Japanese Internment
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which “commenced the round-up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage to one of 10 internment camps--officially called “relocation centers”--in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas (infoplease.com).” The decision was caused by anti-Japanese sentiment which arose after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Ironically, more than sixty percent of those interned were citizens of the United States.
Living conditions in the camps were poor. Japanese Americans lived in barracks without plumbing or cooking facilities. Instead, everything was public use, which meant thousands of Japanese Americans had to share what little facilities were offered to them. This included bathrooms and the mess hall.
Two and a half years after interning Japanese Americans, Franklin D. Roosevelt rescinded Executive Order 9066. Even so, the United States government did not make reparations and apologies until twenty years later. In 1968, Congress passed legislation which “awarded formal payments of $20,000 each to the surviving internees—60,000 in all (infoplease.com).”
Living conditions in the camps were poor. Japanese Americans lived in barracks without plumbing or cooking facilities. Instead, everything was public use, which meant thousands of Japanese Americans had to share what little facilities were offered to them. This included bathrooms and the mess hall.
Two and a half years after interning Japanese Americans, Franklin D. Roosevelt rescinded Executive Order 9066. Even so, the United States government did not make reparations and apologies until twenty years later. In 1968, Congress passed legislation which “awarded formal payments of $20,000 each to the surviving internees—60,000 in all (infoplease.com).”