On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor precipitating the entry of the United States into World War II (1939-1945). The attack exacerbated racial discrimination against the Japanese community in the U.S. and brought about fears of potential Japanese sabotage or espionage within the U.S. Government, Army, media, and population. 

In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the mass incarceration of Japanese people and their descendants. Japanese residents of the U.S. West Coast were forced to abandon their homes and, with no clue about their fate, had to work out what to do with their belongings within a short time. Most of them sold their properties at a substantial loss; others rented their homes to neighbors or left them to friends or religious communities, while others simply abandoned their homes. Each family would be given an ID number and taken by car, bus, truck and train, just holding what they could carry on with them. Under military surveillance, these people were transferred to 17 temporary reception centers, situated in race tracks, fairgrounds, and similar facilities in Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona. Afterwards, they were taken to 10 “relocation centers” built hurriedly. By November 1942 the full relocation had been completed.

In March 1942, some Japanese community volunteers started to build the camp at the Manzanar site. By July, 10,000 people were already living in the 36 blocks. The Manzanar site extended over an area of 25 Km2, fenced with barbed wire and surrounded by eight watch towers. It is estimated that two thirds of the people confined there had been born in the United States. 

Afterwards, ten “war relocation centers” were built in isolated areas of Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. The concentration camps were arranged in such manner as to be self-sufficient, including cooperatives, animal farms and vegetable gardens. 

On November 21, 1945, ten days after the end of the war, the military authorities closed Manzanar and dismantled the camp, and internees had to find relocation on their own. The impacts of this trauma based on racial discrimination gave rise to a culture of silence which extended over several generations of Japanese Americans.

In 1988, then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly apologized for the confinement of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II and authorized a payment to compensate survivors.