What may not be apparent from the photos is that there were a huge number of people in those camps. When the camps were closed, they were given only a little bit of money and then sent off... to where? They now had nothing and nowhere to go. Heartless action.
Japanese-Americans in camps were mostly agricultural or small business people who reconnected in their communities and were supportive of each other after release. Financial losses and personal wounds were of course tremendous. In San Francisco East Bay region, the "Japs" became more respected by people like my grandparents .
You won't learn this in school, but 20th century racist laws prohibited ethnic Japanese and Chinese from buying or even leasing agricultural land.
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California Alien Land Law of 1920[edit]
The
California Alien Land Law of 1920 continued the 1913 law while filling many of its loopholes. Among the loopholes filled were that the leasing of land for a period of three years or less was no longer allowed; owning of stock in companies that acquired agricultural land was forbidden; and guardians or agents of ineligible aliens were required to submit an annual report on their activities. The 1920 Alien Land Law was passed in reaction to the intensification of anti-Japanese sentiment, and to the fact that the 1913 Alien Land Law was doing little to stem Japanese immigration to California. The law was approved by the voters after being proposed by the
California State Legislature. It passed with a vote of 668,438 to 222,086. The 1920 law was amended in 1923 to further fill wording-related loopholes.
[5][7]
Related court cases[edit]
In 1923, the laws were upheld in the
United States Supreme Court and were determined not to be in violation of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[5]
The 1946
Supreme Court of California case
People v. Oyama reaffirmed the 1923 decision, determining that Japanese immigrant Kajiro Oyama had attempted to evade the Alien Land Laws by purchasing farmland that he placed in the name of his son, who was a U.S. citizen. In fact, Oyama’s petition to be named as his son’s guardian in order to have authority over the land had been approved by a local court. This method was a major way in which the Japanese were able to acquire agricultural land during this period, since most other options were closed to them. The case was then reviewed by the United States Supreme Court in
Oyama v. California after petitioning by the Oyamas and their supporters. The majority opinion held that Fred Oyama’s rights as a U.S. citizen to take and hold property had been violated by the state of California. The decision was arguably instrumental in helping to bring about a shift in attitudes toward the Japanese and their property rights.
[5][8]
The Alien Land Laws were invalidated in 1952 by the
Supreme Court of California as a violation of the equal protection clause of the
14th Amendment to the United States Constitution in
Sei Fujii v. California.
[9] Fujii was a longtime
Los Angeles resident, but was not a U.S. citizen. He alleged that the law violated the
California and
United States Constitutions, and that it also went against the spirit of the
United Nations Charter to which the United States was bound by treaty. The California District Court of Appeal had decided in 1950 that the Alien Land Law was in violation of Articles 55 and 56 of the
United Nations Charter. The
Supreme Court of California then ordered the case transferred for hearing and settlement, as it was determined to be a sufficiently important question of law.
[10][11]
History and context[edit]
Leading up to the passage of the 1913 Alien Land Law, there had been growing anti-
Asian prejudice in
California and in the
United States in general, first against the Chinese during the 19th century, culminating with the
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and then against the Japanese during the 20th century. Anti-Japanese sentiment was often expressed in terms of the racist
Yellow Peril argument.
[6][12]
In 1900, there was an influx of over 12,000 Japanese immigrants to the U.S. mainland, many just released from indentured labor with
Hawaii’s 1898 annexation. California was a main settlement location for Japanese immigrants to the United States, and many began to relocate to rural areas after initially settling in cities. Farming became the major economic foundation for the Japanese population in California, and they saw it as a way to prove their productive abilities and establish a sense of permanency in their new nation. Gradually, many moved from farm labor into production through truck farming and usually filled the niche market for perishable crops.
[6][12]
The sudden increases in Japanese immigration during this and subsequent years spurred many anti-Japanese political and organizational movements in California, and the introduction of anti-Asian legislation to the California legislature, all of which had an influence on public sentiment. Many workers returning from the World War I effort felt that the Japanese were infringing on their job opportunities. In addition, some feared that the Japanese were attempting to overtake white control of California’s farmland. The
Los Angeles Times newspaper and groups such as the Anti-Asiatic Association were vocal instigators of the anti-Japanese movement. In 1908, the United States and
Japan agreed to limitations on Japanese migration to the United States, with Japan agreeing that it would stop the issuing of passports to persons intending to migrate as laborers who had no established future residence in the United States or no family members already in the United States.
[13][5][6]
The Japanese possessed the right to lease and own land in the United States for residential and commercial use based on the 1911 American treaty with Japan. In 1910, most Japanese were working in the agricultural and fishing industries. Rights to agricultural land, unprotected by treaty, thus became the focus for the Alien Land Laws as state-level deterrents to immigration were sought in a dearth of national-level involvement.
[5][13]
The Japanese presence in California as agricultural laborers and tenant farmers experienced rapid growth during the first two decades of the 20th century. They filled a labor void in farming previously occupied by the Chinese, whose numbers had sharply declined with the passage of the
Chinese Exclusion Act. Especially through tenant farming, Japanese families hoped to save enough money to eventually purchase their own land. Though it was meant to decrease immigration, the 1913 law likely had relatively little actual impact on Japanese farmers, and in fact, after the passage of the 1913 law, their numbers rose. By 1915, three-quarter of the vegetables consumed by
Los Angeles residents were grown by Japanese.
[4][5][6]
There is not complete agreement about the effects of the 1920 law. It is thought by some to have had a significant negative impact on Japanese involvement in agriculture. For example, the amount of agricultural land controlled by Japanese decreased by approximately 40 percent between 1920 and 1930, and total acres farmed by Japanese persons declined by 47 percent. During the 1920s, there was a general decline in the agricultural economy in California and elsewhere in the United States, which would have partially contributed to the sudden downturn in Japanese farming. Many Japanese were also able to evade the law, often by claiming to be farm “managers.” There were at least sixteen prosecutions of Japanese for violations of the Alien Land Law from 1920 to 1940, but there were likely many more. Despite the fact that the Alien Land Laws made farming more difficult for them, the Japanese still managed to maintain a fairly high level of economic success in the agricultural industry. In 1915, Japanese Foreign Minister Komei Kato likely spoke for many Japanese when he expressed the sentiment that Japanese immigrants were dismayed by being singled out in such a fashion by the Alien Land Law legislation.
[4][5][6]