Research by Subject: Japanese American Incarceration Camp Research Guide: How did Japanese Americans respond to incarceration?

Media

Almost all the Japanese Americans cooperated, but a few defied. Some broke curfew on purpose and challenged the legality of the incarceration. Gordon Hirayabashi, Fred Korematsu, and Minoru Yasui took their cases to the Supreme Court to challenge the unconstitutionality of the incarceration camps. Others supported the war effort and chose to join the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team, wanting to prove themselves and fight for the country they still called home. Others resisted the draft, refusing to fight for a country that had betrayed them and that invalidated their citizenship. These were known as no-no boys and were moved to the Tule Lake camp (Takei 2020, Hirayabashi 1985, Nakao 2004, Niiya 2020).

Nisei Naysayer Discussion with Art Hansen
Presented by Japanese American National Museum and presented by historian Arthur A. Hansen. Discusses the late journalist James “Jimmie” Omura and his book, "Nisei Naysayer: The Memoir of Militant Japanese American Journalist Jimmie Omura," for which Hansen provided an introduction and edited.
Resistance at Tule Lake
Tells the suppressed story of the 12,000 Japanese Americans who resisted incarceration during World War II.
The Color of Honor
A documentary on the responses of Japanese Americans to World War II -- from enlisting in a much-decorated unit for combat in Europe, to serving as military interrogators, and for some, refusing to serve in the armed forces and challenging the constitutionality of the forced internment of their families.

Primary Sources

Nisei Naysayer: The Memoir of Militant Japanese American Journalist Jimmie Omura
Among the fiercest opponents of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II was journalist James "Jimmie" Matsumoto Omura. Find in CSU+. Allow three weeks for delivery.
Stanley Hayami: Nisei Son—His Diary, Letters, & Story
Hayami left Heart Mountain in June 1944 to join the U.S. Army and was killed in combat in Northern Italy on 23 Apr. 1945, while trying to help a fellow soldier. Find in CSU+. Allow three weeks for delivery.
Gordon Hirabayashi Interview
Oral history of one of the only individuals to challenge the curfew and removal orders being enforced against Japanese on the West Coast, citing "Christian principles," and asserting "a duty to maintain the democratic standards for which this nation lives."

Secondary Sources

Prisons and Patriots: Japanese American Wartime Citizenship, Civil Disobedience, and Historical Memory
Provides a detailed account of forty-one Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans), known as the Tucsonians, who were imprisoned for resisting the draft during WWII. Cherstin Lyon parallels their courage as resisters with that of civil rights hero Gordon Hirabayashi, well known for his legal battle against curfew and internment, who also resisted the draft. These dual stories highlight the intrinsic relationship between the rights and the obligations of citizenship, particularly salient in times of war.
Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II
Tells the story of the Japanese American men who rejected the government's military draft. Find in CSU+. Allow three weeks for delivery.
Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice
After refusing to leave for incarceration when ordered, Fred Korematsu was eventually arrested and convicted of a federal crime before being sent to the internment camp at Topaz, Utah. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which upheld the wartime orders.