Workers sort the baggage of the newly arrived Japanese-Americans as they arrive at the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho ("Behind")
Scrap lumber being distributed to internees. Often, internees would make their own furniture out of scrap lumber ("Behind").
Fred Korematsu challenged the legality of Executive Order 9066 but the Supreme Court ruled the action was justified as a wartime necessity ("Japanese-Americans").
Life in a Japanese-American internment camp was often bleak and dreary. The camps were generally located in remote, desert areas ("Civil Rights"). The barracks themselves where families lived were furnished with standard Army cots, blankets, and a small heating stove for each apartment ("Behind"). Living rooms were sparse and often barren. Japanese-American families would often use spare wood and other scrap materials to build their own furniture ("Behind"). Security was extremely strict, and guards would shoot and kill whoever attempted to leave the camps ("Civil Rights"). Barbed wire surrounded the camps, and armed guards constantly patrolled the borders of the camp ("Japanese-American").
Upon arrival, the camp internees elected their own government officials, and created a semi-politically autonomous government within the internment camp ("Japanese-American"). Camp residents would even form their own fire departments, and create their own newspapers ("Civil Rights"). The internees were encouraged by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) to assume many responsibilities of the community management ("Behind"). However, whenever the elected representatives would attempt to meet with the government to address grievances, little to no results were ever achieved ("Japanese-American").
Over the course of Japanese-American internment, many civil liberties advocate would attempt to challenge the constitutionality of Japanese internment ("Civil Rights"). The Supreme Court Case of Korematsu Vs. The United States is one such example ("Japanese-American"). Fred Korematsu, an interned Japanese-American, tested the government relocation action in the courts, but the Supreme Court eventually justified the executive order, calling it a "wartime necessity" ("Japanese-American").
By mid-1944, the government began to release some of the internees that they had deemed to be true Americans, but the majority would remain locked up ("Civil Rights"). Some top political advisers to President Roosevelt tried to get him to release the internees earlier, but he believed that such an action would be unpopular and hurt his chances of winning a reelection ("Civil Rights").
The majority of internees would be released in January, 1945, but many were forced to start over from nothing, as they finances had been ruined as a result of internment ("Civil Rights"). Upon return to their homes, many Japanese-Americans had found them to be lived in, and had to evict the people that had unrightfully begun to live in their homes ("Civil Rights").