Japanese Concentration Camps

Japanese Concentration Camps

During WWII, Roosevelt signed the executive order that rounded up Americans of Japanese heritage. Roosevelt's executive order was fueled by anti-Japanese sentiment among farmers who competed against Japanese labor, politicians who sided with anti-Japanese constituencies, and the general public, whose frenzy was heightened by the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. More than 2/3 of the Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States.

The conditions of the camp were overcrowded and also poor living conditions, according the report by the War Relocation Authority, was that the J.A were housed in tarpaper-covered barracks with out and cooking or plumbing facilities at all. Food was rationed at the cost of 48 cents, leadership in the camps were given to Nisei who were the younger American born Japanese, while the older generation which was called Issei did not gain positions while the government ignored them, yet people were allowed to leave the camps only if the enlisted in the U.S army.

The legal issues that were brought upon the us were only concerning the interment in the camps by the defendants arguing that their 5th amendment right was being violated because of their heritage but although they fought hard, the supreme court ruled in favor of the U.S Gov. By the end of 1944, a few years after signing the Executive order 9066 Roosevelt took away the order and closed the camps and the last camp was closed at the end of 1945, many apologies were given.

Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen

The Tuskegee Airmen were African American fighter pilots in World War II as the 332^nd Fighter Group of the U.S Army Corps. These men faced a lot of discrimination despite the fact that they were fighting for our home country, the U.S. These pilots were the first African American pilots. The U.S congress forced these black men to form their own unit that did not include and white males. The Army tried to keep African Americans out of the Army by making tests and courses they had to go through which some thought were impossible. These men took up the challenge and all managed to pass the tests and go through the courses and defy all odds. The 332^nd fighter group was ready to go to war and escorted the 15^th (white) Air force unit into heavy strategic bombing raids of Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Germany.  After completing this mission and gaining much needed respect, the Tuskegee Airmen were then nicknamed the “black birdmen”. The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded several Silver Stars, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Purple Hearts, 14 Bronze Stars, and 744 Air Medals. In total, 994 pilots were trained in Tuskegee, 445 were deployed overseas, and 150 airmen lost their lives. After the war, the Tuskegee Airmen still faced racism and prejudice. The country owes a huge debt to these brave men who put their lives on the line for a population that was against them the whole time.