Executive Order 9066

The decree that led to the internment of Japanese-Americans was passed on 19 February 1942.

Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, California, July 1942.For decades Asian-Americans had suffered prejudice. They were denied land ownership or voting rights and were unable to testify in court against whites. The surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the vast US Navy base in Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941 was to have a terrible effect on America’s Japanese community, especially on the West Coast.

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