The Effects of Private Memory on the Redress Movement of Japanese Americans

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The Effects of Private Memory on the Redress Movement of Japanese Americans From Private Moments to Public Calls for Justice: The Effects of Private Memory on the Redress Movement of Japanese Americans A thesis submitted to the Department of History, Miami University, in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in History. Sarah Franklin Doran Miami University Oxford, Ohio May 201 ii ABSTRACT FROM PRIVATE MOMENTS TO PUBLIC CALLS FOR JUSTICE: THE EFFECTS OF PRIVVATE MEMORY ON THE REDRESS MOVEMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS Sarah Doran It has been 68 years since President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans. This period of internment would shape the lives of all of those directly involved and have ramifications even four generations later. Due to the lack of communication between family members who were interned and their children, the movement for redress was not largely popular until the 1970s. Many families classified their time in the internment camps as subjects that were off limits, thus, leaving children without the true knowledge of their heritage. Because memories were not shared within the household, younger generations had no pressing reason to fight for redress. It was only after an opening in the avenue of communication between the generations that the search for true justice could commence. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how communication patterns within the home, the Japanese-American community, and ultimately the nation changed to allow for the successful completion of a reparation movement. What occurred to encourage those who were interned to end their silence and share their experiences with their children, grandchildren, and the greater community? Further, what external factors influenced this same phenomenon? The research for this project was largely accomplished through reading memoirs and historical monographs. There has been a sufficient amount of information published about the actual internment experience, although few historians have focused on the transformation of the community from one of silence and shame to a group of individuals willing to stand up to the government. In order to analyze the communication patterns, numerous personal testimonies were viewed. There are many recorded interviews that are available due to the Commission on Wartime Internment and Civilian Relocation that were instrumental in building a solid argument and added a personal touch to the numerous governmental documents reviewed. It can be concluded that while a great multitude of factors led to the redress movement that culminated in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the education of the younger Nisei, or second generation Japanese Americans, or Sansei, third generation Japanese Americans, played a major role in this shift in communication patterns. Once they were introduced to the internment as a part of their own heritages and were able to contextualize the injustice done to their relatives and in many cases infant selves they were able to turn the shame their parents and grandparents into anger that served as a catalyst for change. Their college experiences also introduced them to other ethnic groups who retained pride in their histories and inspired the Japanese Americans to do the same, while also getting them involved in various civil rights movements that were concurrently changing America. iii iv vi Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who was been supportive of me while I endeavored to complete this thesis. Thank you for encouraging me, for listening to me complain, and for reading the many drafts I have worked on. To the many professors in the history department I have been lucky enough to work with Thank you so much for all that you have taught me over the last four years. I came to Miami in love with history, but I am leaving with deeper appreciation for the past and for those who have spent their lives studying it because of your passion for the subject and dedication to your students. To my advisor Dr. Tammy Brown Thank you for agreeing to work with a student you didn’t even know on the most time consuming project of her college career. I will never be able to thank you enough for all of the guidance and support you have offered me over the last three semesters and I hope that you are as proud of this final work as I am. You never once acted frustrated with my failure to meet deadlines and never had anything but positive words about my work and for that I must also thank you. While I know I was not the perfect advise, we made it through this program together. To Dr. Jensen I don’t know that I have ever had a bigger cheerleader. You are always so positive and encouraging that you make students want to perform their best for you. On days when I was discouraged by the daunting task ahead, you were always available to answer my questions and make me feel as though this was in my reach. The History Honors Students are so lucky to have you and I know that you will be missed the next two years. To Dr. Charlotte Goldy As I have told you before, you are one of my favorite people. When I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write a thesis, you told me that I could do it, and because I have never wanted you to be disappointed in me or my work, I did. There has never been another piece of work in which I have had so much pride, so thank you for encouraging me. I will miss our visits, but promise to continue to send you book titles throughout the years. Finally to my Parents Thank you for all of the love and support you have shown me over the years. I am the person I am today because of your guidance and the wonderful examples you set for me. I will never be able to thank you enough for all of the books you bought, drafts you proofread, and times you told me I could do anything I wanted to do. vii 8 Table of Contents I. Introduction: Executive Order 9066, Camp Experiences, and Early Changes Amongst the Japanese-American Community ....................................................................................................................................Page 9 II. Chapter One, “Enryo”: Restrained Speech, Shame, and Assimilation ..................................................................................................................................Page 33 III. Chapter Two, “Shikata Ga Nai”: Education, Organization, and the Public Sphere ..................................................................................................................................Page 53 IV. Chapter Three, “Gaman”: Testimonies, Healing, and Redress ..................................................................................................................................Page 76 V. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................Page 101 VI. References ................................................................................................................................Page 107 viii 9 Introduction Executive Order 9066, Camp Experiences, and Early Changes Amongst the Japanese-American Community Figure 1.1: Dorthea Lange, Saulte of Innocence,April 1942 [data-base online] (library of Congress, Accessed 12 April 2011); Available http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0013.html, Image ID: Prints and Photographs Division (92) LC-USZ62-17124 Donna Nagata was six years old when she was first introduced to her mother’s “camp” experience. Believing this camp to be one like the YMCA camps she had attended, she asked her mother “was it fun” and was dismayed when her mother responded “not really.”1 This exchange could have been a commonplace conversation between mother and daughter, yet it was not. It was a daughter’s introduction into the horrors of her mother’s past. The two were not discussing day camp where arts and 1 Donna Nagata, Legacy of Injustice: Exploring the Cross-Generational Impact of the Japanese American Internment (New York: Palgrave MacMillian, 1993), vii. 10999910 crafts are the most important activity of the day, but rather they were talking about the mother’s time interned by the United States Government, an experience equated with imprisonment.2 Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt, on the advice of the Secretary of War, called for the forced evacuation of the Japanese Americans with Executive Order 9066. This order followed several attempted curfews that had proven difficult to implement and calls for Japanese Americans to voluntarily move further inland or back to Japan. The order “authorized and directed the Secretary of War to prescribe military areas in such places...from which any or all persons may be excluded, and... the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War ....may impose in his discretion.”3 The President approved it on February 19, 1942, and although there is no direct mention of the Japanese Americans in the order, as historian Greg Robinson writes, “the government officials involved well understood that the order was designed solely to permit mass removal of Japanese Americans.”4 It was war hysteria and fear that combined to create one of the greatest circumventions of civil liberties ever experienced in the United States. 2 Ibid., 5. 3 Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942; General Records of the Unites States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives 4 Greg Robinson, A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America (New York: Columbia University Press,
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