How Pearl Harbor led to internment of 27,000 Japanese Americans in far Northern California

Jessica Skropanic, Redding Record Searchlight
Updated ·2 min read
The Tule Lake Segregation Center once housed 27,000 Japanese Americans, imprisoned there during World War II.

More than 80 years ago, the U.S. government initiated a race-based program incarcerating Japanese Americans.

There are few people still alive who remember life in America's 10 "internment" prison camps, including the largest and most controversial: Tule Lake in Modoc County.

Survivors described Tule Lake as the camp most feared by those incarcerated because it also contained a high security prison for people deemed dissenters and spies.

Here's a timeline of events related to what is now Tule Lake National Monument in the North State, where 27,000 Japanese Americans were once imprisoned.

Dec. 7, 1941

The Empire of Japan attacks the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii.

Feb. 19, 1942

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced removal of all people the military considered a threat to national security to "relocation centers” in remote areas. Some Germans and Italians, and 120,000 Japanese Americans are forced into camps.

1943 to 1944

The government forms the 442d Regimental Combat Team, a unit of Japanese American soldiers who fought in Europe. The unit became the “most highly decorated of World War II," according to the National Archives.

Dec. 18, 1944

U.S. government announced that all relocation centers would be closed by the end of 1945.

Jan. 2, 1945

The first Japanese American prisoners are released from the camps.

August 1945

The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of them civilians.

Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's unconditional surrender.

December, 1945

The U.S. government closes nine prison camps. Tule Lake stays open and still houses people labeled as dissidents.

March, 1946

Tule Lake is shut down.

More: 100-year-old held at Tule Lake during World War II recalls his time in the detention camp

Aug. 10, 1988

Congress passes the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, apologizing for imprisonment and providing $20,000 in reparations to survivors.

2006-2008

Tule Lake is designated a national landmark. Under the protection of the National Parks Service it becomes Tule Lake National Monument.

Information for the timeline was provided by the Library of Congress, U.S. Census Bureau and the National Archives.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: How Pearl Harbor led to internment of Japanese Americans at Tule Lake