Teaching Japanese-American Incarceration

Abstract

FEW EVENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY are so universally deplored as the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The United States government has acknowledged the error and the injustice that resulted with an official Presidential apology and a Congressional disbursement of reparations to the victims of the incarceration policy. The decision, its implementation, and its consequences for various individuals have been the topics for a variety of historical accounts, museum exhibits, documentary films, short stories, novels, plays and movies. Moder observers are appalled that the United States enacted such an inhumane, unjust and unnecessary policy, yet most citizens at the time thought the policy appropriate, necessary, and humane. The policy was supported overwhelmingly by the American people and the few who opposed the policy were considered unpatriotic and their reasoning bizarre. Most people thought internment of enemy aliens was a normal precaution in wartime situations, made particularly appropriate given the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The residence of Japanese immigrants near military facilities on the west coast and Hawaii seemed to make the