Executive Order 9066 authorized the war dept. to designate "military areas" and exclude anyone from them whom they felt to be a danger. (Unknown, 2007) The Executive Order helps pave the way to the incarceration of up to 120,000 Japanese Americans into "internment camps".
When Pearl Harbor was attacked the prejudice towards the Japanese Americans increased. Japanese Americans were given a few weeks to settle their affairs and were only allowed to bring what they could carry. After living in assembly centers for months, they were sent by the bus and train loads to internment camps in the western United States. The camps were located in arid locations away from large populations of people. The Japanese Americans were forced to endure communal living with small private spaces and were no longer allowed to the life that they had been living.
After the war ended the Japanese Americans returned to their homes, for some they no longer had a home. Discrimination continued after they returned home. A formal apology was given in 1988 and a one-time compensation payment of $20,000 was given to the living Japanese Americans that had to endure the “internment