Forced Closure of Japanese-American Enterprises
The forced closure of the Wanto family business, just one of thousands of Japanese American enterprises that were sold because of internment. Oakland, Calif., March 1942. A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 13th and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war.
On 18th March 1942 President Roosevelt signed an order establishing the War Relocation Authority. In February he had signed an order aimed at United States citizens of German, Italian and Japanese extraction. Tension was running high on the west coast of America, with a real fear of invasion. In practice it was the Japanese-American citizens who were most feared, and the War Relocation Authority was established to gather them up and place them in detention camps.