After the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This allowed the military to create “zones of exclusion” to prevent sabotage and espionage attempts. This order was used to remove thousands of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans from the West Coast. People of Japanese descent were encouraged to leave voluntarily and permitted to move inland. Eventually they were rounded up and sent to camps across the United States, often with only 48 hours’ notice. Most lost their homes, jobs, businesses, and their normal lives.

The prisoners were given food and housing, although often cramped and poorly-built, and encouraged to make new lives for themselves at these camps until the end of the war. Later on, several men worked on farms and fields because of the labor shortage from most of the men being on the front. They were often met with suspicion or hostility from others due to their heritage. When the war ended, families were released but had little of their former lives to go back to. Several acts have been passed beginning in 1948 to try to make restitution for the Japanese American incarcerations.