Japanese American Evacuation Original Church-Backed Resolution of 1942

Council of Congregational Christian Churches

Ephemera and pamphlets

Evacuation of the Japanese and National Policy (1942) records an official response by a Protestant denomination to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Issued by the National General Council of Congregational Christian Churches, the document addresses the government policy that removed tens of thousands of people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the wartime order authorizing their relocation. The resolution discusses the moral implications of the policy enacted under Executive Order 9066 and reflects the complicated response among American religious institutions that attempted to reconcile wartime nationalism with concerns about civil rights and racial discrimination. The text demonstrates how Protestant leadership publicly addressed the incarceration of Japanese Americans while emphasizing the churches’ perceived responsibility to guide public opinion on issues of minority rights and national security.

Evacuation of the Japanese and National Policy. National General Council of Congregational Christian Churches, 1942. Original mimeographed document. The two page statement appears to be a variant form of a resolution adopted by the Council in June 1942. In this version the text is organized as eight points rather than the ten included in the Council’s formally published resolution, indicating internal circulation or a modified draft used within denominational channels. The document opens with an appeal to “Christian conscience” and the “long range interest of our nation,” referencing the removal of approximately seventy thousand American citizens and forty thousand Japanese nationals. While praising the military for what the resolution describes as the “conscientious and humane execution” of the evacuation and acknowledging the activities of the War Relocation Authority, the text also expresses concern about racial discrimination in the policy.

The statement acknowledges that “all persons of Japanese stock… were the only group subjected to evacuation without hearings or other means of determining loyalty,” highlighting the absence of individual due process in the wartime removal program. The resolution condemns attempts to disenfranchise Japanese Americans and encourages tolerance for their eventual return to their homes, arguing that “every instance in which the majority in the nation deprives an unpopular minority of its civil rights weakens the safeguards of its own liberties.” At the same time, the text endorses the original military policy of voluntary evacuation and explains that its failure resulted from increasing hostility toward Japanese Americans in inland communities. The document therefore provides evidence of the tension within religious institutions attempting to balance wartime loyalty with criticism of racial discrimination and civil liberties violations. Two mimeographed pages. Light creasing and mild yellowing with oxidation around the staple. Overall condition very good.

Item #22026

Price: $1,500.00