Our Burden of Shame: Japanese-American Internment During World War II

Book by Susan Sinnott, 1995

An example of prejudice in Boston. This type of sign was one very familiar to blacks, especially in the south.

The book stresses the important of the California media in contributing to the hysteria and prejudice that helped lead to the evacuation of the Japanese-Americans.

The book then gives a brief history of the Japanese in general and of Japanese in America. It points out that Japan itself took an interest in its emigrants and helped them when it could which backfired in the U.S., with the media thinking that Japan was doing this for some dark purpose.

It then goes into the politics behind the decision to evacuation the Japanese-Americans and describes their lives at the assembly centers.

After that it talks about the move to the internment camps and the type of life the Japanese-Americans had there. After that it discusses the gradual closing of the camps and how many of the Japanese-Americans ended up living in the east or mid-western parts of the country where they didn't have huge difficulties (generally) in being accepted after the end of the war.

Finally the book briefly talks about President Reagan and the government's apology for what happened during the years of the internment camps.

The book is a little smaller than some others but still has a good bit of information in it, especially for the younger reader.



Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page