Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066

Longstanding racism against people of Japanese ancestry formed the basis for how the United States treated Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans in World War II. Two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which gave the authority to the War Department to exclude citizens from the West Coast without due process. This paved the way for the forcible removal of over 125,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals from their homes on the West Coast and the unjust incarceration in concentration camps by the U.S. government.

Entire communities were typically given 48 hours to one week notice of being forcibly removed from their communities. They hastily sold their hard earned property – homes, businesses, farm equipment, personal belongings – at prices far below their value or worth. In 2017, it was estimated that 4 to 5 billion dollars were lost by Japanese American families because of this forced removal.

In cities along the Pacific Coast, “Nihonmachis,” or Japantowns, disappeared and cultural institutions were dismantled. Many people destroyed or buried any family belongings related to Japan for fear of being labeled enemies. With only what they could carry, three generations of men, women, and children received numbered tags and were forced out of their homes by the military.

The FBI arrested community leaders, placing them in Department of Justice (DOJ) prisons. The majority of families were confined at temporary detention centers, euphemistically called “Assembly Centers,” at racetracks, fairgrounds, and stockyards. For four to six months, they lived in animal stalls or hastily built barracks while construction began on inland concentration camps managed by the War Relocation Authority (WRA).