Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the infamous day, December 7th, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 in February of 1942, which led to the relocation of all persons of Japanese descent living in the United States of America into internment camps. Large populations of Japanese Americans living on the west coast had their property seized and were forcibly relocated inland. But when internment camps closed over a period of 2 years (1944-1946), how did Japanese Americans rebuild their lives in an openly hostile society, far from their West Coast homes, and with no property?
Upon release from internment camps across the country, a small population of Japanese Americans moved to Detroit pursuing work opportunities, and a community began to grow. This archive follows the stories of cousins Dr. Michael Ishioka and Jan Ishii, two Japanese Americans who grew up in Detroit post World War II. The archive is split into different stories they told, giving context to each before sharing their direct quotes and historical items related to them.