1919-2005

"On December 7, 1941--'a date which will live in infamy'--the Japanese navy launched an attack on the American military bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and the US Army officially entered the Second World War. Three years later, on December 18, 1944, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which enabled the Secretary of War to enforce a mass deportation of more than 100,000 Americans to what government officials themselves called 'concentration camps.' None of these citizens had been accused of a real crime. All of them were torn from their homes, jobs, schools, and communities, and deposited in tawdry, makeshift housing behind barbed wire, solely for the crime of being of Japanese descent. President Roosevelt declared this community 'alien,'--whether they were citizens or not, native-born or not--accusing them of being potential spies and saboteurs for Japan who deserved to have their Constitutional rights stripped away. In doing so, the president set in motion another date which would live in infamy, the day when the US joined the ranks of those Fascist nations that had forcibly deported innocents solely on the basis of the circumstance of their birth. In 1944 the US Supreme Court ruled, in Korematsu v. United States, that the forcible deportation and detention of Japanese Americans on the basis of race was a 'military necessity.' Today it is widely considered one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. But Korematsu was not an isolated event. In fact, the Court's racist ruling was the result of a deep-seated anti-Japanese, anti-Asian sentiment running all the way back to the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Starting from this pivotal moment, Constitutional law scholar Lawrence Goldstone will take young readers through the key events of the 19th and 20th centuries leading up to the fundamental injustice of Japanese American internment. Tracing the history of Japanese immigration to America and the growing fear whites had of losing power, Goldstone will raise deeply resonant questions of what makes an American an American, and what it means for the Supreme Court to stand as the 'people's' branch of government"--Provided by the publisher.

"Born in 1919--learn how civil rights activist Fred Korematsu stood up against injustices to Japanese Americans and how professional baseball player Jackie Robinson challenged segregation. Aligned with curriculum standards, this book also highlights . . . 21st Century content: Global Awareness, Civic Literacy, and Economic Literacy. Thought-provoking content and a hands-on activity encourage critical thinking and civic engagement. Book includes table of contents, glossary of key words, index, author biography, sidebars, and timeline"--Provided by publisher.

"When the United States went to war with Japan in 1941, the government forced all people of Japanese ancestry to leave their homes on the West Coast to live in distant prison camps, even though they had done nothing wrong. This included Fred [Korematsu], whose parents had immigrated to the United States from Japan many years before. But Fred refused to go. He knew he should have the same rights as any other American citizen . . . [This] story of Fred Korematsu's fight against discrimination takes us through the life of one courageous person who made the United States a fairer place for all Americans"--Back cover.

"When the United States went to war with Japan in 1941, the government forced all people of Japanese ancestry to leave their homes on the West Coast to live in distant prison camps, even though they had done nothing wrong. This included Fred [Korematsu], whose parents had immigrated to the United States from Japan many years before. But Fred refused to go. He knew he should have the same rights as any other American citizen ... [This] story of Fred Korematsu's fight against discrimination takes us through the life of one courageous person who made the United States a fairer place for all Americans"--Back cover.