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Japanese-American Incarceration Camps

Question
Background Information
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Central Question:

Why did the United States incarcerate Japanese-Americans during World War II?

The Administrative Office at the War Relocation Authority center in Topaz, Utah
Photo by Stewart, Francis, War Relocation Authority photographer, Photographer, Public Domain

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War Relocations Internment Video

A video produced by the War Relocations Authority to explain the Japanese American internment camps.
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Executive Order 9066

Part of “Executive Order Number 9066,” which President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote, allowing the army to force Japanese Americans to move to internment camps.
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Anti-Japanese Sentiment

A photograph taken in California, around 1942, depicting the widespread anti-Japanese sentiment among U.S. citizens
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Dr. Seuss's Political Cartoon

A political cartoon with racist pictures drawn by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) on February 13, 1942.
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San Francisco News

Part of a newspaper article published in the San Francisco News on March 6, 1942. The article tells about California Governor Culbert Olson, who spoke to a committee of the House of Representatives.
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Note to Governor Langlie

A note written on April 29, 1942 to Governor Arthur Langlie by one of the War Relocation Authority workers, P. Hetherton, talking about the evacuation of Japanese Americans from their farms in the state of Washington.
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Munson Report

Part of the Munson Report, which was completed on November 7, 1941, by Curtis B. Munson, a representative from the U.S. State Department. Munson had investigated Japanese Americans in October and November 1941.
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Editorial Piece in The Crisis

Part of an editorial in the newspaper The Crisis, just after the internment camps for Japanese Americans were built. The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization that protects civil rights.
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Korematsu v. United States

Part of the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court, written by Chief Justice Hugo Black, in the case of Korematsu v. United States in 1944. Korematsu was a Japanese America who was convicted of not following internment orders. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court.
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Commission on Wartime Relocation Report

Part of the summary of a report made by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians on February 24, 1983, after a three-year investigation of whether Executive Order 9066 had been a violation of civil rights. Their report was entitled Personal Justice Denied.
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