Japanese Americans
Significant Dates in Immigration and History
|
| Year |
Periods and Events |
U.S. Population |
| 1868 |
Japanese immigrants to Hawaii as contract laborers. |
141 |
| 1869 |
Japanese immigrants arrive in California; Wakamatsu Colony on Gold Hill. |
|
| 1882 |
Chinese Exclusion Act, stops immigration from China; increased demand for JA immigrants to West Coast. |
|
| 1906 |
San Francisco School Board places children of “Mongoloid” ancestry in segregated schools. |
24,300 |
| 1900 – 1920 |
Primary period of Japanese immigration to the U.S.; population of married women jumps from 410 in 1900 to 22,193 in 1920. |
|
| 1908 |
Gentleman’s Agreement, Japan will not issue visas to Japanese laborers but wives, children, and families are allowed. |
72,100 |
| 1913 |
California, “aliens ineligible for citizenship” prohibited from land ownership; only “free white persons” eligible for citizenship; 3 year limit on land leases; similar laws in ten other states. |
|
| 1922 |
Cable Act, anyone marrying an Issei loses citizenship (repealed in 1936). |
111,000 |
| 1924 |
Immigration Exclusion Act ends all Asian immigration except Filipinos. |
|
| 1937 |
U.S. breaks off relations with Japan after invasion of Nationalist China. |
|
| 1941 |
Japan attacks U.S. fleet and military base in Pearl Harbor; U.S. declares war on Japan, Germany, Italy; incarceration of JA community leaders. |
126,900 |
| 1942 |
JA of draft age declared “enemy aliens”; Pres. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, JA exclusion from West Coast; incarceration of 120,000 JAs in “relocation centers.” |
|
| 1943 – 1944 |
Military recruitment for all-JA combat unit, 442nd RCT activated; internees denied right to vote; confusing loyalty questionnaire administered in camps causes family conflicts; 200 men convicted and sentenced to 3 yrs in prison for refusing induction. |
|
| 1945 |
45,000 Japanese war brides enter the U.S. |
|
| 1946 |
U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima/Nagasaki, ends war with Japan; JA resettlement on West Coast; meet with hostility/housing shortages. |
|
| 1952 – 1956 |
Walter-McCarran Immigration and Naturalization Act passed, Asian immigrants allowed to become naturalized citizens; repeal of Alien Land Laws in California. |
|
| 1959 |
Hawaii becomes 50th state; First JA, Daniel Inouye, elected to Congress. |
464,000 |
| 1980 |
Commission on Wartime Relocation/Internment of Civilians reviews Executive Order 9066 constitutionality, reports “personal justice denied” |
|
| 1988 |
Civil Liberties Act, apology/payment of $20,000 to 60,000 survivors. |
|
| 1990 |
First apologies and redress payments sent to survivors, oldest first. |
847,500 (105,900 are 65+) |
| Source: Yeo, G., Hikoyeda, N., McBride, M., Chin, S-Y., Edmonds, M. & Hendrix, L., 1998 |
