Japanese Americans
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| 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| 1922 | Cable Act, anyone marrying an Issei loses citizenship (repealed in 1936).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 | ||
