Japanese American internment from 1942-1946
- December 22, 1942: Time launches article
explaining to its readers how to differentiate between their Chinese
Neighbor and Japanese Enemy. An excerpt from the article:
- “HOW TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS FROM THE JAPS: Virtually all Japanese are short. Japanese are likely to be stockier and broader-hipped than short Chinese. Japanese are seldom fat; they often dry up and grown lean as they age. Although both have the typical epicanthic fold of the upper eyelid, Japanese eyes are usually set closer together. The Chinese expression is likely to be more placid, kindly, open; the Japanese more positive, dogmatic, arrogant. Japanese are hesitant, nervous in conversation, laugh loudly at the wrong time. Japanese walk stiffly erect, hard heeled. Chinese, more relaxed, have an easy gait, sometimes shuffle.” 4
- The article appeared only fifteen days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- Many Chinese shop owners put up
signs to distinguish their shops from Japanese ones.
- February 19, 1942: President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorized the secretary of war or other military commanders designated by the secretary to establish “military areas” along the west coast that exclude “any or all persons” they felt they needed to exclude. This order gave the consent for the incarceration for the Japanese Americans.
- March 11, 1942: General de Witt established the Wartime Civil Control
Administration, more commonly referred to as the WCCA.
- March 18, 1942: Executive Order 9102-
War Relocation Authority (WRA) as government division supervising
evacuated population- Eisenhower is appointed later as the
director of WRA.
- March 22, 1942: first large group of evacuees
from Los Angeles, California, were sent to Manzanar, California.
- March
24, 1942: Lt. General DeWitt, the West Coast Commander for
the U.S. Army issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1.
- Ordered the evacuation of all Japanese Americans on Bainbridge Island. It was the first evacuation of Japanese Americans from Washington State and the nation’s first enforced evacuation.
- They were given six days to pack.
- March 30, 1942 at 11 a.m. they boarded a ferry that would take them to Seattle to board trains, which took them to Manzanar. The trip would be over 1,000 miles long.
- 191 were American Citizens
- 274 were Japanese residents.
4. Ibid.,370