3 paragraph History Journal Response to this weeks learning activities and reading
HRW33
WK6AmericanDilemma1415.pptxThe American dilemma
Principle of Equality and the Reality of Prejudice
World War II (1939 – 1945)
Germany invades Poland
Germany sets out to establish a large empire throughout Europe
Manages to conquer or subdue much of Continental Europe
Nazis begin a campaign to extinguish “undesirables” which were the disabled, political dissenters and Jews.
1939 - France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand declares war on Germany
US Congress passes Neutrality Acts in attempt to avoid entering the war.
Until D-Day
December 7th in 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii
Ironically, the state most heavily populated by Japanese is attacked by Japan.
2,000 Americans were killed
December 8th, Congress declares war on Japan
December 11th, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
Countries divide their allegiances between Axis or Allies (U.S. joined the Allies by default)
The Japanese Dilemma
Japanese Americans mostly lived in Hawaii and the West Coast
Navy Secretary suggests that all Japanese be held captive to avoid another attack from within.
President FDR agrees.
The Military governor of HI, assures its residents of Japanese descent that innocent persons will not be imprisoned
He refused to execute the request of FDR to evacuate the 20,000 Japanese residents.
As a result of his refusal, the governor saved 158,000 Japanese Hawaiians from internment.
The Japanese Dilemma
President FDR was advised by the Director of the FBI and the Attorney General, that there was NO NEED for an internment.
The Secretary of War wrote, “The Second-generation Japanese citizen will be put out based on their racial characteristics…it will make a tremendous hole in our constitutional system..”
Still the President issued an Executive Order to evacuate all people of Japanese ancestry.
This is a photo of the flyers that were posted all over Japanese neighborhoods. The government gave Japanese a total of 6 days to secure or sell their belongings and evacuate their home.
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Picture of a Japanese camp. This picture was taken after the war was over and Japanese Americans were being sent home.
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The Japanese Dilemma
President FDR asks Japanese to pledge their loyalty in the midst of extreme discrimination and oppression.
FDR offers the Japanese an ‘opportunity’ to join the military…“No loyal citizen of the United States should be denied the democratic right to exercise the responsibilities of his citizenship, regardless of his ancestry…” America is not, and never was a matter of race or ancestry.
Japanese were asked to prove their loyalty.
Internees were obligated to fill out Loyalty Questionnaires. Those that answered yes to a willingness to fight in the war, were enlisted.
The Japanese Dilemma
33,000 incarcerated Internees fought in WW II
442 Regimental Combat Team of
Niseis (American born Japanese)
They became the most decorated unit in U.S. Military history up until that point.
They were instrumental in the Military Intelligence
Served as interpreters
They decoded Japanese commander’s plans, translated Japanese documents, tapped unit’s radio lines.
The Japanese Dilemma
President Truman honored the Nisei when they returned: “You fought for the free nations of the world…you fought not only the enemy but prejudice- and you won.”
They defeated prejudice abroad, but they had not defeated prejudice in America.
Japanese soldiers were reminded of their condition at home, as they were met with hostile signs in their home towns: “No Japs Allowed, No Japs Welcomed.”
The Japanese Dilemma
When they were released from the Internment Camps, Many Japanese Americans found:
Their homes had been damaged and or looted
Their fields were destroyed
No jobs were open to Japanese
Many Japanese were business owners prior to encampment. Being gone for so long, they lost their cliental and capital.
They were passed over working in factories and in professional occupations.
Japanese Policy Victories
Oyama & Oyama challenged the Alien Land Law
The law prohibited Japanese from owning land
1948 the Supreme Court found that the Land Law aimed at Japanese was racial discrimination and unconstitutional.
The 14th Amendment protected them from such discrimination.
1952 Congress rescinded the 1790 “white only” Naturalization Law. Japanese became eligible for naturalized citizenship.
1988, Congress provided an apology and a payment of $20,000 to each of the survivors of the internment camps.
Chinese American Dilemma
40 % of the Chinese population was drafted to the war
They constituted the highest percentage of all people groups.
Of the Chinese population in the U.S., proportionally more of them, joined the armed forces than any other people group.
The reason why the U.S. recruited the Chinese to join the war: political
Japanese Asian Alliances - Japan was calling on all Asian countries to fight against the U.S. in solidarity against Asian discrimination in America.
The U.S. wanted to counter-act the negative propaganda (albeit true) that was circulating about discriminatory policies against Asians in America.
Some of those polices: Chinese Exclusion Act, The Page Act, Alien Land Law, “white only” naturalization law
Somehow, it was thought that allowing Asians to fight in the war was exhibiting fair treatment.
Chinese American Dilemma
1943 Congress considered repealing the Chinese Exclusion Act
“China is our Ally….by the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Laws, we can correct an historic mistake and silence the distorted Japanese propaganda.” – FDR
The Law was repealed
The quota for Chinese immigrants was increased from 0 to 150 Chinese per year. (small victory)
Chinese American Contributions
Chinese women made great strides during the war:
They were employed in the Defense industry as Assembly workers, riveters, office clerks, air plane mechanics and other war related industries.
The first women aircraft workers were Chinese women building B-24 bombers in San Diego
The Mexican-American Dilemma
500,000 Mexican-Americans enlisted in the Armed forces.
Mexican-American casualties were extremely high.
Minorities were disproportionately positioned on the frontline of combat.
Mexicans felt they could prove themselves as Americans by joining the war.
However, back home, they were attending segregated schools and living in underserved Barrios
Mexican American Contributions
Read about: Guy Louis Gabaldon who was awarded the Navy Cross. (pg. 363 in your text)
Mexican-American women joined the assembly lines in the defense factories
Many women became Riveters (many women of all races became riveters)
On those assembly lines, they modeled how to work with other races.
Women, (all women) gained self-confidence from the job skills they acquired.
Women
Women undergirded the war by taking on jobs in the defense industry.
Working on the assembly lines, were women of all immigrant backgrounds.
Women lived in their segregated neighborhoods, barrios, ghettos and shtetles
Women learned not only how to rivet, but how to get along with other cultures because at work, women were integrated.
They worked side by side, they learned from each other, shared lunches, exchanged recipes etc..
The wives and mothers of the men-at-war found they had much more in common than differences. When a child of a co-worker was reported dead overseas, all women mourned in solidarity.
Mexican Braceros fill-in during the war
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The Bracero Program 1942
The Federal government instituted the program to meet the demand for agricultural production.
Recruited Mexican contract-labor by the thousands
During the war up to 200,000 workers had been contracted
Braceros worked in 21 states throughout the U.S.
In 1944, they harvested $432 million dollars worth of crops
Mexican Contributions
In 1944, seventeen-thousand Mexicans were employed on shipyards.
Defense industry jobs: steel, armaments and aircraft.
Navajo Americans uniquely help win the war
Many Native Americans joined the service to escape poverty on the reservation
They were a special unit of C0de-talkers.
They created a method of communicating over the radio using Navajo dialect. No one in Europe could decode it since it did not derive from any European languages. They taught Navajo words to American soldiers. Thus making the U.S. military communication impenetrable.
Unfortunately many Native- Americans suffered sever Post-traumatic stress disorder.
Navajo service men returned to extreme poverty and no prospects for a future on the reservations.
War at home
Ironically, the oppressed people groups of the US, were integral to wining the war.
Fighting for freedom, while there was no freedom at home.
Read Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
Learning Activity Link
