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##  Teaching about Japanese-American Internment. ERIC Digest.                    

When the United States entered World War II following the Japanese              attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese immigrants and             their descendants, including those born in the United States and                therefore citizens by birth, were placed in a very awkward                      situation.  The immigrants were resident aliens in the United                   States, a country at war with their country of birth. 
Amid the                hysteria following the U.S. entry into World War II, President                  Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February               19, 1942.  This order authorized the War Department to prescribe                military areas from which any group of people could be excluded.                This served as the legal basis for the evacuation and internment of             over 110,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans from the                West Coast. Most were forced to sell their homes and businesses and             suffered huge losses.  Schooling and careers were completely                    disrupted. 
Even more than 55 years after the closing of the camps,            the Japanese-American internment experience continues to deeply                 affect the Japanese-American community.  This period of U.S. history            illustrates how the constitutional rights of individuals of a                   minority group may be at risk during a time of national crisis. This            Digest provides six suggestions for teaching about the                          Japanese-American internment and guides to resources for teachers               and students. 1. SET THE CONTEXT FOR JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT             THROUGH AN 
EXAMINATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS.Students should discuss            the definition of "civil rights" and consider the importance of                 civil rights in their lives.  They should also consider the U.S.                Constitution as a document that describes the basic rights of U.S.              citizens.  Particular attention should be given to the Bill of                  Rights and selected amendments, e.g., XIII, XIV, and XV.  Point out             that the denial of due process to Japanese Americans was the central            civil rights violation in their experience with internment.  Due                process refers to a course of legal proceedings carried out                     regularly and in accordance with established rules and                          principles. 2. INTRODUCE THE JAPANESE IMMIGRATION EXPERIENCE IN               THE EARLY 
TWENTIETH CENTURY.Like the historical experiences of            many other ethnic groups in the United States, the Japanese-American            historical experience was, at its core, the story of an ethnic                  minority struggling to find its place within U.S. society.  Unlike              European immigrants, all Asian immigrants to the United States were             considered "aliens ineligible to citizenship" until 1952.  Because              of this, they could not vote.  Asian Americans also experienced                 segregated schools.  In 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education              ordered 93 Japanese Americans to attend a segregated "Oriental                  School" with Chinese and other Asian Americans.  Laws such as the               Alien Land Law of 1913 in California were directed at Asian                     immigrants to prohibit them from purchasing land.  The Immigration              Act of 1924 barred further immigration from Asia. 3. INTRODUCE                PERSPECTIVES ON JAPANESE AMERICANS FROM THE MEDIA 
FOLLOWING THE               JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR.Japanese Americans were thrust              into a precarious position following the Japanese attack on Pearl               Harbor.  This is an important issue to present to students.  The                U.S. media would often make no distinction between Japanese                     Americans and Japanese imperial soldiers.  This racial fear and                 prejudice combined with other forces, such as desire for economic               gain, hysteria generated by sensationalistic journalism, political              opportunism, and a sincere concern for national safety.  The result             was a complex mixture of motives that impelled the U.S. government              to forcibly intern over 110,000 people of Japanese descent from the             West Coast, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, into internment              camps located in isolated regions of the United States.  It is also             important to point out that some non-Japanese-American groups, such             as the Quakers, did speak out against internment.  While the                    Japanese-American Citizens League, a civil rights organization,                 urged compliance with the internment orders, several Japanese                   Americans protested and/or deliberately violated one or more of the             evacuation orders.  These violations were attempted to test the                 legality of the evacuation in the courts. 
4. INTRODUCE                        PERSPECTIVES ON THE QUESTION OF "LOYALTY." 
In February 1943, after            the internment of Japanese Americans from the West Coast had been               completed, the War Department and the War Relocation Authority                  required all internees 17 years of age and older to answer a                    questionnaire.  This questionnaire presumably tested their "loyalty"            to the United States.  Two questions proved particularly vexing.                Question #27 asked, "Are you willing to serve in the armed services             of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?"                         Question #28 asked, "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the               United States of America and faithfully defend the United States                from any and all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear             any form of allegiance to the Japanese Emperor or any other foreign             government, power, or organization?" Response to this questionnaire             was mixed.  Out of this confusion emerged three noteworthy groups of            individuals: those who answered "yes-yes" and served in the armed               forces, those who answered "yes-yes" (or provided qualified                     responses) but refused to serve in the military from internment                 camps, and those who answered "no-no."  Introduce not only the                  experiences of the Japanese Americans who served in the military in             Europe  (100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team)             and those who served in the Pacific War (primarily in the Military              Intelligence Service as translators and interrogators of Japanese               prisoners of war), but also those who answered "no-no" and those who            became known as "draft resisters of conscience."  The "draft                    resisters of conscience" refused to serve in the military until                 their rights as U.S. citizens were restored.  Most of those who                 answered "no-no" were segregated at Tule Lake internment camp;                  many "resisters" were sent to prison from the camps. 
5. INTRODUCE             REDRESS AND REPARATIONS. 
The redress and reparations movement                 refers to efforts by the Japanese-American community to obtain an               apology and compensation from the U.S. government for wrongful                  actions toward Japanese Americans during World War II.  Arguments               for and against this movement should be presented as well as the                final outcome.  Redress payments of $20,000 along with letters of               apology (signed by President George Bush in 1990) were presented to             approximately 60,000 survivors of the Japanese-American                         internment. 6. PRESENT DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES ON THE                            JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT 
EXPERIENCE.Extensive primary and             secondary sources exist on Japanese-American internment.  Consider              incorporating some of the following as a way of expanding upon the              limited coverage of internment in textbooks: 
*  Utilizing a U.S.              government newsreel from 1943, "Japanese Relocation," that presents             the government's rationale for internment 
*  Obtaining information            from the Japanese American National Museum 
*  Incorporating art               and poetry from the internment camps 
*  Showing the video "Days of            Waiting," which analyzes the internment experience of a Caucasian               woman married to a Japanese American 
*  Incorporating literature,             such as "No-No Boy" by John Okada or "Journey Home" by Yoshiko                  Uchida 
*  Examining Japanese-Latin American perspectives on                   internment (2,264 members of the Japanese community in Latin America            were deported to and interned in the United States during World War             II) WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT                               JAPANESE-AMERICAN

INTERNMENT.* A More Perfect Union:                     Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  Examines the                  constitutional process by exploring experiences of Americans of                 Japanese ancestry during World War II.  Reveals how in a time of                national crisis, concerns for national security and racial prejudice            swept away rights to freedom and due process of law guaranteed by               the U.S. Constitution.  Primary sources, including photographs and              documents, are included.                                                        http://americanhistory.si.edu/youmus/ex04unio.htm 
* American                  Concentration Camps.  Collection of photographs and audiotapes about            the experiences of Japanese Americans in the internment camps of                World War II.  Compiled by Masumi Hayashi of the Art Department of              Cleveland State University.  http://www.csuohio.edu/art_photos/ 
*             Children of the Camps Project.  Over half of the Japanese Americans             in the internment camps were children.  These children's experiences            are depicted in a documentary video program, "The Children of the               Camps," which is highlighted at this Web site.  The video "Days of              Waiting" is also featured. Teacher's guides to the video programs               are provided along with related documents and information about the             camps. http://www.naatanet.org/ 
*  Japanese American National                 Museum. 
Fact sheets are provided about relocation and                         incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Information            is also provided on Japanese Americans in the U.S. armed forces                 during World War II. http://www.janm.org/nrc/ 
*  Zenger Media. The            1943 newsreel "Japanese Relocation" is available through this site.             http://www.zengermedia.com/ REFERENCES AND ERIC RESOURCES.The             following list of resources includes references used to prepare this            Digest.  The items followed by an ED number are available in                    microfiche and/or paper copies from the ERIC Document Reproduction              Service (EDRS).  For information about prices, contact EDRS, 7420               Fullerton Road, Suite 110, Springfield, Virginia 22153-2852;                    telephone numbers are (703) 440-1400 and (800) 443-3742.  Entries               followed by an EJ number, annotated monthly in CURRENT INDEX TO                 JOURNALS IN EDUCATION (CIJE), are not available through EDRS.                   However, they can be located in the journal section of most larger              libraries by using the bibliographic information provided, requested            through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from commercial reprint                   services. 
Crost, Lyn. HONOR BY FIRE: JAPANESE AMERICANS AT WAR IN             EUROPE AND THE PACIFIC. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1994. 
Daniels,            Roger, Sandra C. Taylor, and Harry H.L. Kitano, eds. JAPANESE                   AMERICANS: FROM RELOCATION TO REDRESS. Seattle: University of                   Washington Press, 1991. 
Instructional Unit Committee. THE                     JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT, 1942-1945: A LESSON FROM RECENT                   HISTORY. Seattle: Asian American Studies Program of the University              of Washington, 1983. ED 240 042. 
Nagata, Donna K. "The                        Japanese-American Internment: Perceptions of Moral Community,                   Fairness, and Redress." JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES 46 (Spring 1990):              133-136.  EJ 415 965. 
Pickering, Susan M., and Lori B.                        Walker. "Japanese-American Internment: A Historical Narrative."                 SOCIAL STUDIES AND THE YOUNG LEARNER 8 (November-December 1995):                1-6.  EJ 518 975. 
Wojtan, Linda J. "Teaching Resources for                    Understanding the U.S.-Japanese Relationship." SOCIAL EDUCATION                 55 (November-December 1991): 455-456. EJ 445 152. 
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This                project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the            U.S. Department of Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0016.               The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the                views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does                  mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply             endorsement by the U.S. Government.  ERIC Digests are in the public             domain and may be freely reproduced and                                         disseminated. 
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Portions of this ERIC Digest were                      summarized from the curriculum module "Civil Rights and the                     Japanese-American Internment," SPICE, Stanford University,                      2000. 
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Gary Mukai is Director of the Stanford Program on               International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) at Stanford                  University.                                                                  **Title:** Teaching about Japanese-American Internment. ERIC Digest.                    **Note:** Portions of this ERIC Digest were summarized from the curriculum                module "Civil Rights and the Japanese-American Internment," Stanford            Program on International and Cross Cultural Education, Stanford                 University, 2000.                                                            **Document Type:** Guides---Non-Classroom Use (055); Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 2805            East Tenth Street, Suite 120, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698; Tel:                  800-266-3815 (Toll Free); Fax: 812-855-0455;                                    e-mail: ([email protected]). For full text:                                    http://www.indiana.edu/~ssdc/eric_chess.htm.                                 **Descriptors:** Controversial Issues (Course Content), Japanese American Culture,                Japanese Americans, Minority Groups, Secondary Education,  Social              Discrimination, Social Studies,  United States History,  World War II        **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Internment Camps                                              
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