SOURCE: Patterson, Anita Haya. “Resistance to Images of the Internment: Mitsuye Yamada's Camp Notes.” MELUS 23, no. 3 (fall 1998): 103-27.

In the following essay, Patterson concentrates on themes of philosophical obligation and resistance in Yamada's Camp Notes.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, a document that effectively granted General John L. DeWitt full authority to exclude persons of Japanese ancestry—both American citizens and resident aliens—from the West Coast. The Order indicated that this evacuation of the Japanese, and their placement first in “assembly centers” and then in concentration or “internment” (or, even more euphemistically, “relocation”) camps, was a matter of utmost military necessity. The orders posted by the military for the evacuation instructed the evacuees to bring bedding, toilet articles, clothing, silverware, and essential personal effects; in every case, what they could bring would be limited to what they could carry with them. After a brief stay...