English

San Jose

CA; family home for Jeanne's last year in high school

Owens Valley

CA; location of Manzanar camp

What restriction did the U. S. Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization create for the Japanese, and when was this done?

In 1911 the U. S. Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization said that only whites and people of African descent could file for citizenship. The Japanese were not allowed to file for U. S. citizenship.

"What does he mean? What is Pearl Harbor?" / "What is Pearl Harbor?"

In Chapter 1, the fishing boats turn back to shore unexpectedly. The women hear a man on the wharf yelling that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor. Chizu, who is Woody's wife, asks the first question. Mama responds with a question of her own.

What happened in the mess halls that changed the families? Why did this happen?

In the mess halls they stopped eating as a family. Granny was not able to walk to the mess hall, so Mama brought her food to the barracks. The children ate with their friends. Sometimes the children went to a different block if they heard the cook there was good. After three years of eating in the mess hall, Jeanne's family collapsed as an integrated unit.

How did the trip back to Manzanar as an adult help Jeanne?

It helped her realize that her life really began at Manzanar. The trip helped her understand the bits of the place that she still carried within her.

. "Probably hotcakes with soy sauce," ____ said, on his hands and knees between the bunks. "No." ____ grinned, heading out the door. "Rice. With Log Cabin Syrup and melted butter."

It is the first morning in the camp. Kiyo makes a comment about breakfast and Woody answers. Their comments are based on the inedible dinner they were served the first night, when the Caucasian cooks gave the Japanese Americans what they thought was traditional food.

"I wouldn't be faced with physical attack, or with overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen at all."

Jeanne describes the way she will be treated in school when she returns to a regular public school after the internment is over.

But this time, when she came to the door and called 'Wakatsuki-san?' he met her there shouting, "No! No baptism!"

Jeanne has announced her intentions to get baptized and confirmed Catholic. A Maryknoll nun named Sister Bernadette came to the house to visit Papa and he tells her that Jeanne is not allowed to convert.

"If she doesn't make carnival queen this year," _____ went on smugly, "she'll never be queen of anything anywhere for the rest of her life."

Jeanne has been nominated for high school carnival queen. She finds out from her friend Leonard that some of the teachers are trying to alter the vote so she won't win. Jeanne says she can't do anything about it, but Leonard says he will. He goes into the office and threatens to tell the entire student body about the deception unless it stops. Jeanne wins.

Radine

Jeanne's friend in junior high but not high school

Cabrillo Homes

Jeanne's home after released from internmenT

Ocean Park

Jeanne's home before the internment

Eleanor

Jeanne's sister, had a baby at the camp

"_____, we can't live like this. Animals live like this."

Mama is talking to Woody in the barracks. It is the first morning after their arrival. She is upset at the amount of dust that has blown in through the cracks in the wallboards, and at the general condition in which they find themselves.

Nov. 21, 1945

Manzanar camp officially closes

What was Order 9066 and how did it affect the Japanese Americans?

Order 9066 authorized the War Department to define military areas in the western states and to exclude anyone who might be considered a threat to the war effort. The Japanese were talking about the possibility that they would be moved to some place inland.

Jeanne says the family left the camp "in style." Describe this. Explain why Papa did this

Papa bought a Nash sedan so the family could drive away from the camp. Papa bought the car as his final act of defiance.

"When your mother and father are having a fight, do you want them to kill each other? Or do you want them to stop fighting?"

Papa is being interviewed at Fort Lincoln. The interviewer asks him who he wants to win the war.

"You be quiet. Listen to what I am saying. These idiots won't even get to the front gate of this camp. You watch. Before this is over, somebody is going to be killed. I guarantee it. They might all be killed."

Papa is talking to Mama about the riot. He disagrees with the people in the camp who want to go back to Japan. He doesn't think they should be protesting the way they are.

Jeanne said she had a foretaste of being hated. How did she say she would have to respond? How did she feel about it?

She said she would allow someone to look at her with hatred because she thought she must have deserved it. She felt humiliated that someone could hate her and her family. She wanted to stay inside the camp and not face the prejudice.

How does Jeanne describe the results of the Loyalty Oath?

She said the results would have been comical if they had not been so grotesque. An espionage agent would not admit to being disloyal, while the Japanese who were loyal to America were so outraged at being made to take the oath that they turned anti-American.

How does Jeanne as an adult see the cane that Papa brought back with him from Fort Lincoln?

She sees the cane as "a sad, homemade version of the samurai sword his grandfather carried in the land around Hiroshima."

What important event happened to Jeanne during her senior year in high school? What was Papa's response to the knowledge of this event? How did Jeanne respond?

She was elected the school carnival queen. Papa enrolled Jeanne in a traditional Japanese odori class to learn Japanese ways. Jeanne lasted for ten lessons before the teacher sent her away.

Why was the FBI picking up Japanese-American fishermen?

The FBI thought the Japanese-American fishermen might be contacting enemy Japanese ships off the western coast of the US, and possibly supplying them with oil

Describe the conditions in the barracks

The barracks had been divided into small units and were crowded. Dust and wind blew in from the outside through cracks in the walls. The only furniture was Army surplus cots, blankets, and mattress covers.

What does Jeanne say the camp became as the months turned into years? Explain what she meant by this.

The camp became its own world. People seemed to forget the war and only think of the next task that had to be done. They tried to create normalcy and keep any anger under control.

Describe the riot. Include the causes, results, and the name of the leader

The day after Fred was beaten, three men were identified, and one was sent to the county jail. This man had been trying to organize a Kitchen Workers' Union in the camp. The beating and arrest caused a riot. The leader of the riot was Joe Kurihara. He demanded that the cook be brought back to the camp, and the authorities agreed. Later that same day, part of the mob went to the hospital to kill Fred Tayama. Some of the men went after others they thought were sympathizers. The part of the mob that went to the police station after the cook met up with the military police while they were still inside the camp. A fight started, and the MPs fired weapons and threw tear gas bombs. This action stopped the riot but two men died and ten were injured.

Describe the three Supreme Court cases involving the camps.

The first case a Nisei student named Gordon Hirabayashi challenged the racial bias of the evacuation order, and the violation of his civil rights. He also stayed out after curfew. The court did not rule on the evacuation order but said that during wartime the army had the right to impose a curfew and place restrictions on a racial group. In the second case, a Nisei named Fred Korematsu challenged the racial bias of the evacuation. To avoid internment, he had had plastic surgery and changed his name. The court sided with the army and allowed the evacuations. The third case challenged the actual internment. In April 1942 a Nisei woman named Mitsue Endo protested the internment under the right of habeas corpus. That meant a person could not be unjustly held against their will. The court agreed that the government did not have the authority to imprison loyal citizens against their will. Because of the ruling, the army started closing the camps and told the internees they were allowed to return to their homes.

What were the two questions on the Loyalty Oath? How did Papa answer the questions on the Loyalty Oath? Why did he answer that way?

The one question asked if the signer was willing to serve in the United States Armed Forces on combat duty. The second question asked if the signer would swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America, defend the country from attack, and forswore any allegiance to Japan. Papa answered YES YES to the questions. He did this because he thought he was too old to start over if he were sent back to Japan, and to keep the family together at Manzanar. If he had answered NO NO, he would have been sent to a camp for the disloyal and eventually might have been sent back to Japan

Why were the women calling papa "inu"?

The word inu means collaborator or informer. Anyone who cooperated with the camp authorities was considered inu. Papa had been released from Fort Lincoln earlier than some of the other men because the Justice Department could not find any reason to keep him. When he got to Manzanar, a rumor went around the camp that when he was interpreting for the military authorities at Fort Lincoln he got information from other Japanese prisoners and gave it to the authorities to buy his release. None of this was true.

What did the residents do to make the camp livable?

They made the best of a bad situation. They planted gardens of all kinds, started a farm outside the gate, and built a park. They had beauty parlors, scout troops, churches, police and fire departments, and many other things that would be in an American small town.

How did Jeanne view her situation when it was happening and also as an adult looking back when she wrote the book?

When she was a child she accepted the limitations placed on her and saw the situation as her fault. She thought she was creating a problem for the others. As an adult looking back, she is infuriated that she accepted things so readily.

"Do you want me to answer NO NO, Papa?"

Woody and Papa are discussing the Loyalty Oath. Papa wants to know how Woody will answer the questions. He is not pleased to learn that Woody will fight in the U. S. army. Woody asks Papa if he should answer NO NO to the questions on the oath. Papa responds that Woody cannot do that, or he will be sent back to Japan.

"Your father was buried here in nineteen thirteen."

Woody is in Japan in 1946 visiting his father's family. His Aunt Toyo shows him the grave where the family symbolically buried his father because no one had heard from him for nine years after he left. They thought he was dead.

resigned

accepting what comes without complaint

Public Law 414

allowed Japanese-Americans to become U. S. citizens

Executive Order 9066

allowed the military to exclude people from Western areas

agitating

arousing public awareness and feeling

Fred Tayama

beaten at camp and almost died

internment

being forced to stay in a place

credo

beliefs

Woody Wakatsuki

drafted into the U.S. Army, visited Japan

Issei

first generation, born in Japan

imperiously

in an arrogant, domineering way

Bill Wakatsuki

led a dance band; sent to Germany

Block 16

location of the first barracks the family lived in

aliens

non-citizens living in a country

saboteur

person who harms an enemy nation

Kiyo Wakatsuki

punched Papa in the face to protect Mama

grotesque

ridiculous; absurd

Block 28

second barracks, larger quarters

Nisei

second generation, born in U. S. before WWII

New Jersey

several of Jeanne's family members moved here after war

obstinance

stubbornness

Sansei

third generation, born in U. S. after WWII

turbulent

violent

How does Jeanne describe the entire situation at the camp?

"All this was an open insult to the private self, a slap in the face you were powerless to challenge."

March 25, 1942

. evacuees begin to arrive at Manzanar

. Describe the three events that occurred in 1942

1. February 19. President Roosevelt gives the War Department the authority to define military areas in the western states and to exclude anyone who might be a threat. 2. March 25. Evacuees begin to arrive at the Manzanar camp. 3. August 12. Evacuation of 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry to ten inland camps is completed.