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Timeline

Explore what led to this dark chapter in American history.

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Chapter I: Displacement
December 7, 1941

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

Japan attacks the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawai’i, killing 2,403 people. The F.B.I. begins arresting Japanese immigrants identified as community leaders and potential saboteurs to the U.S. government. Within 48 hours, 1,291 are arrested.

How did the F.B.I. know who to arrest?
Concerns about Japanese spies and informants existed long before the war began. As early as 1917, the F.B.I. tracked plantation labor organizers in Hawai’i to identify potential “Japanese subversives.” In the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, federal investigators reached out to the Japanese American Citizens League, who provided names of individuals suspected of subversive activities. Community leaders such as Japanese language school teachers, Shinto priests, and heads of kenjinkai were targeted. Using lists compiled before the attack on Pearl Harbor, federal agents and local law enforcement swiftly arrested those blacklisted as potential saboteurs within hours after the attack.
Eyewitness: Nikki Nojima Louis
Nikki Nojima Louis was celebrating her fourth birthday when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. That evening, the F.B.I. entered her home and arrested her father. “They didn’t have to explain anything to you. No due process. The grounds were: you were Japanese,” she says. “We never lived together as a family again.” To learn more about Nikki’s family’s experience, click here.

Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
December 8, 1941

U.S. takes swift action

The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to declare war on Japan. Soon after, the Justice Department closes its borders with Canada and Mexico to all people of Japanese ancestry, regardless of their citizenship. A few weeks later, it authorizes search warrants for contraband materials in any home in which an “enemy alien” resides. Over the next few months, thousands of Japanese American homes are raided for anything that might be perceived to be a weapon.

Eyewitness: Hisao Homma
Hearing rumors about potential home raids, Hisao Homma’s father drained his koi pond and burned photographs and documents that could trace his family back to Japan. When the F.B.I. arrived at his home in Sawtelle, CA, they confiscated his family’s radios and heirloom Japanese swords. To learn more about Hisao’s experience, click here.
February 25, 1942

The first Japanese Americans are displaced

The U.S. Navy orders all Japanese Americans living on Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles—totaling about 500 families—to leave within 48 hours. Many Terminal Island residents work in the fishing industry and have no choice but to sell their fishing boats and other equipment in the short amount of time they have before being displaced from their homes.

Eyewitness: Kiyoshi Shigekawa
Kiyoshi Shigekawa and his wife Misako met on Terminal Island and married just six months before the Pearl Harbor attack. “Because Terminal Island was next to a naval air station, they had 48 hours to leave,” recounts their daughter Marlene. Forced to abandon their home and Misako’s family’s drug store, they left for Anaheim, where Kiyoshi grew up. To learn more about Kiyoshi’s experiences, click here.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
March 1, 1942

Assembly Centers open

The Wartime Civil Control Administration opens 16 “assembly centers,” or makeshift concentration camps designed to provide temporary housing until the more permanent concentration camps are completed. Many assembly centers are situated on large fairgrounds or racetracks to reduce the need to build extra housing. At the racetracks, horse stables are repurposed as living quarters.

How were assembly centers different from camps?
Assembly centers were temporary facilities used to house Japanese Americans during the early stages of their incarceration, while the more permanent concentration camps were designed for long-term housing. Assembly centers were typically more rudimentary with limited facilities. Some families report sleeping in reeking horse stables on makeshift “pillows” made from sacks stuffed with hay.
Eyewitness: Taishi Ikuta
At Santa Anita Assembly Center, Taishi Ikuta and her sister were assigned to live in a horse stable. They used sheets and blankets to separate their living quarters and create makeshift partitions when using the public latrines. “They lived in Seabiscuit’s stall. That was the high point of their experience,” says her son Paul. To learn more about Taishi’s experience, click here.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
March 2, 1942

West Coast becomes a military exclusion zone

General John L. DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command, designates parts of the West Coast into military zones from which people of Japanese ancestry would be excluded. A curfew goes into effect in these areas from 8pm to 6am, and movement becomes tightly restricted.

While many Japanese Americans feel they have no choice but to comply, a lawyer named Minoru Yasui, who questioned the legality of these curfews, turns himself into a Portland police station to make himself a legal test case and bring these curfew regulations to court.

Eyewitness: Fumiko Takayanagi
Fumiko Takayanagi’s father Tokutaro owned a flower nursery in Berkeley, CA. When his home was designated a restricted zone, Tokutaro was no longer able to commute from his home to his nursery. He stayed with friends who lived outside of the restricted zone to continue going to work. “He could not cross University Avenue without being arrested,” Fumiko says. “My younger brother packed a lunch for my father and took it to him at noon each day.” To learn more about Fumiko’s experience, click here.
Chapter II: Incarceration
May 1, 1942

From horse stable to concentration camp

The months-long process begins to transfer incarcerees from their assembly centers to the more permanent War Relocation Authority concentration camps. There are 10 camps total: Amache, Gila River, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston, Rohwer, Topaz and Tule Lake.

Escorted by armed soldiers, incarcerees were herded onto buses and trains and sent to their designated concentration camps, which were scattered in remote areas across the country. With the window shades pulled down, many had no idea where they were headed over the course of their days-long journeys and were stunned by the stark landscape and unforgiving temperatures upon their arrival.

At this point, barely three months had passed since the executive order. Many of the camps are hastily built or incomplete, missing basic infrastructure like plumbing and electricity.

How were the incarcerees transported to these camps?
Escorted by armed soldiers, incarcerees were herded onto buses and trains and sent to their designated concentration camps, which were scattered in remote areas across the country. With the window shades pulled down, many had no idea where they were headed over the course of their days-long journeys and were stunned by the stark landscape and unforgiving temperatures upon their arrival.
Eyewitness: Fujiko Gardner
On the 30-hour train ride from Puyallup Assembly Center to Minidoka, Fujiko Gardner remembers the shades being drawn. “I thought it was to keep the hot sun from coming in,” she says. “But somebody […] said ‘No, that was to keep people from seeing all the Japanese on the train.’” Two songs were playing on loop throughout the train ride: Bing Crosby’s ‘Don’t Fence Me In’, which was popular at the time, and Benny Goodman’s ‘Idaho’. “We didn’t know where we were going, but we knew we were going to Idaho,” Fujiko says. To learn more about Fujiko’s experience, click here.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
Spring of 1942

Government encourages “resettlement“

Faced with the mounting costs of incarcerating 120,000 people, the War Relocation Authority implements “resettlement” programs to move “loyal” Japanese American incarcerees out of camp and encourage them to relocate to areas outside of the military exclusion zone. Applicants are required to pass a F.B.I. background check, secure an outside sponsor and navigate a time-consuming application process to be granted permission to leave camp and work as farm laborers, attend college and find employment in designated areas.

Why were incarcerees allowed to leave if they were deemed threats to national security?
The incarceration of Japanese Americans was rooted in the racist presumption that all people of Japanese ancestry posed a threat to national security. However, this perception began to waver as the U.S. faced labor shortages—especially agricultural workers—as the war raged on. Industry leaders looked to Japanese American incarcerees—many of whom immigrated to the U.S. as farmers—to help fill the gap. In response, the government established a seasonal leave program, allowing Japanese American incarcerees to temporarily leave camp for agricultural work. This set a precedent for incarcerees to leave their camps to seek other forms of employment.
Did many incarcerees leave?
By the end of 1942, only 884 incarcerees had applied for resettlement, due in part to the cumbersome application process. Many were also worried about facing discrimination, struggling to find work and housing, and being separated from family members who weren’t eligible for resettlement.
January 1, 1943

U.S. begins recruiting Japanese American soldiers

The War Department announces the formation of a segregated unit of Japanese American soldiers and calls for volunteers from the camps. Embittered by their incarceration, less than 1,000 incarcerees volunteer at first.

Eventually, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team is formed, and enlistment steadily grows. Over the course of the war, the unit goes on to receive 4,000 Purple Hearts, 8 Presidential Unit Citations, 559 Silver Stars, and 52 Distinguished Service Crosses among many other decorations. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service.

Why did the government decide to recruit the same people they were imprisoning in camps?
By 1943, the United States was deeply involved in World War II, and the military needed more troops. Japanese Americans—particularly Nisei—were seen as valuable assets, especially for their language skills, which could be used in intelligence and translation roles in the Pacific Theater. The military recognized that Japanese American soldiers could provide critical assistance in communications, translation, and espionage against Japan.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
September 1, 1943

Segregation begins

“Loyal” incarcerees from Tule Lake are transferred to other camps and “disloyal” incarcerees from other camps begin to arrive at Tule Lake.  The Tule Lake population grows from 15,276 to 18,789. Though additional barracks are built, the camp population balloons at almost 4,000 people over its intended capacity. Tensions rise between new arrivals and the existing incarcerees.

Eyewitness: Toshi Kuge
While incarcerated at Tule Lake, Toshi Kuge exchanged letters with his then-girlfriend Mae, who was incarcerated at Minidoka. As the segregation date approached, he worried that their families would be further dispersed across the country. “Have you heard from your folks? […] I hear that this segregation program might split up many families,” he writes. To learn more about Toshi’s experience, click here.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
January 20, 1944

Men are drafted from the camps

Struggling with low volunteerism from the camps, the War Department reinstates a military draft from 1940—from which Japanese Americans were categorically excluded after the Pearl Harbor attack—on Japanese American men from the camps. The military emphasizes that this is a restoration of equality for the Nisei because they would “again be classified […] on the same basis as other citizens.” In reality, however, Japanese Americans are drafted into a racially segregated combat unit and still excluded from serving in the Navy. While most incarcerees comply, a few hundred resist and face federal charges.

What happened to those who resisted the draft?
Draft resisters were charged with refusing to report for induction under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. They were convicted and sentenced to up to three years in prison at federal courts in Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arkansas and Arizona. The only exception occurred in California, where Judge Louis E. Goodman dismissed charges against 27 Tule Lake draft resisters, declaring it unconstitutional to incarcerate citizens on suspicion of disloyalty and then draft and prosecute them. This decision—which was not appealed—allowed draft resisters from Tule Lake to avoid time in a federal penitentiary.
July 1, 1944

President authorizes denaturalization

Although incarcerees had been requesting repatriation or expatriation back to Japan since as early as 1942, the number of requests explode after the draft reinstatement, topping out at nearly 20,000, or 16 percent of the total incarcerated population. In response, the President signs the Denaturalization Act of 1944, which allows U.S. citizens to renounce their citizenship. Many choose renunciation as a form of protest to their unconstitutional treatment, while others denaturalized fearing for their safety and separation from their families after the war. Between 1944 and 1946, 5,589 U.S. citizens renounce their citizenship.

Eyewitness: Tadayasu Abo
While incarcerated at Tule Lake, Tadayasu Abo renounced his citizenship due to fear that his family—his wife, son and a newborn daughter—would be sent to another hostile environment after the war. “Personal safety for my family was a constant worry,” he wrote in a 1956 affidavit. “We believed from everything that was done to us that the U.S. government had given up on us as citizens.” To learn more about Tadayasu’s experience, click here.
March 20, 1946

The last camp closes

On November 13, 1945, just two days before a ship carrying renunciants is set to leave for Japan, Wayne M. Collins secures a court order preventing their deportation until they can appear before a judge. Over the next four months, the Department of Justice conducts administrative hearings at the Tule Lake Segregation Center. Seven months after the end of the war, the last War Relocation Authority concentration camp closes.

Where did the incarcerees go after leaving the camps?

Some Japanese Americans attempted to return to their former homes on the West Coast. However, many found their properties had been lost, sold, or vandalized during their absence.

As part of their resettlement programs, the War Relocation Authority established field offices in the Midwest and East Coast to encourage Japanese Americans to relocate to these areas and reduce the concentration of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. Seeking potential job opportunities, a significant number of Japanese Americans moved to cities like Chicago, New York, Denver, and Salt Lake City after the war.

Many incarcerees struggled to find housing. Some lived in hostels, boarding houses and public housing projects while others rented out garages of other people’s homes and pitched tents on their employer’s property to get back on their feet.

Eyewitness: Elizabeth Okayama

After the war, Elizabeth Okayama’s father traveled from Heart Mountain to Los Angeles to check on their family home and business. “When he went back to look at the place where we lived, he saw, in business windows, signs saying ‘No Japs Allowed’,” Elizabeth says. “My father was determined not to take his family back to that racist environment.” Elizabeth’s family ultimately decided to start their lives over in Chicago. To learn more about Elizabeth’s experience, click here.

Eyewitness: Irene Shikibu Shigaki

Prior to their incarceration, Irene Shikibu Shigaki’s family had left their home in the care of a friend to rent out to tenants while they were gone. However, when they returned to Seattle, the tenants refused to leave. “My family lived literally a block down the street from their own house in the Japanese language school, which had been set up as a hostel for families returning to Seattle,” says her niece Erin.“That was a strange, almost torturous thing. They could see their house if they looked up the street.” To learn more about Irene’s experience, click here.

Eyewitness: Mary Higuchi

Prior to their incarceration, Mary Higuchi’s family had stored their belongings in a barn. When they returned after the war, they found the barn empty. “There was nothing there. Nothing except for broken boxes, empty boxes. Maybe a few broken dishes,” she says. With nowhere to return to, Mary’s family moved to a house with no indoor plumbing. It took Mary’s family nearly a decade to save enough money to put a down payment on farmland that they could call their own. To learn more about Mary’s experience, click here.

Chapter III: Redress
July 2, 1948

An attempt at reparations

President Harry S. Truman signs the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act, which allows former incarcerees to file claims for lost property as a result of their incarceration. However, the Act requires detailed documentation that many incarcerees are unable to provide due to the chaotic circumstances of their removal. It also does not compensate for other losses like lost income and personal injury. In total, the government pays out $38 million to settle damage claims—a small fraction of the $132 million in total filed claims, let alone the actual losses of Japanese Americans, which is estimated to be over $400 million. Many families pay more in lawyer’s fees than they receive in compensation.

1967-1988

A Movement Is Born

A few years after the last claim is settled through the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act in 1965, former incarcerees Raymond Okamura and Edison Uno organize a grassroots campaign to demand reparations for all former incarcerees. As support for redress steadily grows, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians is established, calling for a congressional committee to investigate the detention program and the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. The nine-member committee holds hearings in major U.S. cities and collects testimonies from more than 750 witnesses.

Were all Japanese Americans on board with the redress movement?
Some Japanese Americans—particularly older Issei and some Nisei—were opposed to the redress movement. Traditional Japanese cultural values such as “gaman” and “shikataganai” led some to believe that they should not seek redress but instead move on from the injustices of the past. Others were concerned that a call for redress might provoke further discrimination or diminish the significance of their experiences. For example, former incarceree and journalist Bill Hosokawa argued that calling for monetary compensation “cheapened the sacrifice of the ordeal we went through.”
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
February 24, 1983

A call for reparations and a formal apology

The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians issues its report, Personal Justice Denied, on February 24 and its Recommendations, on June 16. The former is a 467-page report concluding that Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity but rather was the result of “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.” The latter calls for a presidential apology and a $20,000 payment to each surviving incarceree.

Courtesy of the University of Washington Press
1983-1988

Damning Evidence

Researchers Peter Irons and Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga uncover wartime documents showing that government attorneys had withheld, altered, and destroyed evidence favorable to Japanese Americans during World War II, while falsely claiming they were national security threats. This discovery challenges the landmark Supreme Court decisions in the cases of Gordon Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu, and Minoru Yasui, and plays a crucial role in educating the public about the flawed justification for the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans.

What were the documents?

Intelligence reports from the Office of Naval Intelligence (O.N.I.) indicated that the O.N.I. had conducted thorough investigations and found no evidence of espionage or sabotage among Japanese Americans, directly contradicting the government’s claims used to justify their mass incarceration. In a January 1942 memo, Lt. Kenneth Ringle of the Office of Naval Intelligence concluded that “the entire ‘Japanese problem’ has been magnified out of its true proportion, largely because of the physical characteristics of the people.”

Furthermore, internal documents from the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that some government officials, including then-Attorney General Francis Biddle and Assistant Attorney General Edward Ennis, were aware that the military’s claims of “military necessity” for the exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans were unfounded.

The researchers also found that key government reports like General John L. DeWitt’s Final Report, Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast, 1942 had been altered to remove evidence that contradicted the justification for the mass incarceration. They also uncovered a memorandum revealing that Charles Fahy, the solicitor general who argued the cases before the Supreme Court, was aware of the O.N.I. reports and other evidence that contradicted the government’s position but chose not to disclose them to the Court. This withholding of evidence constituted a violation of the legal duty to provide the Court with all relevant information.

Courtesy of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
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