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New Primary Source Set - Japanese Internment: U.S. Reacts to Attack on Pearl Harbor

Published on Fri, 12/29/2017

San Francisco, Calif., April 1942. First-graders, some of Japanese ancestry, at the Weill public school pledging allegience to the United States flag. The evacuees of Japanese ancestry were housed in War relocation authority centers for the duration of the war
San Francisco, Calif., April 1942. First-graders, some of Japanese ancestry, at the Weill public school pledging allegiance to the United States flag.

The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii resulted in over 2,000 soldiers and sailors killed and 1,000 wounded. The attack sparked the U.S. declaration of war on Japan and the official start of American involvement in World War II. Even as the loss of life caused widespread grief, the assault on American soil drove intense patriotism and spurred subsequent reactionary behavior against Japanese-Americans. Primary sources in this set explore proximate impacts on the street. Images include photographs of Japanese-Americans being moved, the signing of Executive Order No. 9066, and “evacuation sales” held by evacuees. Activities using sources from the set include one involving the Pledge of Allegiance. View more details, and download or access the lesson plan online.  Developed during the 2015 History in Motion program, a collaboration between Emerging America and the Library of Congress, the following primary source set contains materials pertaining to reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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Karen Albano

former History eNews Editor, Emerging America
Karen Albano worked with Emerging America from 2015-2020, contributing to many facets of the program including developing curriculum, improving the accessibility of the website to educators, overseeing social media outreach, and editing the History eNews.