On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security. It was followed by Executive Order 9102 which established the War Relocation Authority for its implementation. Over 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were moved to assembly centers, then confined in internment camps that were isolated, fenced, and guarded. Around 70,000 of those imprisoned in the camps were American citizens. This 14-minute documentary by Ken Burns features stories of internees from one of those camps, Manzanar, which has now become a National Historic Site . #DayofRemembrance
[Manzanar Committee] View short documentary “Manzanar: Never Again” by Ken Burns
Learn more:
- [National Archives] View Executive Order in the National Archives
- [American Presidency Project]
- [National Park Service / Manzanar] Historic Documents
- [Our Documents] Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942): “During Congressional committee hearings, Department of Justice representatives raised constitutional and ethical objections to the proposal, so the U.S. Army carried out the task instead. The West Coast was divided into military zones, and on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing exclusion.” Read more
- [Densho] Extensive digital collections chronicle the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans.
