What happened to Japanese Americans during World War II? Why?
1 Answer
They were sent to concentration camps because they were considered as potential traitors.
Explanation:
After Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December in 1941, the United States of America joined the allies in the fight againt Nazi Germany and Japan. Japanese Americans were sent to camps because they were not regarded as loyal to the country.
Here is an extract of Howard Zinn's A people' History of the United States' chapter: a People's War:
" Franklin D. Roosevelt did not share this frenzy, but he calmly signed Executive Order 9066, in February 1942, giving the army the power, without warrants or indictments or hearings, to arrest every Japanese-American on the West Coast-110,000 men, women, and children-to take them from their homes, transport them to camps far into the interior, and keep them there under prison conditions.
Three-fourths of these were Nisei-children born in the United States of Japanese parents and therefore American citizens. The other fourth-the Issei, born in Japan-were barred by law from becoming citizens. In 1944 the Supreme Court upheld the forced evacuation on the grounds of military necessity. The Japanese remained in those camps for over three years * . "
You can find a map of the camps here:enter link description here
