Learning Activity: Korematsu v. United States (1944)- Historical Background*
Justice Robert Jackson’s dissenting opinion in this case stands as another eloquent example of his defense of individual rights, this time during a national crisis, World War II. Jackson argued that the Constitution did not grant the president, Congress, or the military the authority to take away an individual’s rights to live where he or she wanted. He also argued that an individual’s race could not be used to discriminate against a group viewed as dangerous by the government. Simply put, the right to national security can not outweigh an individual’s rights as protected by the Constitution.
Provide students with edited copies of Executive Order 9066 [see below] issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Ask students to research the reasons why President Roosevelt issued this order, along with Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34, which prohibited Japanese-American citizens from living in designated “military areas” in California and along the Pacific Coast. Ask students to investigate the rights of American citizens as expressed in Article IV and the fifth amendment of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. Ask students to debate whether the federal government has the right to suspend civil rights during times of national crisis (e.g., 9-11) or during wartime (e.g., Civil War, World War II). Have students discuss what citizens can do if they think that the government has denied them their basic civil rights. Ask students why Japanese-Americans were made to demonstrate their loyalty to the United States while other citizens were not. How did the media portray Japanese-Americans during this time period?
Have students research the conditions that existed in the Japanese-American relocation centers. Ask: What was life like for Japanese-Americans in these centers? How were they deprived their civil rights as American citizens? To what extent was the federal government’s action to intern Japanese-Americans justifiable?
Students can visit the following sites to research the background to Executive Order 9066 and the conditions in Japanese-American relocation centers during World War II:
- www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/timeline.html. (timeline of camp history)
- www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce10.htm (National Park Service, map of internment camps and book, Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites)
- www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html (San Francisco Museum articles from San Francisco News, March-April 1942)
- www.passingposton.com/trailer.php (a three-minute video trailer entitled “Passing Poston [relocation center]: An American Story”)
- http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation/activities.html (National Archives and Records Administration, Teaching with Documents. Search on Japanese relocation and find: “Documents and Photographs Related to Japanese Relocation During World War II)
- http://memory.loc.gov/pp/manzhtml/manzabt.html (Library of Congress American Memory Collection of photographs taken by Ansel Adams of Manzanar War Relocation Center)
- www.janm.org/collections/online/clara_breed_collection (Post cards written by children from the camps to Clara Breed, the librarian for the children’s section of the San Diego Public Library)
- www.americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/loyalty_segregation.html (Images of Japanese-American internment camps from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History)
- www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/japanese_internment/background.htm. (Truman Library collection of photographs, oral histories, and letters from President Truman related to the Japanese-American internment)
For additional lessons related to the Japanese-American internment, see:
- The University of California, Los Angeles Institute on Primary Sources at http://ipr.ues.gseis.ucla.edu/classroom/lessons.html.
- Lillich, Geoff, “American Justice on Trial,” SCORE. http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/internment/index.html (Teacher-developed lesson with students conducting a mock trial on the issue of relocating Japanese-Americans during World War II.)
(*Parts of this activity were adapted from: Patrick Westcott and Martha Graham Viator,“Dear Miss Breed: Using Primary Documents to Advance Student Understanding of Japanese Internment Camps,” Social Education, May/June 2008, pp. 198-202. Theresa M. McCormick, “Fear, Panic, and Injustice: Executive Order 9066, A Lesson for Grades 4-6, Social Education, September 2008, pp. 268-271. www.socialstudies.org.)
Executive Order 9066*
February 19, 1942
Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas
Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities...
Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War and Military Commanders...to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which all persons may be excluded.... (Note: Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 banished all persons of Japanese ancestry, citizens and non-citizens from these prescribed areas.) The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary....
I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance...including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies....
I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments...to assist the Secretary of War...in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
February 19, 1942
(*Adapted from: Our Documents: Executive Order 9066, www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/od9066t.html%20)