Relocation and Internment: Civil Rights Lessons from World War II

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-14-2006

Publication Title

PS: Political Science & Politics

DOI

10.1017/S1049096506060744

Abstract

Beginning in March 1942, three months following the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, and lasting until as many as 16 months following the end of World War II, slightly more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were excluded, detained, and held in “relocation centers” by the United States government, ostensibly because they were considered a threat to national security. Nearly 70% were American citizens by birth; the rest were Japanese nationals who were legally barred from naturalization because of the de jure racist policies of the time (Daniels, Taylor, and Kitano 1991). Despite this treatment, over 1,200 individuals volunteered to serve in the U.S. armed forces while several thousand others were drafted from the relocation centers. Most served in a segregated unit in the European Theater, while others served as interpreters in the Pacific Theater, all while their families remained behind barbed wire in relocation centers. These individuals served with great distinction within some of the most highly decorated units of the U.S. Army (Crost 1994).

Copyright

© 2006 The American Political Science Association

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