"Little did I value freedom
When I was once free;
But once penned up,
I have learned
How priceless is liberty"
-Jinji
When I was once free;
But once penned up,
I have learned
How priceless is liberty"
-Jinji
Executive Order 9066
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered the relocation of all people of Japanese ancestry along the west coast.
"...the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all
persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any
person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever
restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander
may impose in his discretion..."
-Executive Order 9066
Under Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt gave authority to the military to deem specific areas as military areas in which they could evacuate specific persons who were a threat to national security. As a result of this order, the military targeted people of Japanese descent.
-Executive Order 9066
Under Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt gave authority to the military to deem specific areas as military areas in which they could evacuate specific persons who were a threat to national security. As a result of this order, the military targeted people of Japanese descent.
"After President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, Japanese Americans were given three weeks to 'voluntarily' resettle to areas outside of the Western Defense Command...In the end, only a small minority...were able to leave before the government banned the Japanese American travel from the west coast."
-Gift of the Kawaguchi sisters
-Gift of the Kawaguchi sisters
"There will be no armed uprising of Japanese... For the most part the local Japanese are loyal to the United States... Their family life is disciplined and honorable. The children are obedient and the girls virtuous... [The Nisei] show a pathetic eagerness to be Americans."
-Curtis Munsun, November, 1941
-Curtis Munsun, November, 1941
Once the Civilian Exclusion Orders were put into place among the West Coast, people of Japanese decent, aliens and citizens alike, were given a short amount of time to settle business and home affairs, pack what they could carry, and relocate to assembly centers. They would then be distributed to War Relocation Centers, which are better known an internment camps.
Photographs of Japanese Americans preparing to relocate