Maxwell Maegaard

J560 Section 304

04/08/2020

Word Count: 2681

The Black Press’ Response to Executive Order 9066

Most regrettably, even a lackluster search through our young nation’s timeline will surely

produce traces of systemic racism and discriminatory policies that stem from a flawed legislative

foundation. The “segregation era,” as depicted by the Library of Congress, spanned from the turn

of the century right up to the beginning of World War II and encouraged discriminatory action

against racial minorities. This intentional separation of racial groups worked to limit coalition on

behalf of minorities, and in some cases prompted uncivil competition between groups. Fueled by

economic dissonance, tensions between Japanese American and African American communities

emerged as the drivers of this competition, backed by a plethora of race-driven slander that

manifested in the black press between 1905 and 1933.

It wasn’t until the United States’ involvement in World War II that these antipathic

messages shifted to reflect a more positive sentiment. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl

Harbor in 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing

the “evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to

relocation centers further inland.”1 The passing of this new order triggered a reaction from black

media sources, who feared that “anti-Japanese legislation might serve as a precedent for the

enactment of anti-Negro laws.”2 Using popular black newspapers of the era as reference, this
1
“Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942).” Our Documents - Executive Order 9066:
Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942). Accessed April 6, 2020. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?
flash=false&doc=74#.
2
Shankman, Arnold. ""Asiatic Ogre" or "Desirable Citizen"? The Image of Japanese Americans in the Afro-
American Press, 1867-1933." Pacific Historical Review 46, no. 4 (1977): 567-87. Accessed April 7, 2020.
doi:10.2307/3638163.
essay investigates how and why the black press responded to the discrimination, displacement

and internment of another minority group. Though scholars have argued that civil rights groups

were unsupportive of the Japanese Americans during WWII, sources of the era provide that in

response to Executive Order 9066, the black press expressed a positive shift in sentiment towards

Japanese Americans from earlier, pre-wartime publications in order to deter a future race-driven

legislature.

Between 1861 and 1940, the United States found itself on the receiving end of roughly

275,000 Japanese immigrants, the majority of which settled first in the Hawaiian Islands, before

populating the mainland’s pacific coast closer to the turn of the century. These new arrivals were

met by a generally negative sentiment based largely on a lack of knowledge surrounding the

distant country of Japan. Stories circulating the media portrayed the Japanese as “superstitious

heathens, scheming businessmen, and cruel warriors.”3 While this image proved to be a racist

exaggeration, much of the negative attitude towards Japanese immigrants remained. Settling into

their new home, the newcomers sought to enter the American workforce via employment

opportunities in migratory labor, agriculture, mining camps, restaurants, hotels and small

business practices.4 This sudden surplus of low-income workers presented economic competition

between Japanese migrants and members of the black community, who feared that white

employers would “import Orientals if their negro workers would not agree to pay cuts.”5 Lacking

any legitimate job security, this pressure eventually manifested itself in the black press as

antipathy towards Japanese Americans, intending to deter employers from hiring the Asian
3
Ibid
4
“Japanese - U.S. Mainland - Immigration.” Japanese - U.S. Mainland - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation |
Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Accessed April 6, 2020.
https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/japanese3.ht
ml.
5
Shankman, Arnold. ""Asiatic Ogre" or "Desirable Citizen"? The Image of Japanese Americans in the Afro-
American Press, 1867-1933." Pacific Historical Review 46, no. 4 (1977): 567-87. Accessed April 7, 2020.
doi:10.2307/3638163.
migrant workers. Arnold Shankman, contributor to the Pacific Historical Review, went so far as

to note, “Afro-Americans saw the Japanese as a real threat. They believed that it was in their best

interest to project an image of the Japanese as heathens, labor agitators, and radicals. If these

negative stereotypes corresponded to what many Americans were saying about the Asians, so

much the better.” However, this negative sentiment towards Issei6 and Nisei7 on behalf of the

black community would not last.

No more than two months following the WWII Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,

lobbyists from western states pressured government officials to retaliate on the home front,

arguing that it was necessary in order to “protect potential acts of espionage or sabotage that

might be committed by someone of Japanese ancestry.”8 With President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s

approval, Executive Order 9066 was issued, dividing the west coast into military zones. The

order from the president states, “I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War…whenever

he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military

areas…from which any or all persons may be excluded.”9 This race-driven action spurred the

removal of over 110,000 Japanese Americans from their homes along the Pacific coast, forcing

them into “isolated camps located in interior deserts and swamplands.” Ultimately, three

Japanese American generations were subjected to and directly affected by Executive Order 9066,

having to endure cramped living quarters behind barbed-wire fencing for an average of two to

four years.10 Though victims of injustice, the Japanese American community found a powerful

6
A Japanese immigrant especially to the U.S.
7
A son or daughter of Japanese immigrants who is born and educated in America and especially in the U.S.
8
Nagata, Donna K et al. “The Japanese American wartime incarceration: Examining the scope of racial
trauma.” The American psychologist vol. 74,1 (2019): 36-48. doi:10.1037/amp0000303
9
“Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942).” Our Documents - Executive Order 9066:
Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942). Accessed April 6, 2020. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?
flash=false&doc=74#.
10
Nagata, Donna K et al. “The Japanese American wartime incarceration: Examining the scope of racial
trauma.” The American psychologist vol. 74,1 (2019): 36-48. doi:10.1037/amp0000303
ally in the black press, which cast aside any remaining pre-wartime tensions to provide the

incarcerated families with a fighting voice against the racial hysteria that was deeply-rooted in

the branches of United States governance.

While there was some hesitation on behalf of civil rights groups to show explicit support

of Japanese Americans during WWII, the black press rose to fight discrimination alongside those

affected by Executive Order 9066. As an article from The Pittsburgh Courier later summarized,

“some colored folk have said we should remain indifferent because the Japanese Americans have

never championed our cause and sought to avoid us at all times. While this is not entirely true, it

would make no difference if it were true. The point that is important is that we must fight with all

our might against discrimination based on ‘race’ or color, no matter who is involved.”11 This

initial lack of support from prominent organizations like the National Urban League (NUL),

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National

Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was described in the Journal of American Ethnic History by

Cheryl Greenberg, who found that there was little to no protest from any of these groups.12 Those

that did, evidently failed to take “an unequivocally oppositional stand” against the executive

order, leaving Greenberg to suggest that “many of these civil rights agencies did not even

perceive the injustice of the racially based evacuation and incarceration.” Instead, support for the

Japanese American community came in print form on behalf of the black press, which could be

seen in various newspapers across the country, as later referenced.

Throughout their removal and internment, outstanding members of the black community

including Reverend Hamilton T. Boswell, consistently called for cooperation between

11
Schuyler, George S. "VIEWS and Reviews." The Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950), May 29, 1943, City Edition.
https://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/docview/202126845?accountid=465.
12
Greenberg, Cheryl. "Black and Jewish Responses to Japanese Internment." Journal of American Ethnic
History 14, no. 2 (1995): 3-37. Accessed April 26, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/27500003.
communities of color and condemned the incarceration of Japanese Americans as “the greatest

disgrace of Democracy since slavery.”13 While Executive Order 9066 was operational, the black

press continued to assert their solidarity with the Japanese American community. On Thursday,

November 11, 1943, an article in the progressive black newspaper, the California Eagle

(previously founded as The California Owl in 1879), read, “Persecution of the Japanese-

American minority has been one of the disgraceful aspects of the nation’s conduct of this

People’s War.”14 Through these messages and others like them, the black press initiated their

positioning in support of Japanese Americans, which the segregation era had been keen on

preventing up until this point.

Well into the Japanese American’s struggle on the home front, Erna P. Harris, a

contributor to the Los Angeles Tribune, published a piece entitled “Reflections in a Crackt

Mirror,” which commented on the state of their west coast society. Harris wrote, “Eighteen

months ago the evacuation of the Issei and Nisei was being called a matter of military necessity

on threat of imminent invasion. In a few months it was called protective custody for their own

safety, —such cannibals are we, their erstwhile neighbors, alleged to be.”15 Here, the message

begins to cast light on the government’s attempt to twist its’ reasoning for the unjust internment

of Japanese Americans, stating first that the order was addressing a “threat,” before later

reflecting “protective custody.” As more and more black newspapers began to challenge

Executive Order 9066, government officials saw need to disguise their racial motives for fear of

13
“Despite History, Japanese Americans and African Americans Are Working Together to Claim Their Rights.”
Public Radio International. Accessed April 8, 2020. https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-02-23/despite-their-history-
japanese-americans-and-african-americans-are-working.
14
“A Point Well Taken, We Think.” The California Eagle. November 11, 1943, sec. Editorials and Comment.
https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel26/page/n293/mode/2up/search/persecution.
15
Los Angeles Tribune (Los Angeles, California) 3, no. 40, November 22, 1943: PAGE TEN. Readex: African
American Newspapers. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/apps/readex/doc?
p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A129280BA5DFE7A33%40EANAAA-12A55CBE30DF90F0%402431051-
12A55CBE9A1D0B18%409.
losing support from the American public. Harris continues, “but now, as the interests which had

long wanted them eliminated from California, feel free in the hysteria of war-bred hatred dare to

come out into the open, there comes the call for their permanent internment or exclusion from

California, for treating them as war prisoners, for depriving them of citizenship, and from a man

pledged to enforce the law, Sheriff Biscailuz, comes a pleas for sending many of them to Japan

in exchange for prisoners of war. Such a move would involve some American citizens.” Not only

is Harris writing to expose the fact that many of those incarcerated by the government were

American-born citizens, but she is also beginning to look to the future, where not even being an

American citizen can prevent government executives from “treating them as war prisoners” or

“depriving them of citizenship.” Harris concludes her piece with a warning, “If citizenship is to

become a matter of racial or national predeterminism or of periodic authoritarian changes, who

will be safe from the whims of the powerful?” From this, the overarching meaning behind

“Reflections in a Crackt Mirror,” as Harris alluded to earlier, hopes to alert members of the black

community of impending discrimination if such race-motivated legislation is to continue.

Halfway across the country, the warning was echoed nearly a year later by The Chicago

Defender after a union chairman threatened to “strike unless the Japs are removed” from

employment with the Illinois Central Railroad. The article states, “The general treatment given to

the Japanese in this country since the declaration of war, has been a blot on the democratic

picture of America. All Japanese, including those of American citizenship, who are fully entitled

to the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, were taken from their homes on the west coast and

confined to relocation centers. Despite this injustice, certain race baiters still wish to deny rights

to those who have been given an A-1 rating in loyalty by the government.”16 The “A-1 rating”

16
"JAPANESE - AMERICAN WORKMAN." The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Aug 26,
1944. https://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/docview/492657235?accountid=465.
makes reference to the select members of the Japanese community that were cleared and released

from the relocation centers, but still faced racial discrimination. As Erna P. Harris had noted in

“Reflections in a Crackt Mirror,” citizenship and the “rights guaranteed by the Constitution”

were beginning to fall short of protecting not just Japanese Americans, but all American

minorities. The Pittsburgh Courier communicated this threat as well, stating, “the drive to take

away the citizenship of native-born Americans simply because of ‘race’ is in full swing. More

ominous, the Native Sons of the Golden West has suggested that citizenship also be taken from

Afro-American citizens. This is another reason why Negroes should be concerned about the

mistreatment of Japanese-Americans.”17 As these instances continued to spread throughout

American society, newspapers of the black press began to deliver their messages with increasing

force. In response to white officials declaring that the mistreatment of Japanese Americans was

“not a racial issue,” the Chicago Defender responded, “the loyalty of German-Americans…is not

questioned. Are we not at war with Germany too? From all accounts of sabotage, that caused by

Nazi sympathizers leads all the others combined. Yet in some minds the color of the skin is the

method of determining the degree of loyalty.”18

As messages from the black press concerning an unjust government continued to

circulate the nation, a call-to-action was slowly developing amongst members of the black

community and beyond. In January of 1945, the Atlanta Daily World published an article that

made reference to Japanese American soldiers fighting alongside the allied forces. It read, “The

removal and the subsequent internment of some 100,000 persons Japanese-American ancestry

from the California Coast in 1942 was the beginning of a campaign, which in some quarters

17
Schuyler, George S. "VIEWS and Reviews." The Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950), May 29, 1943, City Edition.
https://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/docview/202126845?accountid=465.
18
Ibid
amounted to nothing less than a “gang-up” against innocent citizens, some 12,000 of whom are

reported to be making enviable records for themselves in the American Army, has all the

characteristics of a color campaign.” Through references to Japanese American’s voluntary

enrollment in the U.S. armed forces, the Atlanta Daily World sought to leverage their community

member’s position in society as equals, urging their audience to sympathize with those

wrongfully incarcerated. In another, powerful display of persuasion, The Pittsburgh Courier

went so far as to compare the discrimination against Japanese Americans to that of the Jews in

Nazi, Germany. “They were put in concentration camps SOLELY because of “race,” and the

principle behind their jailing is exactly the same as that behind the jailing, torture and murder of

the Jews under Hitler’s jurisdiction. Their fight is our fight…and the sooner we realize it the

better.”19 Through these extreme comparisons to fascism, the black press sought to broaden the

perspectives of those who agreed with the maltreatment of Japanese Americans and the black

community alike.

Given the imminent threat of a racially-discriminative legislature, the black community

eventually shifted their sentiment and took a stand with Japanese Americans because “American

society plainly was racist, and many agreed with the Portland, Oregon, Times of January 11,

1919, that ‘the Japanese question is a curse in the West like the Negro question is in the South.’

The Japanese, like Afro-Americans, were subjected to indignities that would never be inflicted

upon whites.”20 The black press, as opposed to civil rights groups, took the lead to stand in

solidarity with the Japanese American community, utilizing their mass media platform to

publicize messages of inequality and unjust governance that favored whites. These messages

were seen across headlines, editorials and features alike, ensuring exposure of every niche
19
Ibid
20
Shankman, Arnold. ""Asiatic Ogre" or "Desirable Citizen"? The Image of Japanese Americans in the Afro-
American Press, 1867-1933." Pacific Historical Review 46, no. 4 (1977): 567-87. Accessed April 7, 2020.
doi:10.2307/3638163.
 subscriber. As more time passed with Executive Order 9066 in effect, the messages slowly

transitioned from incarceration-exclusive content to include the black community in a greater

overall rejection of discriminatory government policies. Eventually, Executive Order 9066 was

repealed, but the messages continued on to motivate and contribute to the civil rights movement

that took place throughout the 50’s and 60’s. The success earned here, which fought against

legalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial segregation, was aided by the

minority collaboration that the black press ignited throughout the WWII era.

Bibliography

“A Point Well Taken, We Think.” The California Eagle. November 11, 1943, sec. Editorials and

Comment.

https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel26/page/n293/mode/2up/search/persecution.

“Despite History, Japanese Americans and African Americans Are Working Together to Claim

Their Rights.” Public Radio International. Accessed April 8, 2020.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-02-23/despite-their-history-japanese-americans-and-

african-americans-are-working.

“Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942).” Our Documents -

Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942). Accessed April 6,

2020. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=74#.
Greenberg, Cheryl. "Black and Jewish Responses to Japanese Internment." Journal of American

Ethnic History 14, no. 2 (1995): 3-37. Accessed April 26, 2020.

www.jstor.org/stable/27500003.

"JAPANESE - AMERICAN WORKMAN." The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-

1967), Aug 26, 1944. https://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/docview/492657235?accountid=465.

“Japanese - U.S. Mainland - Immigration.” Japanese - U.S. Mainland - Immigration...- Classroom

Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Accessed April 6, 2020.

https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/im

migration/japanese3.html.

Los Angeles Tribune (Los Angeles, California) 3, no. 40, November 22, 1943: PAGE TEN. Readex:

African American Newspapers. https://infoweb-newsbank-

com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/apps/readex/doc?

p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A129280BA5DFE7A33%40EANAAA-

12A55CBE30DF90F0%402431051-12A55CBE9A1D0B18%409.

Nagata, Donna K et al. “The Japanese American wartime incarceration: Examining the scope of

racial trauma.” The American psychologist vol. 74,1 (2019): 36-48.

doi:10.1037/amp0000303

Schuyler, George S. "VIEWS and Reviews." The Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950), May 29, 1943,

City Edition. https://ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/docview/202126845?accountid=465.
Shankman, Arnold. ""Asiatic Ogre" or "Desirable Citizen"? The Image of Japanese Americans in

the Afro-American Press, 1867-1933." Pacific Historical Review 46, no. 4 (1977): 567-87.

Accessed April 7, 2020. doi:10.2307/3638163.