History reading quizz

history quizz

Ch. 7 Asian American

Japanese Settlement to the Mainland

•

1854, Japan opened its gates to international trade. Shogun was deposed, Meiji Restoration.
• Wakamatsu Colony – First settlement on the mainland near Sacramento, California.

− Beginning to arrive around 1869, many Japanese immigrants planned to produce silk, raise
tangerines, grapes, and tea, but later the settlement was abandoned.

• Issei – Japan born citizens.
• Nisei – first generation Japanese-Americans.
• Sansei – second generation Japanese-Americans.

• 1890s, more than 25,000 Japanese farmers made their way to the U.S. looking for farmland and
a new home.
− Over the next couple of decades, hundreds of thousands immigrated over.
− Established a variety of farming communities (citrus, grape, vegetable, hops, and

sugar-beet).
• Employment opportunities were limited.

− Skilled trade jobs were guarded by unions.
− Discrimination within job market and educational sector, eliminating professional careers.
− Federals laws against Issei citizenship closed civil service opportunities.

Anti-Japanese Crusade, 1900-1940
• The late 1800s, and early 1900s saw an expansion of anti-Japanese nativism on the West Coast.
• Hundreds of thousands of Japanese, and first generation Japanese-Americans were looking for

work, educational opportunity, and to establish a life.
• Japan’s rising military power was a cause for concern, so a slow distrust began to brew from

Americans.
− Russo-Japanese War → fought during 1904–1905 between the Russian Empire and the

Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. Shift in history.
An Asian power defeating a European power!

• 1907-1908 Gentlemen’s Agreement – Japan promised to confine future emigration to
non-workers and to wives of Issei already in the United States on the condition that
Washington D.C. agreed to work for equal treatment of Japanese immigrants.

• As more Issei began immigrating, white farmers grew nervous over the labor supply. California
campaigns began to restrict independent Japanese farms
− 1913 Alien Land Act – prohibited those ineligible for citizenship from purchasing land.

• Caused most Issei to leave rural farms and move to cities.

•

•

Settling in Cities

• With numerous Issei moving into the cities, they began to form solid communities to
support one another.

• Ko, tanomishi, and mujin – rotating credit associations providing investment capital to
members.
− Since established banks did not want to grant them loans, they created their own

opportunities.
• Japanese Association of America – coalition of kenjinkai that provided English-language

instruction, translation services, legal aid, employment advice, maternal and child care, and
campaigned for Issei citizenship.

• Issei Family Loyalty
− With most of the West Coast against them and not wanting them to succeed, Issei

created strong communities and networks to help one another. Building temples,
community centers, and businesses became the lifeblood of the Issei.

Imperial Japan
• Manchurian Incident – an event staged by

Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the
Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China,
known as Manchuria.
− Dynamite was detonated on one of Japan’s

railways.
− They claimed it was due to Chinese agents.

Began a vicious war.
• Lytton Report – League of Nations sent a

five-person committee to investigate the incident.
Found out that the entire scene was due to Japanese
sabotage, denounced Japan’s actions. But the League
had no military force to back up its words…

From The Archives: World War II
— Japanese Invasion of Manchuria

•

Full-Scale Invasion
• Isolated from the League of Nations, Japan

determined Chinese conquest to be the best
option. It would yield resources needed for
Japanese supremacy in Asia.

• “Rape of Nanjing” – mass murder and mass rape
committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the
residents of Nanjing, then the capital of China,
during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
− Battle of Nanjing took 250,000-300,000 lives.

City was utterly sacked. Plundering, rape, and
conquest mentality took hold.

• Led to rise of the Chinese Community Party
(CCP).

• − Leader Mao Zedong would later gather 1.2
million members by the end of the war.

‘Rape of Nanking’ brings to light a
violent massacre

•

Pearl Harbor

• On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the
American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

• Japanese military planners hoped to destroy enough battleships and aircraft carriers to
cripple American naval power for years.

• 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack.
• This erased America’s isolationist policy. America was now at war. Would prove to turn the

tide in WWII.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt called December 7, 1941,…“a date which will live in infamy” and

called for a declaration of war, which Congress answered within hours.

Pearl Harbor | Battle Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pmup_nTlXM

•

•

•

The Pacific Theater
• Marines Raising the Flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo

Jima, Feb. 1945
• Gen. MacArthur Returns to the Philippines.

Atomic Age
• During 1945, victory seemed assured for the Allies. Although Hitler launched a surprise counterattack

in France, “Battle of the Bulge,” they were pushed back from the 50 miles they had gained.
− Caused more than 70,000 American casualties.

• By March 1945, American troops crossed the Rhine River into Germany!
• V-E Day – May 8, 1945. The day World War Ii officially ended in Europe.

− However, the war with Japan was on-going in the Pacific Theater.
• Although FDR was elected to his fourth term as president in 1944, unprecedented, he passed away

from a stroke on April 12, 1945.
• Truman, now had the greatest decision of any U.S. president before him. Drop an atomic bomb

against Japan to end the war? Or continue traditional warfare?
• Manhattan Project – secret American program during WWII to develop an atomic bomb.

− Successfully tested in New Mexico in July 1945.
− August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was bombed killing 70,000 immediately. Radiation slowly killed

another 140,000.
− August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was bombed killing another 70,000. Soviet Union declared war and

invaded Manchuria on the same day. Japan surrendered a week later.

•

Internment Camps, 1941-1945
• December 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese.

− Shocked Americans, especially Californians since they were on the West Coast.
− 90% of the 125,000 Japanese on the mainland lived within California.
− Early Japanese military victories in Guam, Wake, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the

Philippines aggravated fears.
• FBI investigated Japanese Americans and within a few months arrested 2,000. Among them

leaders within the community. Only one was arrested. He forgot to register his importing firm
to the government.

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order: 1942, ordering the relocation of Issei and
Nisei living within California, Oregon, and Washington.

• By 1942, more than 100,000 Japanese Americans lived in 16 temporary assembly centers. Lost
their homes, businesses, farms, and more during the evacuation.

• 1944, after 2 and a half years of litigation, the court unanimously decided that incarcerating
law-abiding citizens had no constitutional authority. Camps closed, but hearts not mended.

George Takei on the Japanese
internment camps during WWII

How Japanese Americans Were
Forced Into Concentration Camps

During WWII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU-k0uG8pAw

•

•

•

•

Lili’uokalani — Hawaii’s Last Queen
(documentary excerpt)

•

End of Ch. 7!

Midterm study guide is
up!

Have a wonderful week!