Succumbing to ethnic paranoia and anger, the United States Congress authorized President Franklin Roosevelt to intern Japanese Americans whether they were U.S. citizens or not. The law was signed in February.
In May 1942, Lee documented some of the “evacuations” in a series of photographs in California, San Benito County, California. Japanese American Girls Prepare Picnic Lunch For Members Of The Japanese-American Citizens League Just Before Their Evacuation (1942).
The notion of a picnic when you are about to be carted to an internment camp is absurd. But the Japanese American citizens’ League sponsored this event, thinking it somehow showed solidarity with America in a time of war with Japan. The menu is hot dogs in rolls, potato chips, pie, and coffee or tea. Hot Dogs on rolls, with chips and other condiments, are served on paper plates. There was tea and coffee and pie. It’s all served efficiently by Japanese American women; a symbolic gesture but surreal given the circumstances.
In 1980, a commission authorized by President Jimmy Carter issued a finding “Personal Justice Denied,” and in 1988, President Ronald Reagan offered a formal apology.
See Russell Lee. San Benito County, California. Japanese-Americans Holding a Picnic a Few Days Before Their Evacuation Under United States Army War Emergency Order. LC-USF34-072517-D (b&w film neg.); http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c24637 Library of Congress; Russell Lee. San Benito County, California. Japanese-American Girls Prepare Picnic Lunch. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c24636. In 1941 Digital ID: (intermediary roll film) fsa 8c24636 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-T01-072516-D (b&w film dup. neg.)