Pacific Northwest History
Japanese Internment & Anti-Japanese Sentiment in PNW History
Kaoru Ichihara's identification tag worn during her forced relocation from Seattle during World War II on May 14, 1942
"These identification tags were to be worn by Japanese-Americans as they were relocated from the Pacific Coast. They were worn on the lapel with the stated purpose of keeping families together. This document is from the papers of Kaoru Ichihara who was personal secretary to the General Secretary of the Seattle Council of Churches and Christian Education from 1939 to 1958. She was incarcerated at Camp Harmony and Camp Minidoka during World War II."
(click on image to enlarge - citation below)
Featured Websites & Online Collections
Covered here are largely just sources about Japanese immigration to the area. Other Asian people groups are not addressed here just yet, but our hope is to add more information about all of the peoples who made the PNW their home.
- Asian Voices - Digital HistorySearch through a list of articles about Asian Immigration, Asian contributions to the building of America, and their role in the war. Most are primary sources/first-hand accounts.
- CSU Sacramento Japanese American Archival Collection"The approximately 7,000 original items include personal and official letters, photographs, diaries, arts and crafts, newsletters, textiles, camps artifacts, yearbooks and other publications."
- The Densho Digital Repository: CollectionsThe Densho Digital Repository includes more than one hundred thousand items, including oral histories, newspapers, magazines, photographs, personal letters and diaries, government papers, scholarly papers, audio/visual recordings, informational data sets, scrapbooks, artwork, and more.
- Densho Digital Repository: Oral HistoriesPart of the Densho Digital Repository - "Watch filmed interviews with Japanese Americans and others about WWII incarceration and beyond."
- Denso Digital Repository: Sites of ShameFrom the larger Densho collection - this "interactive map, timeline, and site locator allows users to explore the national network of WWII-era dention facitilites"
- Final report, Japanese evacuation from the West Coast, 1942"The report was produced by the staff of the Civil Affairs Division of the Western Defense Command led by Karl Bendetsen in early 1943. The 618-page document includes the rationale for the "evacuation program," a detailed summary of its logistics, scores of charts and tables, and dozens of photographs. It was first printed in April of 1943." (cited from the Densho Encyclopedia)
- Furusato: Tacoma-Pierce County Japanese, 1888-1977An ebook accessed through Archive.org - sign up for a free account to view the entire book.
- A History Bursting With Telling: Asian Americans in Washington State"A Curriculum Project for Washington Schools" Includes articles and images, from the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwestest
- HistoryLinkA free, authoritative, Washington State history encyclopedia.
- Inside-Out: Japanese Americans during World War IIAn online exhibit of primary and secondary sources from the WSU Libraries Digital Collections
- Japanese American Exhibit & Access ProjectIncludes access to smaller collections such as the Camp Harmony Exhibit, Japanese Canadian Internment, Japanese American students at the University of Washington, and more.
- Japanese American Incarceration CollectionThis digital collection of materials related to the Japanese American incarceration revolves around a handful of collections donated by individuals and families closely tied to the internment experience.
- Japanese Americans in Oregon History - CollectionSearch through this collection of articles and primary source material relating to the Japanese in Oregon's history
- Japanese Americans in the Pacific NorthwestFrom UW Digital Collections - Search through primary sources such as letters, photos, manuscripts, and more - as well as primary information about Japanese Americans in the PNW
- Japanese Internment: Thomas Shoji Takemura and Camp HarmonyFrom the Tacoma Community History Project a part of UW
- Japanese Internment: Thomas Shoji Takemura and Camp HarmonyFrom the Tacoma Community History Project a part of UW
- Japanese Language School - ImagesImages from the Tacoma Then and Again: Rephotographing the City of Destiny from the UW Digital Collections
- Nihongo Gakko: Tacoma’s Japanese Language SchoolFrom the Tacoma Community History Project, a part of UW
- Prisoners at Home: Everyday Life in Japanese Internment CampsAn online exhibit of images and other sources from the Digital Public Library of America
- Tacoma History LiveA blog, connected to UWT, with stories, information, and an array of primary source materials such as historic photos.
- Tacoma Public Library Oral History CollectionThese oral history interviews were conducted by Ruth L. Wett as part of an oral history project sponsored by the Tacoma Public Library in 1976. Each interview provides insight into activities in various neighborhoods, the mixture of immigrant communities, and the reflections on everyday experiences living in Tacoma around the turn of the last century.
- UW Digital Collections: Camp Harmony NewsletterAN online exhibit from UW that "tells the story of Seattle's Japanese American community in the spring and summer of 1942 and their four month sojourn at the Puyallup Assembly Center known as "Camp Harmony."
- WWII Japanese American Internment and Relocation RecordsFrom theNational Archives
- The Yasui LegacyA part of the "The Hidden Faces of Oregon's Workers, circa 1900-1940" collection at the University of Oregon - highlights a notable Japanese family in Oregon history
Source citation:
UW Digital Collections. (1942). Kaoru Ichihara's identification tag worn during her forced relocation from Seattle during World War II on May 14, 1942 [Photograph]. University of Washington Libraries. https://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org/
Featured Background Articles
The articles linked below come from a couple of places. First, many are from subject-specific encyclopedias in the library's collection, and others are from online, from such websites as HistoryLink - a great PNW-focused website. They are good for finding definitions and a general overview of a topic.
Find more articles like these in the library's collection by searching Gale Ebooks, linked in the "Articles in TCC Databases" tab of this guide.
- Asian Americans and the Modern Pacific NorthwestFrom the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
- Camp Harmony (Puyallup Assembly Center), 1942From HistoryLink.org - outlines the Japanese Internment Camp in Puyallup, Washington
- Densho EncyclopediaFind articles from this "free on-line resource about the history of the Japanese American WWII exclusion and incarceration experience" - a part of the Densho Digital Repository
- 1942: President Roosevelt Orders the Internment of Japanese AmericansA 2013 article from Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration, showing the historic presidential order
- Gentlemen's Agreement (1907–1908)A 2008 article from the Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society
- Japanese American Internment, 1942–1946an article from 25 Events That Shaped Asian American History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic
- Japanese Americans are ordered to evacuate Seattle on April 21, 1942.From Historylink.org
- Letters of a Couple Interned ApartFrom the "Encyclopedia of Japanese American Internment" this document outlines a couple who were interned in Puyallup, Washington.
Popular source articles
Linked below are articles from newspapers, magazines, and other popular news websites, as well as from the library's collection.
- World War II: Internment of Japanese AmericansA 2011 article from The Atlantic
- Remembering Camp HarmonyAn 2017 article about Japanese internments in Puyallup, Washington from Pacific Citizen, a newspaper from the Japanese American Citizens League
- Reclaiming the Lost History of Tacoma’s JapantownA 2020 article from Grit City Magazine
- The Dark History of the Washington State Fairgrounds During WWIIAn article from South Sound Talk
- Hidden history of anti-Chinese violenceA 2020 article - including a 4 minute listen clip - from MyNorthwest.com
Scholarly articles
Linked below are scholarly articles, both from online, and from the library's collections. Find more articles like this by searching in some of the databases, like JSTOR or ProQuest, linked in the "Articles in the TCC Databases" tab in this guide.
- Navigating Transpacific Passages: Steamship Companies, State Regulators, and Transshipment of Japanese in the Early-Twentieth-Century Pacific NorthwestAn article from the Journal of American Ethnic History.
- Lessons in Citizenship, 1945-1949: The Delayed Return of the Japanese to Canada's Pacific CoastAn article from The Pacific Northwest Quarterly
- An Early Account of Japanese Life in the Pacific Northwest: Writings of Nagai KafūAn article from The Pacific Northwest Quarterly
- The Exile and Return of Seattle's JapaneseAn article from The Pacific Northwest Quarterly
- The Japanese Minority in the Pacific NorthwestAn article from the Pacific Northwest Quarterly
- World War II and the Forced Relocation of Japanese AmericansAn article from "Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration"
Featured Videos
Linked below are films, both full documentary/education films or film segments, as well as shorter videos from the library's collection and on the web.
- "The SILENT FAIR" Preview, WA State Fairgrounds as Internment Camp A short video about a documentary called "The Silent Fair"
- A Challenge to Democracy (anti-Japanese propaganda film) a 1944 film created by the U.S. War Relocation Authority. Accessed on Archive.org
- Japanese Relocation (anti-Japanese propaganda film) A 1940s video created by the U.S. Office of War Information
- My Japan (anti-Japanese propaganda film) A 1945 video created by the U.S. Treasury Department
- Oregon's Japanese Americans: Full Documentary An hour long documentary from Oregon's OPB station.
- Remapping Tacoma's Japantown History A ~15 minute video from NACIS, by Sarah Pyle, University of Washington-Tacoma
- TED Talks: Racism and America’s Concentration Camps A talk by Mas Hashimoto at TEDxMeritAcademy
- Ugly History: Japanese American incarceration camps A short video by Densho, from TED Ed
Featured Podcasts
- Tacoma’s History with Michael Sullivan – Part 1 (Early Days to Early 1900s) [Podcast]An episode from the Move to Tacoma Podcast, with Tacoma historian, Michael Sullivan
- Tacoma’s History with Michael Sullivan – Part 2 (Early 1900s to WWII) [Podcast]An episode from the Move to Tacoma Podcast, with Tacoma historian, Michael Sullivan
- Campu: Podcast"Campu tells the story of Japanese American incarceration like you’ve never heard it before. Follow along as brother-sister duo Noah and Hana Maruyama weave together the voices of survivors to spin narratives out of the seemingly mundane things that gave shape to the incarceration experience."
Sources used on this page:
UW Digital Collections. (1942). Kaoru Ichihara's identification tag worn during her forced relocation from Seattle during World War II on May 14, 1942 [Photograph]. University of Washington Libraries. https://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org/
Featured Books & eBooks
Click on the book, or title, below to learn more
Infamy:the shocking story of the Japanese American internment in World War II
No-no boy
PS3565.K33N6 2014
Looking for articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals?
Remember to click on the Articles in the TCC Databases tab located in this guide to see a list of suggested databases. There you can find articles about the history of the Pacific Northwest. And be sure to check the other tabs in this guide, such as the People Groups & Immigration or Trade, Industry & Transportation for more Tacoma/Pierce County-related articles on a variety of topics.
Related guide
Find additional resources on the following linked guide.
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