Japanese American Internment Trivia Quiz

Answer: Issei

The Issei were not American Citizens. They settled mainly in Califorinia and were particularly successful in farming. They often cultivated marginal land and grew rice and various kinds of fruit. The next generations were called Nisei, Sansei and Yonsei respectively.

According to Wikipedia, 'Kibei ... (literally "go home to America") was a term often used in the 1940s to describe Japanese Americans born in the United States who returned to America after receiving their education in Japan'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibei

Answer: All of these

The ban on land ownership applied in California from 1913. It was not a Federal law.

In 1924 Congress virtually banned all further migration to the U.S. As a token gesture a very small number of Japanese were allowed in.

In the 1930s the invasion of Manchuria and later of the rest of China by Imperial Japan also played a part in making the Japanese Americans unpopular in the U.S.

Answer: 0

The Japanese Americans were loyal to the USA. In a letter to President Roosevelt, the Japanese American Citizens' League proclaimed, "On behalf of our fifteen thousand members, we unreservendly volunteer the facilities of our office to the defense of our land against attack. In this solemn hour, we pledge our fullest cooperation to you, Mr. President, and to our country."

Answer: the United States felt they were spies for Japan, and thus a danger to the country's well being

Attorney General Earl Warren also claimed that the Japanese Americans were deliberatly located in strategic areas to carry out acts of sabatoge. Warren felt that they were going to 'use their tractors to tear up country roads.' There was no evidence to support such claims and Warren had failed to admitt that the Japanese Americans living arrangements were decided for them due to restrictions that had been placed on them years before Pearl Harbor.

After the Japanese Americans were released, it was discovered that the only people found guilty of being spies for Japan, were some white Americans.

Answer: true

Of the 110,000 sent to the camps, two-thirds were Americans citizens, and over half were children and infants. Along with the Japanese Americans, German and Italian Americans who were deemed a threat were also interned.

Answer: relocation centers

The American government called them relocation centers so that they would not be compared to the concentration camps in Europe. Once at these centers each internee was given a letter and every family a number. This became their identification until they left the camp.

Answer: True

There were approximately 150,000 people of Japanese descent living in Hawaii at the time of the bombing. Only about 2,500 of those were interned. This was mainly due to the fact that the Japanese contributed heavily to the economy of the Hawaiian territory.

Answer: Tule Lake

The Tule Lake camp included tanks patrolling the grounds and 'trouble makers' being forced to renounce their US citizenship at gun point. Anyone who answered no to the Loyalty Question, which asked all Japanese Americans if they would renounce Japan and declare allegiance to the United States, was sent to this camp.

Answer: March 20, 1946

Tule Lake was the last camp to close. The internees who renounced their citizenship at Tule Lake were deported to Japan, while some others left on their own accord. Despite the fact that the goverment later admitted that the Japanese Americans were not a threat to national safety, they continued to be harrassed for many years after their release.

Answer: 1992

In 1992, forty-six years after the final camp closed, President George Bush formally apologized for the internment. In 1948 the American Japanese Claims Act was passed. It stated that all claims for war losses not reported within 18 months would be 'forever barred.' In 1976 President Gerald Ford rescinded the Executive Order from 1942 establishing the camps.

In 1988 Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act which provided $20,000 civil redress for all survivors of the camps.