| From the Guidebook: |
The temporary detention camps
(also known as 'assembly centers') represent the first
phase of the mass incarceration of 97,785 Californians
of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Pursuant to
Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
on February 19, 1942, thirteen makeshift detention facilities
were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds,
and labor camps. These facilities were intended to confine
Japanese Americans until more permanent concentration
camps, such as those at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California,
could be built in isolated areas of the country. Beginning
on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time
legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California
were ordered to surrender themselves for detention.
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