Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 Japanese Americans and 881 Aleuts were incarcerated in camps for over three years during WWII. Nonetheless Japanese Americans and Native Americans had shown their loyalty to the United States in various ways. The no-no boys who responded ‘no’ to a loyalty questionnaire, the ones who served in the U.S. military, the legal challengers who tried to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and those who fought for redress and repatriation are all loyal Americans. They fought for democracy, the rule of law, and to defend their country, America. They are all loyal Americans.

Students will:

Approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in camps for over three years during World War II. While imprisoned by their own government, Japanese Americans expressed varying reactions to tests of their loyalty to the United States.

In the camps, all prisoners were required to complete what is commonly referred to as a “loyalty questionnaire.” This controversial questionnaire was aimed at Nisei —the adult children of Japanese immigrants who were born with American citizenship—to assess whether these prisoners could “safely” relocate outside of the camps, and was used to help the War Department recruit Nisei men and women into military service. To this end, Question 27 asked if Nisei men would serve on U.S. combat duty; alternatively, women were asked if they would serve, in some cases, in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Question 28 asked if Japanese Americans would "renounce" allegiance to Japan.

As might be expected, incarcerees were greatly troubled by the questionnaire. Questions 27 and 28 caused division within camps and families. Japanese Americans, born in the U.S., resented being asked to renounce loyalty to Japan, a country to which they may have had little connection. Issei—Japanese-born immigrants—found the questions to be especially challenging. The Issei were legally barred from becoming U.S. citizens by the 1790 Naturalization Act, which limited citizenship for immigrants to white people. So, if Issei renounced loyalty to Japan, they might become stateless. Families were concerned about being split up in a system of prisons: If a person responded “no” to any of the two questions, they were labeled disloyal “no-nos” and sent to Tule Lake, a segregated detention center with harsher conditions. The label of a “no-no” remained divisive in the Japanese American community for decades after World War II, with many former prisoners reporting rejection or shame from the status.

Some incarcerated Japanese Americans did respond to the call for military service. In fact, approximately 33,000 served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. Nisei men who responded “yes” to questionnaires were drafted into a racially segregated military unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, in which approximately 2,700 Japanese American soldiers from the mainland and Hawaii served in battlefronts in Europe. Despite facing harsh treatment by both the public and their military peers, the battalion today is recognized for shifting the military and public view of Japanese Americans as “loyal” Americans. For their valor and bravery, the 442nd is recognized as the most decorated combat team in U.S. history.

There were those who expressed resistance to the questionnaire, with individuals and civil rights organizations that challenged the incarceration of Japanese Americans on constitutional grounds. Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Minoru Yasui were among the Japanese Americans who stood up to their imprisonment. Fred Korematsu defied the order to be moved into prison camps. He argued that the removal violated his civil liberties. Both Hirabayashi and Yasui resisted curfew orders as an act of civil disobedience, stating the curfew law and exclusion were unconstitutional. All of their convictions were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court although they were widely criticized by many civil libertarians at the time. Eventually in the 1980s, the cases were overturned in federal courts. Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui were key to receiving an apology and reparations from the U.S. government in 1988. They pursued a lifelong legal battle to oppose the unjust acts held against Japanese Americans. The memory of their fight for justice continues to thrive today.

Tell students that they will be doing a “fishbowl”-style discussion, in which they consider different perspectives based on the populations listed below in regards to the Loyalty Questionnaire. To prepare for the discussion, place students into groups of 4-5 and assign each group one of the following:

After assigning a population, ask students to prepare for the discussion by doing research on the “Statement of United States Citizen of Japanese Ancestry” or more widely known as the “Loyalty Questionnaire.” Students should make note of the following, from their assigned perspective:

Research Topic	Notes or Questions
What did you notice about the Loyalty Questionnaire document?
How would you respond to this document from your assigned perspective?
What would influence your decision?
What questions might you ask of the other groups?

Directions for the Fishbowl Discussion:

Racial profiling is the suspicion of a person because of their racial appearance or background rather than actual evidence of wrongdoing. Racial profiling causes people to be targeted and punished over their physical appearance or their historical relationship to their community, even when there is no evidence that they have done anything wrong. Racial profiling relies on harmful stereotypes that are rooted in racism and discrimination.

During World War II, Japanese Americans were profiled based on their ethnicity. The U.S. government suspected that they might be disloyal to America and working for the Japanese government, even though there was no real evidence of espionage or sabotage. As a result of these suspicions, Japanese Americans were rounded up and forced into incarceration camps for years.

Racial profiling is still a serious problem today. To connect this history to the present day, ask students to write a short reflection paper using the following prompt:

If students have trouble thinking of contemporary examples of racial profiling, you may provide the following list as a starting point:

For example, in the case of racial profiling of Asian people as infecting others with COVID-19, students might consider:

Give students the following chart to help them structure their research:

Feature of Racial Profiling	Your Case Study
Targeting Japanese Americans were targeted as being disloyal based on their families’ country of origin. How are people in your current example being targeted?
Lack of Due Process Japanese Americans were not given an opportunity to defend themselves. Instead, all of them were forced into incarceration. In your current example, how do the racially profiled people lose their access to due process or their individual rights?
Human Cost What is the human cost of racial profiling in your current example? How does it hurt the targeted community? How does it hurt society as a whole?
Solutions What are some ways citizens can intervene or resist racial profiling?

Once students have had a chance to research and fill out the above chart, allow them an opportunity to share their case studies.

Tell them to present their most important points on a poster and be prepared to share them. Give students time to arrange their information on a piece of chart paper.

Then, allow them to be posted around the room or in a digital sharing space. Give time for students to view each poster and allow them to debrief: