After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, U.S suspicion of Japanese Americans grew rapidly. American citizens, especially in Hawaii, were terrified of another attack. In response to this fear, the United States’ War Department demanded that all people of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii be evacuated immediately. The Governor of Hawaii, General Delos Emmons was strongly opposed to this plan because the Japanese were a huge part of Hawaii’s economy, but he soon had to give in.

In addition to the evacuation of Japanese Hawaiian residents, President Roosevelt signed an order in 1942 saying that all Americans of Japanese decent must be relocated, whether they were citizens or not. This confused and frustrated many Japanese, because they did not see what they had done wrong. Many American’s however were glad this order was put in place because they were worried that there might be Japanese spies who could help Japan form another attack on the U.S.

After the entire Japanese population of Hawaii was removed, another 110,000 Japanese were relocated from the West Coast and put into Concentration camps. Many of these people were American citizens and thought it was ridiculous that they were being stripped of their rights based solely on suspicion. Finally in 1944 the U.S Supreme Court came to the conclusion that it was unconstitutional to keep Japanese in the concentration camps and they were allowed to return home and attempt to rebuild their lives.

-Cory and Ofri