Glossary
assembly centers:
temporary detention facilities that were hasty makeovers of
fairgrounds, vacant fields, industrial sites, and racetracks to house Japanese Americans
until the completion of permanent internment camps
Executive Order 9066:
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the
executive order authorizing establishment of an Exclusion Zone in the western United
States. Authorities knew the order’s intent was to exclude all people of Japanese
ancestry from the zone, including those who were American citizens, even though the
order did not specify this.
Executive Order 9102:
On March 18, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the executive
order authorizing the creation of the War Relocation Authority to manage the transfer
and incarceration of Japanese families to internment camps.
Executive Order 9981:
On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed the executive
order calling for equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed
services regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin. This important first step
for integration in the military did not specifically ban segregation.
Ex parte Mitsuye Endo v. United States
:
a US Supreme Court decision in December
1944 in which the justices unanimously ruled that the US government could not
continue to detain a citizen who was loyal to the United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):
the US government agency with a goal of
protecting and defending the United States and upholding and enforcing criminal
laws. During World War II, the agency investigated many Japanese and Japanese
Americans, searching for potential traitors and arresting those suspected of treachery.
442nd Regimental Combat Team:
American Nisei men (most of whom had been
incarcerated) known for especially courageous fighting in Europe during World
War II. They became the most decorated unit, for the regiment’s size and the men’s
length of service, in US military history. It incorporated the 100th Infantry Battalion
in 1944, but both units kept their own designations.
Great Depression:
a worldwide economic downturn (1929–1942) that was the
longest and most severe economic collapse experienced by the industrialized Western
world
internment camps:
the ten large camps in which the US government imprisoned
nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during World War II. The government
claimed the internees were threats to national security, although later documentation
showed they were not. The camps were sometimes called incarceration camps, and
some internees called them concentration camps.
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