Japanese American Incarceration

The Munemitsu family’s story intertwines Japanese incarceration, questions of labor and loyalty, and a Mexican American family's fight for equal rights. During World War II, the Munemitsu family was forcibly removed and sent to an incarceration camp. Because the family leased their farm to Gonzalo Mendez, the lead plaintiff of Mendez et al. v. Westminster, et al. (1947), the Munemitsus retained ownership of the farm. To learn more, check out the rest of the Entangled Inequalities project.

This a series of lesson plans about the WWII home front, focused on Dayton, Ohio, and Montgomery County, as an American World War II Heritage City. The lessons contain photographs, reading, and a primary source, with an optional activity. The lessons highlight specific contributions (such as defense manufacturing, civilian involvement, Armed Forces presence, and Japanese American resettlement), but connect to larger themes and understandings of the US home front during wartime.

Entangled Inequalities is a project that tells the story of the two (extra) ordinary families. The Munemitsu and Mendez families lived on a farm in southern California. Their story connects two pieces of World War II history: the US incarceration of Japanese Americans and the segregation of Latino students in California schools. The three lessons in this series allow students to learn more about the entangled inequalities faced by the two families. It supports the Entangled Inequalities Series.

Ruth Asawa is a famous artist and sculptor. This page explores her life and legacy.

Fred Korematsu was a civil rights leader and pioneer. When the Army forced Japanese Americans into concentration camps during WWII, Fred Korematsu refused to comply with the orders. He was arrested and held in the Presidio Stockade until being sent to the camps. Fred Korematsu fought his conviction and internment with his case making it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fred Korematsu spent his life fighting against discrimination in the United States.

Yuri Kochiyama was a Japanese American political and civil rights activist. During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly removed her and her family to an incarceration site for Japanese Americans. For fifty years, Kochiyama spoke out about oppressive institutions and injustice in the United States.

On the World War II home front, Americans turned to their diverse religious beliefs to make sense of the world. Explore this page to learn more about Japanese American religion, Christian conscientious objectors, the Jewish experience in wartime America, and more stories of religion and World War II.

During the war, the United States government incarcerated many people in camps and prisons across the home front. This included enemy aliens, prisoners of war, Japanese Americans and Native Alaskans, and conscientious objectors. In Hawaii, the military imposed martial law. Elsewhere in the Greater United States, enemy forces incarcerated American civilians during and after the capture of American territories.

Ruth Tanbara was a pioneering Japanese American community leader in St. Paul, MN. During World War II, the incarceration of Japanese Americans forced her and her husband Earl to leave their home in Berkeley, CA. They were the first Japanese Americans to resettle to St. Paul, and worked to promote the acceptance of other Japanese Americans from incarceration camps. After the war, the Tanbaras stayed in St. Paul and remained active in the community.

Three lessons allow students to explore the challenges for education equality during World War II and study the people who fought to improve access for their communities. In support of the Entangled Inequalities: Japanese Incarceration and Mendez et al. v Westminster School District of Orange County et al. article series.