Record Detail

People of Sacramento Archive

Caption: Evacuation notices for Japanese Americans during WW II.

Date: May 8, 1942

Historical Context: After the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, Japanese-Americans' hopes were dashed that they would not be forced to leave their homes, jobs and businesses. On March 3rd the SACRAMENTO BEE reported that Sacramento was in the restricted "military area." From then on it was a matter of waiting until they were ordered to evacuate the community. That order came on May 7th when posters appeared throughout their neighborhoods stating that they would have to be gone by May 16th, giving them just nine days to sell everything: their farms and implements, store merchandise and property, homes and all their possessions.

Ethnic Group: Japanese

Place: 9th & K Streets, Sacramento

Events: Relocation during World War II

Names/Biographical Data: n.a.

Key Words: pressure, discrimination

Image Number: To see a larger version of this picture, see image number 2228 and select the full-size image.

Objects/Items of Note: Official proclamations that were posted throughout Sacramento instructed people of Japanese ancestry to report to Memorial Auditorium and to bring with them only what possessions they could carry. From the Auditorium they were loaded on to buses and taken to assembly centers for processing before imprisoned in the internment camps for the duration of the war. This poster was located on the lamp post at the corner of 9th and K Streets, across the street from the Hale Brothers store (which later became Weinstock's).

Image Credit: SMHD, Eugene Heption Collection.