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International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma pp 125–139Cite as

Intergenerational Effects of the Japanese American Internment

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Part of the The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping book series (SSSO)

Abstract

February 19 is called the Day of Remembrance for Japanese Americans throughout the United States. On that date in 1942, just 10 weeks after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the exclusion of all persons of Japanese ancestry from “prescribed military areas.” The order led to the removal and incarceration of more than 110,000 individuals, over 90% of the Japanese American mainland population. The military considered the action necessary. Internment was presumably a precaution against the actions of any potentially disloyal Japanese near the Pacific. As a result, Japanese Americans living along the West Coast and portions of Arizona were ordered to leave their homes and move to concentration camps in desolate areas of the interior. Neither citizenship nor demonstrated loyalty mattered. Two-thirds of the interned were U.S. citizens. Surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, the Japanese Americans were held in camps for an average of 2–3 years. The intergenerational effects of their ordeal are the focus of this chapter.

Keywords

  • Ethnic Identity
  • Holocaust Survivor
  • Assembly Center
  • Camp Experience
  • American Civil Liberty Union

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Donna K. Nagata

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  1. Donna K. Nagata
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and Their Children, New York, New York, USA

    Yael Danieli

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Nagata, D.K. (1998). Intergenerational Effects of the Japanese American Internment. In: Danieli, Y. (eds) International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5567-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5567-1_8

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