Race relations began changing in America
during World War II

African Americans found some racial barriers came down, at least temporarily     The great need for factory workers during the war had a generally positive effect for African Americans.  Many found they were being offered a chance to do higher skilled jobs - jobs that before the war they were not often hired for.  Discrimination and prejudice against blacks did not totally disappear, but any change for the better was welcomed.    For both men in the photo below, this might have been the first time in their life they actually worked side by side with someone of another race.

 




The African American women in the photo below are working
in a large airplane factory with a team of white workers.  Before
the war, scenes like these would not have been very common.

The government encouraged all groups to work together, and to set aside old prejudices    The government poster shown below urges Americans to put aside prejudices about other races and ethnic groups.  Instead, they should see themselves as "Americans All."  The last names shown in the poster are easily identifiable as Irish, Italian, Jewish, French, Polish, German, and African American.    Notice the message quoted at the bottom of the poster below, and notice whose name is there.

Japanese Americans were forced to leave areas along the West Coast    After the Japanese attack in 1941 on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans living on the West Coast found they were often treated with suspicion or even hostility.  There was a fear that some Japanese Americans might still feel loyalty to Japan.  Another fear was that Japanese spies might easily blend into  the Japanese American neighborhoods, and then report back to Japan on ship movements at U.S. Navy bases.    In 1942 the federal government created a plan to move more than a hundred thousand Japanese Americans living along the West Coast to relocation camps.  The map below shows the locations of the camps.

Japanese Americans affected by the relocation order had to sell their homes, businesses,
and many of their belongings on short notice.  Keep in mind that most of these people
were American citizens.  None of them had been accused of doing anything wrong.

The photo below shows a group of Japanese Americans boarding a bus
as they traveled to one of the internment camps.











The internment camps were surrounded with barbed wire and guarded. 
Residents could not leave without special permission.  The photo below
was taken by Toyo Miyatake, a well known photographer who was among
those forced to relocate to Manzanar, one of the camps in California.











Housing for the residents was in long wooden buildings that were
divided into family living areas.  The photos below show scenes from
1943 at Manzanar, an internment camp in California. 
 






















 

Some Japanese Americans joined
the U.S. armed forces

Several thousand Japanese Americans joined the American armed forces
and served during the war with great honor.  Some had parents or
other relatives in the relocation camps, or had been in the camps
themselves before they enlisted.

Corporal Jimmie Shohara

Pvt. Margaret Fukuoka, Women's Air Corps

Was it fair?    The relocation of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast is considered by many people today to have been completely unfair and un-American.  Others, however, consider it an unfortunate but necessary action taken to protect American ships, sailors, and soldiers headed to battle in the Pacific.      In 1988 Congress approved a plan to give those who lived in the camps a payment of about $20,000 each, along with an official apology from the American government.  Should the internment camps be called concentration camps?    You may find teachers and books that, for various reasons, make a point of referring to these camps as "concentration camps."  Considering the hellish nature of the camps by that name set up in Germany during World War II, I think it is misleading to use the same term for the camps described above.  You will need to consider this question of word choice for yourself.