Poster Ordering the Forced Removal of Japanese Americans from South Los Angeles, 1942
Poster
Rare original framed broadside issued by the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command on April 24, 1942, ordering the forced removal of all Japanese Americans from a residential district of Los Angeles. This Civilian Exclusion Order No. 21, issued under the authority of Lieutenant General J. L. DeWitt, marked a critical early phase of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The notice explicitly targets “all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien,” mandating that they report for relocation to a designated Civil Control Station at 3500 South Normandie Avenue in Los Angeles between April 25 and April 26, 1942. Failure to comply subjected individuals to “criminal penalties provided by Public Law No. 503” and potential “immediate apprehension and internment.”The text of the broadside outlines the geographic boundaries of the designated exclusion zone within the city: bounded on the north by Jefferson Boulevard, on the east by Vermont Avenue, on the south by Vernon Avenue, and on the west by Arlington Avenue. This area was home to a significant Japanese American community during the prewar years, many of whom worked in agriculture, domestic labor, or operated small businesses. The exclusion order mandates that a “responsible member of each family, and each individual living alone” report to authorities, initiating the logistical process for forced removal and confinement. The formality of the language, coupled with the blunt legal threat, highlights the bureaucratic efficiency with which civil liberties were stripped from a racially targeted population.
This exclusion order reflects the broader federal program that uprooted and incarcerated over 120,000 Japanese Americans—two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens—on the West Coast under the pretext of national security. Documents like this one were posted publicly in neighborhoods across California, Oregon, and Washington, providing official notice of impending forced removal. The stark typography and impersonal language belie the human devastation behind the policy. Exhibiting light damage including folds, creases, pinholes and several small tears at edges. No loss to paper. Overall good condition. A rare and historically significant artifact of wartime racial profiling and a sobering reminder of the fragility of constitutional protections during times of crisis.
Item #22272
Price: $2,250.00
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