Restrictions, Responses, & Resistance

Loss of Property and Livelihood:

• Japanese American Internment During World War II - This is a primary source set and accompanying teaching guide that covers visual propaganda, how Japanese American businesses were affected by the coming incarceration, and some letters that reveal how Japanese Americans and others felt about the incarceration at that time.
• 1941 Camera and Radio Confiscation - This short article/photo series, published by the Los Angeles Times, provides primary sources that teachers can use to discuss restrictions on property during this time. It includes a transcript of a 1941 article about Japanese Americans turning in contraband items, and archival photos that illustrate the process.
• "How Bellevue businessmen who stoked fears benefited after Japanese American incarceration" - In this Seattle Globalist article, interviewee Alice Ito discusses the lasting economic impacts of incarceration, including how non-Japanese businessmen took advantage of her family, and how their descendants still benefit today.

Responses to Removal:

• Interrupted Lives: Japanese American Students at the University of Washington, 1941-1942 - This online exhibit crafted by the University of Washington Libraries, examines in detail how Japanese American students' lives were affected by the incarceration orders.
• In Response to Executive Order 9066 (Grades 5-12) - This lesson plan and corresponding teacher's guide was created by the Elk Grove Unified School District of California. By drawing on an archive of oral histories, it encourages students to empathize with Japanese Americans as they responded to Executive Order 9066 in 1942.
• "Personal Experiences" - This exhibition from the Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive (JARDA) includes images and documents created by men, women, and youth during their incarceration, which reflect a wide range of emotions.

Resistance:

• "A More Perfect Union: Court Cases" - This resource is part of a more comprehensive website maintained by the National Museum of American History. This specific section highlights the major Supreme Court cases related to Japanese American incarceration.
• Minoru Yasui - Citizen Min - In this 1983 profile of Minoru Yasui conducted by NBC affiliate KUTV, Yasui reflects on his motivations for choosing to resist the curfews imposed on Japanese Americans.
• "Fred Korematsu Fought Against Japanese Internment in the Supreme Court...and Lost" - This early 2017 article from Smithsonian.com focuses on Fred Korematsu and the case he brought to the Supreme Court. It reinforces the point that the legal precedent established in Korematsu v. United States has not been overturned and could be used again today.