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Relocation and Internment: Civil Rights Lessons fromWorld War II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2006

Todd T. Kunioka  and
Karen M. McCurdy
Todd T. Kunioka
Affiliation:
California State University, Los Angeles
Karen M. McCurdy
Affiliation:
Georgia Southern University
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Extract

Beginning in March 1942, three months following the Japanese attackat Pearl Harbor, and lasting until as many as 16 months followingthe end of World War II, slightly more than 120,000 persons ofJapanese ancestry were excluded, detained, and held in “relocationcenters” by the United States government, ostensibly because theywere considered a threat to national security. Nearly 70% wereAmerican citizens by birth; the rest were Japanese nationals whowere legally barred from naturalization because of the dejure racist policies of the time (Daniels, Taylor, andKitano 1991). Despite this treatment, over1,200 individuals volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed forceswhile several thousand others were drafted from the relocationcenters. Most served in a segregated unit in the European Theater,while others served as interpreters in the Pacific Theater, allwhile their families remained behind barbed wire in relocationcenters. These individuals served with great distinction within someof the most highly decorated units of the U.S. Army (Crost 1994).

Information

Type
THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , July 2006 , pp. 503 - 511
Copyright
© 2006 The American Political Science Association

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References

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