Assembly Center * - After being removed from their homes, most Japanese Americans were taken to assembly centers and held there while waiting to be sent to a relocation camp.  Many of these centers were actually racetracks or fairgrounds, designed to house animals, not people.

Censorship - To examine private correspondence, such as letters, and take out portions.

Concentration Camps - A more accurate term for the euphemism "relocation centers."

Constitutional Rights - All U.S. citizens are guaranteed certain rights under the U.S. Constitution, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnic heritage.  Some of our basic constitutional rights are the right to be safe from searches and seizures without probable cause; the right to life, liberty, and property; and the right not to be imprisoned for a lengthy period without due process of law. All of these constitutional rights and more were violated when Japanese Americans were forced from their homes and held in concentration camps.

Discrimination - Prejudice or unjust behavior to others based on differences in age, race,
gender, and so on.

Evacuation* - The forced removal of Japanese Americans in early 1942 from the West Coast. They were
forbidden to return. The government called this an "evacuation," a euphemism that implies it was
done as a precaution for Japanese Americans' own safety, when in fact, it was motivated by
economic greed and racial prejudice. "Mass removal" and "exclusion" are better terms for the
event, because Japanese Americans were expelled from the West Coast and forbidden to return.

Exclusion Notices - Signs posted on telephone poles, etc., that ordered Japanese American families out of their home and into Assembly Centers and later into concentration camps.

Executive Order 9066 - The Presidential order signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) that authorized the mass removal and incarceration of West Coast Japanese Americans during World War II.

Incarceration - the state of being in prison, or being confined.

Internment Camps* - Camps run by the Justice Department for the detention of enemy
aliens (not U.S. citizens) deemed dangerous during World War II. Most of the several thousand
people in these camps were Japanese Americans (two-thirds were US citizens) who had been rounded up after the attack on Pearl Harbor because they were viewed as "dangerous."  "Internment camp" is a euphemism for "concentration camps" or "incarceration camps."

Issei - The first generation of immigrant Japanese Americans, most of whom came to the United
States between 1885 and 1924. The issei were ineligible for U.S. citizenship and considered "enemy
aliens" during World War II.

Jap - A derogatory (negative), racial slur used to refer to Japanese and Japanese Americans.

Japanese American - Anyone of Japanese heritage born in the United States, and therefore, automatically and U. S. citizen.

Nikkei - a person of Japanese ancestry.

Nisei - American-born children of Japanese immigrants; second generation Japanese Americans.

Pearl harbor - A major U.S. naval base located in the Hawaiian Islands.  In 1941, Hawaii was a territory of the United States.

Propaganda - Methods and measure for spreading doctrines, principles, printed matter, or speeches, for the purposes of promoting a political, religious, or military cause.

Racism - Discrimination or prejudice based on the belief that one race is superior to others.

Redress and reparations - two terms used to refer to Japanese American efforts to get
compensation from the U.S. government for being wrongfully detained in incarceration camps
during World War II. While often used as synonyms, "redress" can imply an apology; "reparations"
specifically refers to monetary (money) compensation.

Relocation Centers* - A term used by the U.S. War Relocation Authority (WRA) to refer to the camps in
which most Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. These were prisons that inmates could not leave without permission. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire fences and patrolled by armed guards.  Because "relocation center" inadequately describes the harsh conditions and forced confinement of the camps, terms such as "incarceration camp" or "prison camp" are more accurate.

Scapegoating - To blame a group for the actions of others.

Stereotyping - A way of thinking about a person or a group without looking at individual differences.

Unconstitutional - Not in keeping with the basic principles or laws set forth in the constitution
of a state or country, especially the Constitution of the United States.

Violate - To break a promise, a rule, or a law.

War Relocation Authority (WRA) - The government agency given the responsibility of managing the ten major relocation/internment/concentration camps.