Ethnic Groups in World War II

Paper Summary:

This paper introduces, discusses and analyzes the books "Journey to Topaz" and "Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family" by Yoshiko Uchida. Specifically it describes and compares the experiences of several ethnic and racial groups during World War II, and explains any similarities or differences in the treatment they received, and their reactions to it.

From the Paper:

""On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order which authorized the Secretary of War 'to prescribe areas from which any or all persons may be excluded'" ("Journey to Topaz" vii). This was the beginning of one of the darkest times in U.S. history - the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans, simply because of their ethnicity. In "Journey to Topaz," Japanese American Yoshiko Uchida chronicles her family's removal and relocation from Oakland California to the Topaz internment camp outside Delta, Utah in "Desert Exile," and writes of a fictional Japanese family in "Journey to Topaz." Both books indicate the struggles and inhumanities faced by the Japanese after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and show their strength of spirit in the face of adversity."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Honey, Maureen, ed. Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1999.
• O'Brien, Kenneth Paul, and Lynn Hudson Parsons, eds. The Home-Front War World War II and American Society. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.
• Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey to Topaz. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.
• --. Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family.
• Werner, Emmy E. Through the Eyes of Innocents: Children Witness World War II. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000.

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