The logo for the Day of Remembrance was designed by “Pacific-Northwest local Frank Fujii, a Seattle Nisei once incarcerated at the Puyallup detention center and Tule Lake concentration camp.” Japanese American Museum of Oregon.

Note: Please see the bottom of this email for more context on the language we used in this communication.

About National Day of Remembrance

The Day of Remembrance of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II was observed on Sunday, February 19.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which gave the U.S. Army the authority to remove civilians from the military zones established in Washington, Oregon, and California during WWII. This led to the forced removal and incarceration of some 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, who had to abandon their jobs, their homes, and their lives to be sent to one of ten concentration camps scattered in desolate, remote regions of the country.

Every February, the Japanese American community commemorates Executive Order 9066 as a reminder of the impact the incarceration experience has had on their families, our community, and our country. It is an opportunity to educate others on the fragility of civil liberties in times of crisis, and the importance of remaining vigilant in protecting the rights and freedoms of all.

Japanese American Incarceration During World War II

Feeding on anti-Asian prejudices that had grown ever since the Chinese immigration exclusion bill was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1882, anti-Japanese movements began once Japanese immigrants started to arrive in the U.S. and became widespread in the early 1900s after Japan defeated Russia in 1905. Japanese discrimination continued to grow throughout the 1900s, and after the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, this discrimination became institutionalized.

Starting on December 7, 1941, the U.S. Justice Department arrested 3,000 people they considered “dangerous” aliens, half of whom were Japanese. Many of those arrested were later moved to internment camps in Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota, often without the knowledge of their families. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which gave the U.S. Army the authority to remove civilians from the military zones established in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Forced removal of Japanese Americans from military zones began on March 24 on Bainbridge Island near Seattle and continued across the West Coast, forcibly removing around 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry from their homes. Residents were only given six days to dispose of their belongings, only keeping that which they could carry, before being forced from their homes. After reporting to “Assembly Centers,” remote areas once used as fairgrounds or racetracks, residents were forced to use horse stalls or cow sheds for shelter, faced food shortages, poor sanitation, and jobs that were not allowed to pay more than an Army private. From these “Assembly Centers,” Americans of Japanese ancestry were moved to “Relocation Centers,” 10 prison camps where residents lived in barracks with communal areas. Each prison camp was made into its own town made up of schools, a post office, work areas, and farmland, all surrounded by barbed wire and guards. Residents lived in these prison camps, sometimes for months, before being relocated again to a more permanent “Wartime Residence.”

The prison camps continued to operate until 1945, after the Supreme Court case “Ex parte Mitsuye Endo,” which ruled that the War Relocation Authority “has no authority to subject citizens who are concededly loyal to its leave procedure.” The last prison camp closed in March 1946, but it wasn’t until 1976 that Executive Order 9066 was repealed. In 1988, The Civil Liberties Act was passed, with Congress issuing a formal apology to Americans of Japanese ancestry for their treatment during World War II and reparations of $20,000 to over 80,000 Japanese Americans.

You can read more about this history at the National Park Service website, the History Channel website, and more resources below.

Resources to Learn More

Read more about the experience of Japanese Americans during WWII:

  • We are Not Free by Traci Chee – “From New York Times best-selling and acclaimed author Traci Chee comes We Are Not Free, the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.” Learn more on the Traci Chee's website.
  • Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston – “Jeanne Wakatsuki was seven years old in 1942 when her family was uprooted from their home and sent to live at Manzanar internment camp with ten thousand other Japanese Americans. Farewell to Manzanar is the true story of her family’s attempt to survive the indignities caused by forced detention, and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.” Learn more at Facing History & Ourselves.

Watch the experience of Japanese Americans during WWII:

  • Injustice at Home, a KSPS Documentary about how “During WWII, almost the entire population of Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated. Their only crime was looking like the enemy. Featuring the inspiring stories of people in our community, the 1-hour documentary focuses on Japanese Americans during WWII, both inside and outside the evacuation zone; chronicling their struggles and perseverance.” Watch Injustice at Home on PBS.
  • And Then They Came For Us, a documentary depicting how “Seventy-eight years ago, Executive Order 9066 paved the way to the profound violation of constitutional rights that resulted in the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans.  Featuring George Takei and many others who were incarcerated, as well as newly rediscovered photographs of Dorothea Lange, And Then They Came for Us brings history into the present, retelling this difficult story and following Japanese American activists as they speak out against the Muslim registry and travel ban.  Knowing our history is the first step to ensuring we do not repeat it. And Then They Came for Us is a cautionary and inspiring tale for these dark times.” Learn more at the And Then They Came for Us website.

A Note about Terminology

We want to recognize that there is different terminology used to describe Japanese Americans' experiences during WWII. We have tried to most appropriately describe the history of this time period but want to share other perspectives on terminology to use. Please visit the US Holocaust Museum website or the National Park Service website to learn more.

Feedback or Questions?

Email the DEIA Communications team with any questions or feedback.