"Tomorrow she and the children would be leaving. She did not know where they were going or how long they would be gone or who would be living in their house while they were away. She knew only that tomorrow they had to go" (Otsuka 8-9).










Introduction

One-hundred thousand Japanese Americans were forced to sell their belongings and often move far from their homes to live in locked, guarded camps. Did this really happen in the United States of America? What steps were followed to allow this to happen? What rights were violated? What have we learned?

The Legality Behind the Camps

Executive Order 9066 (FDR, 2/19/42) laid the legal groundwork for the internment of Japanese Americans to begin and Proclamation 4417 (President Gerald Ford, 2/20/76) apologized for it.

Children in the Camps

Information about children who were in the camps can be especially moving. Learn more about the executive orders that created internment, and see the effects on the children.

Resistance

What happened to those who fought the internment? What was their legal status? Find out the fate of those who didn't follow the curfew; read about individual cases.

Civil Rights

What are the issues as they relate to the civil rights of the interned Japanese Americans? Could it happen again?