Japanese American Concentration Camps: An Overview
The mass forced removal and subsequent incarceration of some 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry—the majority of whom were U.S. citizens—is a significant yet lesser-known chapter in our shared history. In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan in December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This authorized the U.S. military to designate large swaths of the West Coast "Exclusion Zones" and forcibly remove anyone of Japanese ancestry. Stripped of their civil liberties, these Japanese Americans grappled with the loss of their homes, family businesses, and most personal property. They found themselves confined to hastily constructed "assembly centers" before being transferred to "relocation centers," a euphemism for the remote detention camps erected in the inland United States. This detention lasted from 1942 to 1946. Incarceration and the ensuing displacement shaped the histories of countless families and communities, even shifting U.S. geography through the disappearance or diminishment of many Japanese enclaves (nihonmachi or Japan Towns) on the West Coast. The experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II call us even today to consider the meaning of civil rights, due process, and the fragility of the freedoms we hold dear during times of national uncertainty.
