Japanese American Citizens League: The Effect of World War II Relocation Camps

Abstract

The Japanese American Citizens League was established at a time when life for Americans of Japanese descent was very difficult. They were facing discrimination from Americans of all other ancestries and from the government. In establishing the League, the founders hoped to be able to fight for their rights and show that they were Americans no matter what ethnicity they were. The League fought for a number of different rights in the 1920s and 1930s, mostly concerning the granting of citizenship. After the United States entered World War II, life for those of Japanese ancestry changed in a number of ways when they were ordered to enter relocation camps. With the change of their lives, the objective of the Japanese American Citizens League changed as well. For four decades the main task of the League was to set right the actions of the government and get redress for what evacuees had experienced. Examining this change in the organization will be the focus of this paper.