During World War II, U.S. Major General Henry C. Pratt issues
Public Proclamation No. 21, declaring that, effective January
2, 1945, Japanese American “evacuees” from the West Coast
could return to their homes.
At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941,
about 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry lived on the
US mainland, mostly along the Pacific Coast.
About two thirds were full citizens, born and raised in the
United States. Following the Pearl Harbor attack, however,
a wave of anti Japanese suspicion and fear led the Roosevelt
administration to adopt a drastic policy toward these residents,
alien and citizen alike.
Virtually all Japanese Americans were forced to leave their
homes and property and live in camps for most of the war.
The government cited national security as justification for
this policy although it violated many of the most essential
constitutional rights of Japanese Americans.
Japanese Americans arriving at an assembly center near Stockton, California. Their possessions are piled outside awaiting inspection before being transferred to the
barracks (1942).
