Notes:
Japanese Americans, African Americans,
Mexican Americans, Jewish Americans
 Japanese Interment Camps
 Fearing that Japanese Americans would be disloyal to the
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US, President Roosevelt ordered all people of Japanese
ancestry living on the West Coast into internment camps
These camps were located in deserts, and living conditions
were harsh
Families were forced to live in flimsy barracks without
running water
Despite these injustices, Japanese American men
volunteered for military service
The Japanese 442nd Regiment earned more medals than
any other army brigade in US History
 900,000 African Americans served in the military
during WWII
 They were trained in segregated camps and initially
assigned to noncombat jobs
 Eventually they were allowed to participate in combat,
where units such as the Tuskegee Flyers became
known for their skill and courage
 At home, 2 million African Americans helped the war
effort by working in defense plants
 Many Mexican Americans served with distinction in the
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military, some earning the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
However, Mexican Americans still faced prejudice in the
armed forces and at home
The Bracero Program, designed to increase food
production, allowed farmers to hire Mexican workers to
pick crops, usually for low wages
Mexican American workers at defense plants moved into
areas called barrios
Zoot suiters became targets for attack by white sailors and
soldiers in Los Angeles in 1943
 Jewish Americans were deeply concerned about the
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anti-Semitism that swept Germany before and during
WWII
Refugees, fleeing Hitler’s terrible persecutions, found
few countries that would accept them
At first the US refused to increase immigration limits
for German Jews
Eventually, FDR established the War Refugee Board,
which rescued 200,000 Jews from the Nazis
Jewish servicemen saw firsthand the horrors of the
death camps