive help, so a few internees died due to a lack of healthcare. |
Tour of Manzanar Camp where 10,000 internees resided
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Loyalty Questionnaire
Those Relations between the internees and the government intensified after being relocated and when 2 people were shot and killed and 10 were injured during the Manzanar Riot in December 1942. In 1943, the government required all internees to answer a loyalty questionnaire. The two most controversial questions, question 27 and 28, asked were; "Are you willing to serve in the armed forced of the United States on combat duty wherever ordered and "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attacks by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance of obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization." Question 27 was worrying for young men, because they felt that if they answered yes, they would essentially be volunteering for the war. Question 28 caused concern to many, because they were asked to renounce their loyalty to the Emperor of Japan, even though they didn't have any loyalty towards the Emperor of Japan. Those who answered yes to the questions were considered loyal and became eligible for indefinite leave outside the camp. Those who answered no were sent to a segregation center at Tule Lake, California, the camp with the harshest living conditions out of the other 9.
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