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Ken Harada’s Alien Registration Card, February 8, 1942.

Notice of Executive Order 9066. Reprint of original document, Visual Communications Committee, P.S.W.D.C., Japanese American Citizens League.

Riverside Daily Press, May 25, 1942.

1942 Calendar inscribed “left May 23.”

(Riverside Metropolitan Museum Harada Family Archival Collection)

The national reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in governmental actions to eliminate perceived threats to national security by residents of Japanese descent.

Initially, this resulted in alien identification certificates, curfews, and searches for and confiscation of items identified as contraband, such as radios, cameras, and weapons.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt furthered the government’s authority against residents of Japanese descent with the signing into law of Executive Order 9066.  

The order required the evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent – whether American citizens or not – from the west coast of the United States. The order also called for their incarceration into ten internment camps – Poston (Arizona), Manzanar (California), Tule Lake (California), Gila (Arizona), Minidoka (Idaho), Heart Mountain (Wyoming), Granada (Colorado), Topaz (Utah), Rohwer (Arkansas) and Jerome (Arkansas).

The Harada family sold their restaurant business and made preparations to leave their family home in Riverside.   A 1942 calendar and a wall inscription by Harold Harada continue to serve as reminders of the impact of Executive Order 9066.