Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress

by Mitchell T. Maki, S. Megan Berthold, Harry H.L. Kitano

During World War II over 110,000 U.S. citizens and legal residents were incarcerated without charges or trial, not by a hostile enemy nation, but by their own country, the self-proclaimed beacon of liberty and justice.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, coupled with racism and wartime hysteria, generated widespread support for violating the civil rights of Japanese Americans living along the Pacific Coast of the United States. Following government orders, Japanese Americans took what belongings they could carry and were incarcerated in remote, hastily constructed concentration camps. When they emerged from the camps, they faced humiliation, prejudice, and economic ruin.

344 pages, Hardcover

First published June 25, 1999

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This writing team takes on the task of documenting the Japanese American redress movement. They focus especially on the role of community organizations and the particulars of congress. Kitano and Maki develop a chart to graph social change in regards to Japanese Americans as an explanatory tool for redress.