Japanese Incarceration - Audio Program

The evacuation of the Japanese-Americans from West Coast areas.

Library of Congress: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, photographer

Quick Facts

Location:

Richmond, California

Significance:

National Historical Park

Japanese Incarceration - Learn at Home

This audio program is part of the "Learn at Home" series and offers an introduction to the history of WWII and the Richmond, California Home Front. You may access the series on the official NPS App and search for Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park or on our park website.

Park Website Audio Programs: Stream or download directly.

• Incarceration of Japanese Americans

  Video Player is loading.

  Play Video

  Play

  Mute

  Current Time 0:00

  /

  Duration -:-

  Loaded: 0%

  Stream Type LIVE

  Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

  Remaining Time -0:00

   

  1x

  Playback Rate

  Chapters

  • Chapters

  Descriptions

  • descriptions off, selected

  Captions

  • captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
  • captions off, selected

  Audio Track

  Picture-in-PictureDownload Original (0)Audio File Info

  This is a modal window.

  Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

  Text

  ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-Transparent

  Background

  ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

  Window

  ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

  Font Size

  50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

  Text Edge Style

  NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadow

  Font Family

  Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

  Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone

  Close Modal Dialog

  End of dialog window.

  
  

  This program is part of an introduction to the history of the park and the WWII Home Front. You can listen to it at home, while driving, before your visit to the park visitor center or as part of the official NPS App driving tour. These files are also available as a free download on our website and can be a great educational tool for your classroom.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS/Luther Bailey/Christine Cholloway

  Date created:

  07/20/2023

  Audio Transcript

  War kindled fear and long-held prejudices, and America's own citizens became suspect. In 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 and transferred 120,000 people of Japanese descent to internment camps. Around 70,000 were U.S. citizens. Immigrants from Japan and Italy who had lived in Richmond for decades were labeled "enemy aliens." Italian American families were split in two: non-citizens were forced away from the Richmond waterfront, while others could stay. Japanese Americans in Richmond faced much harsher treatment. They were forced to leave behind their homes and businesses and taken to prison camps, where they were imprisoned behind barbed wire until 1945. After compulsory registration in April of 1942, Richmond’s Japanese American families were forced to move to Tanforan Assembly Center, south of San Francisco, a hastily converted horse racetrack. Most were then sent on to Topaz Relocation Center in a desolate area of the Utah desert. All faced the extreme hardship of being uprooted, and of quickly finding strategies for maintaining, or disposing of, their homes, property, and businesses.