Contrary to the perception that the Japanese Americans passively and silently submitted to the mass incarceration during WWII, we now know from historical research that in fact there was very active and continuous resistance in the camps by Japanese Americans to protest the racist injustice and the loss of their constitutional and civil rights.

Thousands of Japanese Americans organized protests inside the concentration camps throughout the period of incarceration. The prisoners held many work strikes, formed committees to meet with the War Relocation Authority (WRA) administrators to explain and press their demands, wrote statements/letters/petitions which they sent not only to the WRA but also to President Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dept. of War and other federal agencies. There were large meetings and outdoor protest gatherings of hundreds and thousands of people at a time.

These various forms of resistance involved Japanese Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life, and took place throughout the camps. Women, notably Issei women, were prominent and articulate voices in demanding the restoration of civil rights. Issei in some cases were able to provide significant leadership despite all of the attempts of the U.S. government to completely dis-empower them.

Not everyone in the camps participated in or supported these acts of resistance. Disagreements in the community over how to respond to racism and the government dated back to years before the incarceration. Another factor was that repression by the Army, FBI and WRA was swift and severe for those considered “troublemakers,” who were often arrested, separated from their family and sent to the Tule Lake stockade, a Citizen Isolation Center or federal penitentiary.

Much of the resistance was very principled and well-considered. But frustration and anger in the confined pressure-cooker situation which the government had put everyone in, unfortunately did lead to some tactics of intimidation by various factions and some violence. The government played a large role in exacerbating animosity and tensions between different sectors of Japanese Americans and within families, particularly with the “Loyalty Questionnaire” and imposing the draft. Thousands were unjustly labeled “disloyal,” ostracized and socially isolated long after WWII was over.

This “Timeline of Resistance” is not a complete or scholarly document, but is an initial attempt to gather at least some of the scattered information about resistance for the period of 1942-1946 into one list. Also attached are some “Statements of Resistance” – as written by Japanese Americans while in the camps. This Timeline only focuses on the more organized forms of resistance, and does not include the many acts of resistance by countless individuals which took place on a daily basis.

Yuri Miyagawa and Chizu Omori, 8/12/19

1942

Nisei journalist James Omura testifies at Tolan Committee hearings, opposing the evacuation saying, “Has the Gestapo come to America?”

Minoru Yasui, from Hood River, Oregon, the first Nikkei attorney in Oregon, was also the first to challenge the constitutionality of the military orders leading to the internment/incarceration of the West Coast Japanese American community, by deliberately disobeying the first curfew order directed at all persons of Japanese ancestry. The district court found the curfew order unconstitutional as applied to citizens, but nonetheless convicted Yasui, finding that he had relinquished his citizenship by working as a bilingual assistant for the Chicago Japanese Consulate. On June 21, 1943, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld Yasui’s conviction on the curfew violation, relying on its same-day decision in Gordon Hirabayashi’s case, which found the curfew orders constitutional as applied to all persons of Japanese ancestry. In January 1983, based on discoveries by Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga and Peter Irons that critical evidence showing that Japanese Americans posed no threat to national security had been intentionally destroyed, altered and suppressed in the wartime cases, a team of mostly Sansei lawyers mounted a coram nobis challenge to the constitutionality of Yasui’s wartime conviction, which resulted in his conviction being vacated in January 1984.

Fred Korematsu of Oakland, CA, seeking to avoid the military orders and leave the West Coast with his Italian-American girlfriend, disobeys the exclusion/confinement order forcibly removing the Bay Area Japanese American community to Tanforan Assembly Center and is arrested on May 20, 1942. On Dec. 18, 1944, the Supreme Court upheld Korematsu’s conviction and the constitutionality of the military exclusion order, notwithstanding strong dissents from three Justices. In January 1983, based on discoveries by Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga and Peter Irons that critical evidence showing that Japanese Americans posed no threat to national security had been intentionally destroyed, altered and suppressed in the wartime cases, a team of mostly Sansei lawyers mounted a coram nobis challenge to the constitutionality of Korematsu’s wartime conviction, which resulted in his conviction being overturned in November 1983, by Judge Patel of the San Francisco federal district court. While the successful coram nobis actions undermined the factual basis of the Supreme Court’s wartime decisions, the decisions themselves still stood until June 26, 2018, when Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, writing for a 5-4 majority upholding the constitutionality of Pres. Trump’s Muslim Ban executive order, declared in dicta that the Korematsu decision “has no place in law under the Constitution.”

Gordon Hirabayashi, a University of Washington student in Seattle, WA, deliberately disobeys both the curfew and exclusion/confinement orders, presenting to the local FBI office a statement titled, “Why I Refuse to Register for Evacuation.” On June 21, 1943, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the curfew orders, and Hirabayashi’s conviction, as applied to all persons of Japanese ancestry. However, the Supreme Court was able to avoid ruling on the constitutionality of Hirabayashi’s conviction on the exclusion/confinement orders. Hirabayashi later refuses to fill out the loyalty questionnaire and as a conscientious objector, refuses to be drafted into the Army. In January 1983, based on discoveries by Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga and Peter Irons that critical evidence showing that Japanese Americans posed no threat to national security had been intentionally destroyed, altered and suppressed in the wartime cases, a team of mostly Sansei lawyers mounted a coram nobis challenge to the constitutionality of Hirabayashi’s wartime convictions, which went to trial before Judge Voohees of the Seattle federal district court in 1986 and ultimately resulted in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturning both of his wartime convictions in September 1987.

Sit-down strike of 100 prisoners, many of whom were women assigned to work on camouflage nets for the Army, who had to meet high net quotas, were forced to labor under the hot sun, often in a kneeling position for eight-hours with inadequate food and water. Many of the workers were also allergic to the hemp nets, burlap, and dyes used in the operation. The strike was successful in getting some changes made.

Mitsuye Endo, incarcerated at Tule Lake and Topaz War Relocation Authority centers, filed a federal habeas corpus action in San Francisco federal district court challenging the government’s constitutional authority to hold her in custody as a loyal American citizen not charged with any crime. On December 18, 1944, the same day the Korematsu decision issued, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the WRA lacked delegated authority to hold “citizens who are concededly loyal" in the WRA camps, but did not reach the constitutional issues presented. The decision validated the decision the government had already made to close the camps and allow Japanese Americans to return to the West Coast.

“Manzanar Riot” – JACL leader Fred Tayama had just come back from a JACL conference which advocated the draft. He was beaten by assailants on Dec. 5, 1942. Harry Ueno, a popular leader of the Mess Hall Workers Union was arrested for the beating of Tayama. 2,000-4,000 protesters gathered to demand Harry Ueno’s release. Discontent had also been building up at Manzanar with suspicions that white administrators were stealing food to sell on the black market and many other grievances. Soldiers fired into the crowd, and eleven prisoners were shot in the back; two died due to the lack of medical supplies in the clinic, one a teenage bystander. Martial law was declared. Many people wore black armbands in the following days as a badge of protest, and held an informal strike. Some protestors were sent to Citizen Isolation Centers (Moab, Leupp) and Tule Lake.

“Riot” due to poor living conditions and repressive searches; 200 military police called in; martial law declared with tanks and machine guns; 11 young men under age 20 were separated from their families and sent to Tule Lake.

On September 6, 1942, the strain of working under Caucasian supervisors and the frustration of late food deliveries and thefts drove an inmate cook to physically attack a Caucasian worker with a kitchen knife. The latent antagonism between Caucasian authorities and inmates came to boil again one month later when military police arrested 32 young children for sledding outside of camp boundaries. Although the children were released to their parents, inmates were quick to condemn the treatment of the children by the police.

Amidst rising tension the Army attempted to recruit volunteer workers to construct a barbed wire fence around the perimeter of the camp. The majority of working-age men went on strike, refusing to participate in the project. Three thousand inmates signed a petition "charging that the fence proved that Heart Mountain was indeed a 'concentration camp' and that the evacuees were 'prisoners of war.'"

Hundreds or possibly thousands of prisoners gathered in protest of the arrest of two Kibei, following the beating of Mr. Kay Nishimura, who many viewed as a corrupt government informant. One of the two arrested, George Fujii, had generally worked constructively with both his fellow internees and the administration – “a popular and civic-minded young man who had been active in community affairs.”

The Issei committee called for a strike which lasted about 10 days and shut down the entire Camp. Following the strike, inmates, notably Issei, played a larger role in determining the conditions under which they lived.

Brawl at Army training camp: Newly arrived white Texan soldiers from the 2nd Division taunted, pushed, shoved and swung heavy-buckled cowboy belts at the Nisei soldiers from the 100th Battalion. But many of these Nisei soldiers from Hawai’i were black belts in judo and sent 38 of the Texans to the hospital; only one Nisei was hospitalized from the fight. The white Texan soldiers at Camp McCoy never bothered the Nisei soldiers after that.

Tensions ran high at the Gila River Relocation Center when on Nov 30, 1942, Takeo Tada, a member of the Temporary Community Council, was badly beaten. One assailant was arrested sent to a local jail. The community regarded him as a hero for Tada was considered a traitor. These events resulted in power struggles that pitted Issei and Kibei against Nisei. The Issei generally were left out of the power structure at Gila but gradually regained power by forcing out Nisei/JACL oriented appointees by intimidation. Symbolic of their domination was a banquet for 150 persons including WRA officials given by a powerful Issei on Jan 5, 1943, where the released assailant was toasted with forbidden bourbon and the administration was made to understand who were now running things.

The WRA reasserted power by arresting 15 Issei and 13 citizens, mostly Kibei on Feb. 16-17 as troublemakers, but the community had regained cultural identity and some self-determination and empowerment.

Multiple work stoppages protesting dangerous working conditions by prisoners who were being forced to fell trees for the camp’s fuel (37 woodcutters were injured and 1 killed in a trailer accident), and the large pay gap between what Nikkei and white staff were paid.

1943

U.S. government issues “Loyalty Questionnaire” to all prisoners and even to Nisei soldiers, to supposedly weed out the “loyal” from the “disloyal.” Question number 27 asked if Nisei men were willing to serve on combat duty wherever ordered Question number 28 asked if individuals would swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and forswear any form of allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. Both questions caused confusion, anger and divisions. Citizens resented being asked to renounce loyalty to the Emperor of Japan when they had considered themselves Americans and had never held loyalty to that Emperor in the first place. For Issei to answer yes to Question 28 would mean they would become stateless because they were barred from becoming U.S. citizens on the basis of racial exclusion. Most people were worried that how they answered these questions might cause their families to become separated. There were many reasons for why people answered, didn’t answer or modified their answers and these reasons had very little to do with loyalty or disloyalty.

Ultimately, by the end of the Loyalty Questionnaire process, approximately 16% of all individuals either refused to answer the questions, or gave qualified answers, or answered “no” to one or both of the "loyalty" question #’s 27 and 28. The frustration and anxiety caused by the Loyalty Questionnaire added to the anger about the United States government’s entire program of mass removal and incarceration, and laid more foundation for expressions of protest against the draft which was imposed the following year.

Over 12,000 of these prisoners were sent to Tule Lake which was now designated as a segregation center, including even people who answered “yes-yes” but who the WRA considered troublemakers regardless. Some of the so-called “disloyals” were not transferred to Tule Lake because Tule Lake had become far too overcrowded; some stayed where they were and some were transferred to Dept. of Justice camps or Citizen Isolation Centers.

Issei carried out a calm but firm and well-organized effort which resulted in an unusual victory, successfully making the government change the wording of Question #28 of the Loyalty Questionnaire from making them stateless to instead only asking if they would abide by the laws of the U.S. and not take action against the U.S. war effort. Under the leadership of the Issei, Topaz was the only camp where the entire population of the camp initially refused to register/sign the loyalty questionnaire and delayed registration until February 17, 1943.

Around 35 Tule Lake prisoners from Block 42 who had refused to register/sign the loyalty questionnaire were arrested. Most were sent to another camp 10 miles away, some were sent to the Moab Citizens Isolation Center in Utah.

The Heart Mountain Congress of American Citizens, is formed by Frank Inouye, as well as Kiyoshi Okamoto and Paul Nakadate (who were both also instrumental in the formation of the later Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee). The Heart Mountain Congress of American Citizens set forth 14 resolutions which articulated the many concerns that had been building up about Nisei civil/citizenship rights, the loyalty questionnaire and elimination of race-based discrimination in the military as a prerequisite to enlistment.

When Nisei were allowed to volunteer for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in April 1943, only 2.1% of eligible Nisei did so. Jerome tied with Rohwer for the lowest rate of volunteers at any camp. Earlier, inmates at Jerome subsequently answered question 28 in a manner other than "yes" at a higher rate than any other camp. With the advent of segregation, some 2,147 from Jerome were sent to Tule Lake "Segregation Center," about one-fourth of the population of Jerome.

April 25, 1943, some 120 Nisei soldiers at Ft. Riley, Kansas followed orders to fall out, expecting to line the roadside along with the rest of the soldiers when President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited for Easter services. Instead, the Nisei were marched in the opposite direction and led into an aircraft hangar while other soldiers pointed machine guns at them. Once the doors locked, all Nisei were ordered to sit on risers and remain silent. They were guarded, even escorted to the latrine in groups of ten by officers with drawn pistols. After Nisei soldier Hakubun Nozawa wrote to the War Department on behalf of the soldiers to protest this humiliating treatment, army officials intercepted his letter and demoted him.

Amid mounting conflicts between the white administrators and the Japanese American employees, 102 hospital employees participated in a walk-out, resulting in a five day strike

At the insistence of Congress, the Army and the JACL, the camp at Tule Lake is designated as the Segregation Center. It becomes the most brutally punitive and repressive of all the camps. Some 12,000 Japanese Americans who had not answered “yes-yes” for a variety of reasons often having little to do with loyalty were forcibly relocated to Tule Lake from the other camps. Prior to this date, Tule Lake was not much different from other camps. But once it became the main place to segregate the so-called “disloyals” or “troublemakers,” more barbed wire was added and an eight-foot high double "man-proof" fence was constructed. The six guard towers surrounding the site were increased to twenty-eight, and a battalion of 1,000 military police with armored cars and tanks were brought in to maintain security. A stockade was built, where prisoners were tortured, beaten and starved. Tule Lake was overcrowded, had food shortages and very bad living conditions when martial law was imposed.

Strike by camp laundry and latrine maintenance workers, in protest of WRA’s reduction of paid jobs; women gather at office of the Acting Director to demand that he insure that the camp would have hot water.

Gordon Hirabayashi, the first Nikkei draft resister in WWII, arrives at Tucson Federal Prison (after convicting him, the government would not provide him transportation, so he had to hitchhike from Seattle to Tucson) to serve his term for refusing to fill out the loyalty questionnaire and as a conscientious objector, for refusing the draft. There were around seven other Japanese American conscientious objectors during WWII. Other Nisei imprisoned at the Tucson Federal Prison, including draft resisters from other camps called themselves “The Tucsonians.”

Coal strike at Tule Lake with workers demanding clothing allowance to pay for gloves and clothing to wear while shoveling coal. (The coal dust destroyed worker's shoes, pants, and shirts, and covered the worker’s faces and hands with black dust that didn’t wash off easily.)

Work stoppage by farm laborers to protest unsafe working conditions after one had been killed in a truck accident and several injured. There were numerous other labor protests at Tule Lake.

5,000 – 10,000 prisoners gather to present a list of 18 demands to WRA Director Dillon S. Meyer on his visit to Tule Lake. A group-appointed "Committee of 17" met with Myer, but all of their demands including removal of center director Ray Best were rejected. Future evacuee meetings in the administration area were then forbidden.

In response to Army proposals to cut work crews and to employ only “cleared” workers, coal, garbage and warehouse crews go on strike, which is ended when the Army declared martial law on Nov. 13.

A group of prisoners attempted to stop a truck driven by Caucasians, suspected of carrying stolen food meant for the prisoners out of camp to be sold on the black market. Several prisoners were arrested and brutally beaten by guards that night; martial law was declared with tanks and machine guns mounted on jeeps; hundreds arrested and put in the stockade. The period of martial law was a time of suffering and repression, with a curfew and an end to many activities. Only those in crucial service areas went to work; others remained idle with no income for months. There were shortages of milk, food, hot water and fuel to heat the barracks.

On December 11, a group of men in Poston’s Unit II pressured JACL President Saboru Kido into signing a letter declaring that the JACL delegates had been speaking only for themselves at their recent convention in Salt Lake City, not for the residents of Poston, and that the JACL’s resolution in favor of military service “d[id] not apply to [the] people of Poston, Arizona.” The next day they pressed further, forcing him to sign a statement that directly contradicted JACL policy:

“We will be willing to join the resolution of the JACL [seeking the draft] providing the U.S. government will recognize all of our constitutional and civil rights as American citizens by granting privileges to citizens and alien parents to return to their original places prior to evacuation, and that the U.S. government will reimburse us on losses incurred because of evacuation.”

A few weeks later, this second statement formed the basis of a strongly-worded petition to the President of the United States demanding restoration of civil rights that sixty-three Poston internees signed and sent off to Washington, DC. Even this public statement did not stem the anger that some at Poston were feeling about military service. Many showed up at the Army’s recruitment teams’ question-and-answer sessions to ask difficult and even hostile questions that emphasized the mistreatment and discrimination they were enduring.

Prisoners in the Tule Lake stockade begin the first of three hunger strikes to demand they be released to re-join their families in the camp