Sequence of Events Leading to the Japanese Internment
December 7, 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army against the United State Navy Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded.
December 8, 1941
On December 8, 9141, the day after the Japanese bomber Pearl Harbor, President FDR declared war on Japan.
February 19, 1942
Executive Order 9066 changed many lives of Japanese Americans completely. All people of Japanese ancestry, US citizens or not, who lived on the West Coast were excluded, or forced to leave their homes. They were transported to "assembly centers" and then internment camps where they were to live while the United States was at war.
March 21, 1942
President FDR signed Public Law 503 which authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the west coast to further inland.
September 1, 1939
Japanese American internment was the World War II internment in "War Relocation Camps" of over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States.
1939 - 1946
People in the concentration camps had a hard time trying to stay alive. Most camps were located in unbearable heat or bone-chilling temperatures. This picture to the left is Manzanar, a concentration camp near Mammoth.
1946
This was the year where the Japanese Americans were released from the internment camps.