Library

Japanese Americans - Evacuation and Relocation, 1942-1945

Internet Links

You may want to explore some Internet resources to supplement or enhance your research. Always be cautious of information you find on the Web since the quality of sources varies tremendously on the Internet. It is always a good idea to check the information against another source. As with all information resources, whether in print or on the Internet, you evaluate its quality based on the following criteria:

Go the the Librarians' Internet Index, <http://www.lii.org>, to search for other recommended sites.

Suggestion: Do a keyword search for:

Once you find a good site listed, try the subject headings listed below the annotated citations in LII for more information.

Examples of Relevant Web Sites:

Amache Digital Collections Project - provides easy online access to materials from the collections at both the Colorado Historical Society and Auraria relating to the Japanese-American relocation camp located at Amache in South-Eastern Colorado during World War II.

Amache, Colorado: The Granada Relocation Center Site

Asian American Comparative Collection: The Kooskia Internment Camp Project - "...An obscure and virtually-forgotten World War II detention facility that was located in a remote area of north-central Idaho, 30 miles from the town of Kooskia, near the hamlet of Lowell. One of a number of such camps throughout the United States, it was administered by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and held people of Japanese ancestry who were termed "enemy aliens," even though most of them were long-time U.S. residents, denied naturalization by racist U.S. laws".

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites - Tells the story of the forced evacuations of nearly 120,000 Japanese-American citizens following Pearl Harbor and each of the War Relocation Authority internment camps to which they were sent.


Conscience and the Constitution - "delves into the heart of the Japanese American conscience and a controversy that continues today. Experience the choice faced by any group when confronted by mass injustice -- whether to comply or to resist"

Go For Broke Educational Foundation - the 100th/442nd/Military Intelligence Service World War II Memorial Foundation has established the Go For Broke Educational Foundation which is dedicated to teaching the story of the Nisei soldiers of World War II, as well as the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans and the civil liberties issues raised by those events.

Japanese American Internment Site - sponsored by GeoCities. Contains information and documents relating to this period, including connections to other Web Sites with information on the evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans. A copy of the original "Instructions To All Persons of Japanese Ancestry" from J.L. DeWitt, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, instructing Japanese in the City of Los Angeles, CA to evacuate areas of Los Angeles is included.

Japanese American National Museum - located at 369 East First Street in Los Angeles, CA. The Japanese American National Museum is the first museum in the United States dedicated to sharing the experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Through building a comprehensive collection of Japanese American objects, images and documents and through a multi-faceted program of exhibitions, educational programs, films and publications, the Museum tells the story of Japanese Americans around the country to a national and international audience.

Japanese American Network (JA*Net) "is a partnership of Japanese American organizations based in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. A goal of this partnership is to encourage the use of the Internet and interactive communications technologies to exchange information about Japanese Americans -- art, culture, community, history, news, events, social services, and public policy issues. The website is a volunteer project and depends on community participation and contributions."

Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive - over "10,000 digital images [which] have been created [and which are] complimented by 20,000 pages of electronic transcriptions of document and oral histories." 200+ photographs from the Los Angeles Examiner "...documents the relocation of Japanese Americans in California principally during the period 1941-1946. Many of the photographs show daily life in the camps."

Japanese-Americans Internment Camps During World War II - Photographs from the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, and private collections, of Topaz.

The Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project is a multifaceted project to create a permanent Web site which provides enhanced access to the University of Washington Libraries holdings on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Included in the project is a virtual exhibit focusing on the Puyallup assembly center, Camp Harmony, and enhanced access to archival guides and inventories of the UW Libraries Manuscripts and University Archives Division.

JARDA: Japanese American Relocation Digital Archies - Related Sites and Resources: This site contains links to many wonderful resources on the Internet including Curricula and Lesson Plans (short video clips), Library, Archival, and Museum Collections and Exhibits, Publications on the Internet, and Films and Videorecordings

Life Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in WWII Arkansas - Focuses on the experiences of Japanese Americans in World War II Arkansas, including history, educational links, materials and resources for teachers and the public, reading lists, a timeline, archival photos, recent press articles, downloadable posters, panoramic views, and maps pinpointing Rohwer and Jerome camps

Manzanar Free Press - four issues of the newsletter (Vol. I, No. 1 — April 11, 1942; Vol. III, No. 23 — March 20, 1943; Vol. IV, No. 1 — September, 10, 1943; Vol. XVI, No. 4 — September 28, 194) are available online from the Manzanar National Historic Site, National Park Service. "From its start as a simple means to disseminate information, the Manzanar Free Press grew into an independent journal with international, national and camp news, sports, editorials and gossip."

Manzanar National Historic Site - The Manzanar National Historic Site Interpretive Center Opened on April 24, 2004 and includes 8,000 square feet of exhibits, a bookstore, and theaters which show the site's award-winning 22-minute film "Remembering Manzanar" every half hour. Click through the main links of Home, Information, Visiting, History, Natural History, Volunteering, and Education to find many more information filled links along the left side of the pages.

A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution - "this exhibit explores this period when racial prejudice and fear upset the delicate balance between the rights of the citizen and the power of the state" with the relocation of Japanese Americans to camps during World War II

National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) - "dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and dissemination of materials relating to the history and culture of Japanese Americans. ...Specializes in travelling exhibitions, publications, videos, interactive multimedia, military and camp collections, and educational programs"

Race, Racism and the Law - "considers race, racism and racial distinctions in the law; It examines the role of the law in promoting and/or alleviating racism. The site includes statutes, cases, excerpts of law review articles, annotated bibliographies and other documents related to race and racism".

San Francisco News for the first six months of 1942, carried almost daily reports of FBI and police sweeps of the Japanese American communities, and the various proclamations, plans - and restriction of their civil liberties - issued by Lieutenant-General John L. DeWitt at the Presidio. When reading these articles it must be understood that they reflect their time; words and ideas repugnant and appalling to us today are used, and discussed, freely, in the News' columns. (Museum of the City of San Francisco)


Social Issues Collection - "historical images primarily from Washington State organized around the following topics: Japanese and Chinese Americans; the World War II Japanese internment camps of Camp Harmony (Puyallup) and Minidoka (Idaho);" and other topics. University of Washington Libraries, Digital Collections.

Suffering Under a Great Injustice: - Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese American Internment at Manzanar - 209 photographic prints and his book Born Free and Equal, and more

War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona, 1942-1946 - This Exhibit features images from approximately forty photographs taken for the War Relocation Authority and vividly depicts life in Arizona's two camps, Poston and Gila.

The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger than Justice - "Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans," includes maps, readings, photographs and layouts of the Manzanar and Rowher camps, activities, and links to related Web sites. From the U.S. National Park Service.

Wegars, Priscilla. "The Japanese Internment Camp Near Kooskia, Idaho, 1943-1945." PNLA Quarterly 63: 1 (Fall 1998) n.pag. 15 May 2000. - "'Digging in the documents' has produced INS, Forest Service, and Border Patrol photographs and other records. These, combined with internee and employee oral and written interviews, illuminate the internees' experiences, emphasizing the perspectives of the men detained at the Kooskia Internment Camp. This is an excerpt from a much longer, fully-footnoted manuscript entitled, 'A Real He-Man's Job: Japanese Internees and the Kooskia Internment Camp, Idaho, 1943-1945.' It and all materials generated by this project will eventually be housed in the Asian American Comparative Collection at the University of Idaho, Moscow."

When Military Necessity Overrides Constitutional Guarantees: The Treatment of Japanese Americans During World War II. - Curriculum content from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

Some of these links were found through Librarians' Internet Index and those annotations were adapted from the LII list (Copyright 2005 by Librarians' Internet Index, lii.org.)


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Page last modified: November 30, 2007