An individual marked for “segregation” at the Tule Lake camp is photographed upon arrival. September 1943. A man is fingerprinted after arriving at the Tule Lake Segregation middle. September 1943. Some of those held at Tule Lake were later repatriated or deported to Japan. This group of repatriates board a ship in Seattle that is bound for Tokyo. November 24,1945. Security was tightened at the Tule Lake camp when it became a tall-security “segregation middle.” An ambulance stops at a checkpoint before entering the camp. Jack Iwata, January 15, and 1946.
SEPARATING
“LOYALS” AND “DISLOYALS”Over time,the government began granting a limited number of “furloughs from the camps.
The first were given to students to attend colleges and nursing schools external
the West Coast. Seasonal laborers also
obtained leaves to assist with agricultural harvests. Later, procedures were
established for individuals to obtain “leave permits” if they secured a
sponsorship from an employer.
In early
1943, and officials were seeking to expand the leave policy and begin “resettling”
Japanese Americans in areas external the West Coast. At the same time,the army
decided to create an all-Nisei combat unit for service in Europe. to set up
the “loyalty” of those who would leave the camps, the government administered a
loyalty questionnaire. It was poorly designed and explained and included two
questions that became controversial.
Question 27
asked if one was willing to serve in America’s military. Some were reluctant to
answer yes while their families remained incarcerated. Question 28 asked if one
was prepared to swear unqualified allegiance to the U.
S. “and foreswear any
form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign
government,power, organization.” Since the Issei (first generation)
Japanese were legally barred from American citizenship, and many feared renouncing
allegiance to Japan would leave them stateless. Others felt answering yes would
constitute an admission that they’d ever actually held such an allegiance.
Those who
answered “no” to these two questions were judged to be “disloyal.” They were
transferred to the Tule Lake Assembly middle,which was converted into a tall
security “segregation middle.” They were confined there alongside individuals
who had expressed a desire for deportation or repatriation to Japan. See these photographs
and many more in our temporary exhibition IMAGES OF INTERNMENT: THE
INCARCERATION OF JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING WORLD WAR II on
display in the Library’s William J. vanden Heuvel Gallery through December 31,
2017: https://fdrlibrary.org/exhibitions
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