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Archives in Context: Teachable Topics from the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project

War dept. creates segregated military

The date that the 100th Infantry Battalion was shipped to North Africa. The War Department decided to create segregated Japanese American army units—the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regiment Combat Team. There were calls for volunteers and about 10,000 volunteers (2,686 chosen) from Hawaii (where there were no incarceration camps) and 1,256 volunteers (about 800 chosen) from mainland WRA camps. This pamphlet from 1944 covers Nisei in the 100th battalion serving in the armed forces during World War II.

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Contents of this tag:
1. U.S. declares war on Japan
2. Military zones designated on West Coast After General DeWitt designates western coastal areas as places where people of Japanese descent should be removed, the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) opened 15 Assembly Centers to detain them. This is a map, circa 1942, of military areas in Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada, describing the amount of Japanese population in these areas. A page from Wartime Civil Control Administration bulletin, 12.
3. Roosevelt signs Alien Registration Act After the fall of France and rumors of espionage, President Roosevelt signed the Alien Registration Act (popularly known as the Smith Act), which for the first time required all resident aliens to register, be fingerprinted, and inform the government of any change of address. Aliens were issued identity cards. This aided the initial FBI roundup of aliens within 24 hours of Pearl Harbor totaling 1,717 people of which 1,212 were Japanese. Seen here is an alien registration receipt card, Form AR-3, for Tomoye Takano from 1942.
4. Minori Yasui challenges curfew Minori Yasui, a twenty-five-year-old lawyer, deliberately made himself a test case by walking around Portland after 8 pm to challenge the constitutionality of the curfew and turned himself in. He was charged with curfew violation. This article titled, "Curfew Law is Questioned" from the April 3, 1942 issue is of the official newspaper of the Granada concentration camp reports on the the challenges by Yasui & Gordon Hirabayashi.
5. Executive order 9066 paves way for incarceration camps
6. ACLU drops challenge to consitutionality of Japanese American incarceration
7. Japan attacks U.S.
8. Public proclamation no.3 creates selective ethnic curfew General DeWitt issued Proclamation 3, which ordered a curfew requiring all alien Japanese, Germans, and Italians to stay within their place of residence or employment (if it was not more than 5 miles from home) between the hours of 8:00 pm and 6:00 am. This was followed 3 days later by Proclamation 4 prohibiting all persons of Japanese ancestry in the coastal Military Area No. 1 from leaving that area for any purpose and then Proclamation 6 extended it to all the Japanese in Military Area No. 2 further inland.
9. Exclusion order rescinded
10. Japanese American draft status restricted Japanese American draft status is changed from 1-A (available for unrestricted military service) to 4-C (“enemy alien” or dual national). Draft boards had stopped calling up Japanese Americans for military service before this. Seen here is a letter from Hideo Hashimoto to The Japanese Methodist Church, on April 13, 1942, to the congregation and friends where he summarizes his treament after Pearl Harbor and the state of the country the day before the mass removal order.
11. West Coast Congress calls for evacuations A resolution signed by every member of Congress from the West Coast was sent to President Roosevelt calling for the immediate evacuation of all persons of Japanese lineage from Alaska (territory), Washington, Oregon, and California. Here is a list created on February 10, 1942 containing names, addresses, number of acres held and parcel numbers on map of Japanese tenants. It seems this document is preparation for Executive Order 9066 issued on February 19, 1942.
12. Fred Korematsu arrested in San Francisco Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu, a twenty-three-year-old welder, had plastic surgery and assumed a false identity to pass himself off as a Spanish Hawaiian. He was recognized and arrested for not obeying the exclusion order and jailed in San Francisco. Ernest Besig, an ACLU lawyer looking for a test case, bailed Fred out and he ended up at Tanforan Assembly Center and later the Topaz WRA camp. Fred is seen in this photo from January 15, 1988 with Jack Herzig at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American History during the reception following the ceremony awarding Fred the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
13. Supreme Court hears curfew cases Supreme Court agrees to hear Hirabayashi and Yasui cases, but sends Korematsu back to the Ninth Circuit for a decision. Supreme Court upholds the Hirabayashi decision of guilt for the curfew violation, 9-0, and turned a blind eye to his failing to report for the mass removal. They also ruled unanimously to uphold the Yasui conviction and sent it back to the Ninth Circuit for sentencing. Judge Fee considered the nine months Yasui already served in prison sufficient and suspended the fine. Yasui was escorted to the Minidoka WRA Camp. This issue of the Rowher Outpost from June 26, 1943 discusses the results of the Supreme Court decision.
14. U.S. bombs Japan The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and bombs Nagasaki three days later on August 9th. Japan surrenders. This is a group photo of the Hiroshima Nikkei Club. Photograph inscription: "Top row, 2nd from left Bill Rokumoto, who died in the Hiroshima nuclear bombing. Ruby Sakoda Row 2, second from right with Susie and Betty Niko. May Sakoda, Row 1, second from left. Hiroshima Nikkei Club members with Rev. Huckabee. James M. Sakoda, Row 1, right end."
15. Trial of Minori Yasui
16. War dept. creates segregated military The date that the 100th Infantry Battalion was shipped to North Africa. The War Department decided to create segregated Japanese American army units—the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regiment Combat Team. There were calls for volunteers and about 10,000 volunteers (2,686 chosen) from Hawaii (where there were no incarceration camps) and 1,256 volunteers (about 800 chosen) from mainland WRA camps. This pamphlet from 1944 covers Nisei in the 100th battalion serving in the armed forces during World War II.
17. Executive order 9102 creates War Relocation Authority
18. Manazanar Pilgrimage
19. Disobedience a misdemeanor in Public Law 503
20. 63 resist draft at Heart Mountain
21. Student activist Hirabayashi fights treatment of Japanese Americans Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi, a twenty-four-year-old college student, turned himself in to the Seattle FBI office and was charged with failing to register after the removal orders and violating the curfew. He chose to stay in the Seattle King County Federal jail refusing bail, which would have only provided him with the option to go to one of the WRA camps. This letter from the Hirabayashi Defense Committee was distributed to potential donors in January, 1943 to raise funds to take his case to the Supreme Court.
22. Yasui, Hirabayashi, and Korematsu before Ninth Circuit Court The Yasui, Hirabayashi, and Korematsu court cases came before the seven-judge Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Edward J. Ennis represented the War Department and argued for the military necessity of the curfew and mass removal. The judges declined to rule on Hirabayashi and Yasui, sending their cases directly to the Supreme Court, and asked the Supreme Court whether it was appropriate to rule on the Korematsu appeal since the previous judge only sentenced probation, which technically is not a final judgment that can be appealed. Included here is a 1982 reprint of a report on "un-American activities" from 1943-45.
23. Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act Truman signs Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act providing $38 million for lost income and property (less than 10 cents on the dollar). This is an informational pamphlet for all "evacuee-claimants" filing claims for losses incurred during forced removal and incarceration during World War II. It includes analysis of public law 886, assistance in preparing claims, how to answer form questions, and types of real and personal property.
24. Mitsuye Endo resists removal of Japanese American civil servants Mitsuye Endo, a twenty-two-year-old typist at a Sacramento Department of Motor Vehicles office, first resisted by protesting against the efforts of the California State Personnel Board to remove Japanese American civil servants. Then, San Francisco lawyer, James Purcell, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus after Mitsuye had been sent to the Tule Lake WRA camp and later Topaz. U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Roche began an all-day hearing and then held on to the writ for almost a year, delaying and subsequently denying it. Purcell appealed.
25. Korematsu conviction sustained
26. McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act
27. Reinstitution of Selective Service
28. Korematsu found guilty
29. Executive Order 9066 formally rescinded President Ford issues Proclamation 4417 formally rescinding Executive Order 9066. Included here is the official verification form for Masaichi Ishibashi confirming that he was detained in a War Relocation Center During World War II. In June 1983, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians recommended that the United States Government make a one-time payment of $20, 000 to each of the surviving persons who were excluded from their places of residence pursuant to Executive Order 9066.
30. Hirabayashi found guilty Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi’s trial took place in Seattle’s Federal courthouse before Judge Lloyd L. Black and a jury. He was found guilty of not complying with the registration and curfew regulations imposed on those of Japanese ancestry. Hirabayashi was sentenced to and chose 3 more months in the Seattle jail, in addition to the 5 months already served, rather than have to go to one of the WRA camps. This pamphlet by the Gordon Hirabayashi Defense Committee discusses the case leading up to the trial.
31. Commission finds incarceration not justified Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians concludes that incarceration was not justified by military necessity, but caused by racial/war hysteria and calls for presidential apology. In the summary of the report entitled, Personal Justice Denied, it was stated, “The promulgation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity, and the decisions which followed from it—detention, ending detention and ending exclusion—were not driven by analysis of military conditions. The broad historical causes which shaped these decisions were race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. Widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan. A grave injustice was done to American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or any probative evidence against them, were excluded, removed and detained by the United States during World War II.” (Irons, Justice Delayed, 1989, p. 120). Here is a copy of the newsletter from the National Coalition Redress/Reparations discussing the travelling commission.
32. Yasui found guilty Minori Yasui was brought back to Portland from the Minidoka camp to hear Judge Fee announce the result of his 5-month deliberation. He ruled that the statute of March 1942, which made it a criminal offense to disobey General DeWitt’s orders, was unconstitutional when applied to American citizens. However, the judge held that Minori must be deemed to have renounced his American citizenship because of his employment at the Japanese Consulate. As an alien enemy, Minori was subject to the curfew, which he deliberately violated. Judge Fee sentenced Minori to a year in prison and fined him the maximum of $5,000. His lawyer, Earl Bernard, filed an appeal.Pages 17 through 20 of this pamphlet identifies the major cases against Japanese Americans including that of Minori Yasui.
33. Supreme Court decides on Korematsu and Endo Supreme Court agrees to hear Endo appeal and schedules it and Korematsu for the fall. The Justices met to decide on Korematsu and Endo, but delayed the announcement until after the November presidential election. They announced decisions upholding the Korematsu conviction, 6-3, the dissenting opinions refer to violations of constitutional rights. Endo’s petition is unanimously granted. In ex parte Endo the Supreme Court ruled that the WRA had no authority to detain “concededly loyal” American citizens. Included is a list of aggregated facts and opinions on the topic assembled by the WRA.
34. Suppressed incarceration evidence published Peter Irons, a University of California, San Diego, attorney and professor of political science published a book entitled “Justice at War.” He found archival evidence demonstrating the suppression of evidence in the Japanese American cases casting doubt on the military necessity of Japanese American WWII incarceration. He persuaded Yasui, Hirabayashi, and Korematsu to try using the somewhat obscure writ of coram nobis to force a reconsideration of their wartime convictions and recruited lawyers in Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco to take on this work pro bono. Here are the November 11, 1983 proceedings from the petition of Fred Korematsu for writ of error coram nobis and the government's motion to vacate conviction and dismiss indictment of Korematsu before the honorable Marilyn Hall Patel.
35. Nazis Surrender
Contents of this tag:
1. Japan attacks U.S.
2. Tule Lake Segregation Center receives about 12,000 "disloyals"
3. U.S. declares war on Japan
4. Sixty-three Japanese Americans resist draft at Heart Mountain, Wyoming
5. U.S. drops atomic bombs, Japan surrenders days later
6. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 authorizing military to exclude civilians Donald and Alice Nakahata in 1985 with copies of executive order 9066. Caption above image reads, "REMEMBERING THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT--Donald and Alice Nakahata look over two posters of Executive Order 9066 that hang in their Mill Valley, Calif., home as a reminder to their three college-age sons that the freedoms in the U.S. Constitution easily can be taken away. The Nakahatas have not forgotten the lesson they learned during four years of wartime internment that the American dream can turn into a nightmare."
7. Japanese American draft status restricted
8. WRA Leave Clearance Procedures enables Nisei to re-enter civilian life WRA Leave Clearance Procedures enabled approximately 17,000 Nisei (majority 18-30 years-old) to re-enter civilian life after loyalty check, prospects for self-support, and the reception of the community were reviewed (about 7% of total Japanese American incarcerees). Many went to Chicago, Denver, or Salt Lake City. This Policy of the War Relocation Authority from Ocotber 22, 1942, discusses the different types of leaves, the procedures to obtain the permit for the leaves and other topics related to the application and securing of the leaves.
9. War Department announces Selective Service procedures The War Department announced that normal Selective Service procedures would be applied to Japanese Americans inside and outside the WRA camps and draft procedures begin. IN this essay from 1987, Lieutenant Colonel Roy Takai shares his experience being forcefully removed to Poston incarceration camp, serving in the armed forced during World War II, and the controversy surrounding voluntary enlistment among Nisei in incarceration camps. From the Poston II Reunion Program.
10. Mass deportation over U.S. Citizenship renouncements avoided Wayne Mortimer Collins, Civil Liberties Attorney, prevents the Department of Justice from deporting en masse the people of Japanese descent who renounced their U.S. citizenship (7,222 Nisei and Kibei at Tule Lake renounced, whereas only 128 from all the other WRA camps renounced). The effort to restore citizenship took 22 years (all restored, except about 40-50 people). This 1958 letter by Wayne M. Collins, Attorney at Law, discusses the "Final Order, Judgement and Decree," which was brought to litigation on behalf of Tsugitada Kanamori, who had renounced his United States citizenship. According to the judgement, this renunciation is null and void and thus Kanamori will remain a citizen of the United States. He is therefore able to exercise all rights and privileges of United States citizenship.
11. Wartime Civil Control Administration opens 15 Assembly Centers After General DeWitt designates Western coastal areas as places where people of Japanese descent should be removed, the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) opens 15 Assembly Centers to detain them. The War Relocation Authority (WRA) is established through Executive Order 9102 and the transfers of 119,803 men, women, and children to these more permanent facilities are completed. In this photograph from 1942, is a busy scene of family groups identifying their baggages prior to departure from the assembly center at Santa Anita, California. Caption on album page: "Transfer of the evacuees from the Assembly Centers to War Relocation Centers was conducted by the Army. Train lists were made up so that families would not be separated and in most instances, groups associated by residence in pre-evacuation days were kept together.
12. Loyalty questionnaire distributed by WRA The War Department developed a questionnaire to identify possible military volunteers and the War Relocation Authority decided to use it to identify incarcerees who might be released from the camps. Called the “Application for Leave Clearance,” it was distributed to all WRA camps to determine the loyalty of all persons of Japanese descent over 17 years of age, male and female. Two clumsily worded questions caused confusion/consternation. Refusal to fill out the questionnaire, qualified answers, or “no” answers were treated as evidence of disloyalty. This questionnaire from Atsushi Ishida is partially filled out.
13. War dept. creates segregated military The date that the 100th Infantry Battalion was shipped to North Africa. The War Department decided to create segregated Japanese American army units—the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regiment Combat Team. There were calls for volunteers and about 10,000 volunteers (2,686 chosen) from Hawaii (where there were no incarceration camps) and 1,256 volunteers (about 800 chosen) from mainland WRA camps. This pamphlet from 1944 covers Nisei in the 100th battalion serving in the armed forces during World War II.
14. Germany surrenders, ending war in Europe. Newspaper reporting on the ally victory in World War II and defeat of the Wehrmacht and Nazi party. Front page article is titled, "The war is over over Here." Following articles include "War spawned deadly techniques; cost in lives and dollars tremendous," "Great allied campaigns brought defeat to Nazis," "Strategic geography set pattern of victory," "Top Nazis as neurotic as Hitler himself," "1940 marked darkest period for allies."
15. Tule Lake “Segregation Center” closes
16. Martial Law declared at Tule Lake Segregation Center Martial Law declared at Tule Lake Segregation Center due to camp disturbances leading to months of repression and hardship. This letter from February 23, 1944 describes the imprisonment of William Fujimoto for 34 days. Fujimoto states that the cause for his arrest has never been made clear, especially given that he has "never entertained radical ideas" and has been cooperative with authorities, and requests a meeting with Best to review his case.
17. Exclusion order is rescinded War Department announces that the exclusion order is rescinded since the military necessity for the incarceration had been alleviated, effective January 2, 1945, and the ban on Japanese Americans returning to their former homes would be rescinded. WRA announces all the camps would close before the end of 1945. In ex parte Endo the Supreme Court rules that WRA has no authority to detain “concededly loyal” American citizens. This pamphlet describes procedures for resettlement, including applying for transportation and relocation assistance; sending property; arranging for counseling for resettlement planning and for "special services" such as legal aid; leaving the center; and getting assistance from public and private agencies upon arriving at one's new home.