Japanese Internment Broadside "Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry", 1942

Western Defense Command

Broadside

[Japanese American][Internment][WWII] "Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry..." issued May 5, 1942 by the Western Defense Command ordered the forced removal of Japanese American residents from designated districts of California during the early enforcement of Executive Order 9066. The broadside documents the administrative process by which the United States Army implemented mass civilian relocation during World War II, initiating the incarceration of Japanese Americans in government camps across the United States.

Large broadside. Published by the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Wartime Civil Control Administration. May 5th 1942. Presidio of San Francisco, California. Original 14"x22" poster. These orders followed FDR Presidential Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 which gave the Western Defense Command of the Department of War the authority of forced removal of Japanese American citizens and visitors. They were forced to immediately liquidate businesses, farms, belongings, and pack only what they could carry to the assigned “assembly centers”..The poster states:" All Japanese persons, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the above designated area by 12:00 o’clock noon, P.W..T., Monday, May 11, 1942...No Japanese person living in the above area will be permitted to change residence after 12 o'clock noon, P.W.T., Tuesday May 5th, 1942." and "A responsible member of each family [...] will report to the Civil Control Station to receive further instructions...on Wednesday May 6th, 1942...evacuee must carry with them on departure for the Assembly Center the following property: a) bedding and linens; b) toilet articles for each member of the family; c) extra clothing for each member of the family...the size and number of packages is limited to that which can be carried by individual or family group. No pets of any kind will be permitted. No personal items and no household goods will be shipped to the assembly center."

The broadside marks the beginning of 2 years of forced relocation and incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) across the country. California defined anyone with 1⁄16th or more Japanese lineage as a person who should be incarcerated and The Census Bureau assisted the incarceration efforts by providing specific individual census data to the government. Complete and clean. Overall near fine condition. A historically significant artifact of wartime racial profiling and a sobering reminder of the fragility of constitutional protections during times of crisis. Rare in such well-preserved condition.

Item #22407

Price: $2,750.00