• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Exclusion Order for Persons of Japanese Ancestry Posted in San Francisco

4/4/1942

Print
Add to Favorites:
Add
Saving document...
Your document has been saved.
Add all page(s) of this document to activity:
The original caption for this photograph, taken by photographer Dorothea Lange for the War Relocation Authority, reads: "San Francisco, California. Civilian Exclusion Order Number 5, ordering evacuation of residents of Japanese ancestry, posted in a vacant store window on Grant Avenue in Chinatown. This establishment, like many others in Chinatown, was operated by proprietors of Japanese descent. Evacuees will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration."

Following the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, government suspicion arose around persons of Japanese descent. The entire West Coast was deemed a military area and was divided into military zones. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 authorized military commanders to exclude civilians from military areas.

Although the language of the executive order did not specify any ethnic group, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt of the Western Defense Command proceeded to announce curfews that included only Japanese Americans. Next, he encouraged voluntary evacuation by Japanese Americans from a limited number of areas; about seven percent of the total Japanese American population complied. On March 29, 1942, under the authority of the executive order, DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 4, which began the forced evacuation and detention of West Coast residents of Japanese-American ancestry on a 48-hour notice.
This primary source comes from the Records of the War Relocation Authority.
National Archives Identifier: 536452
Full Citation: Photograph 210-G-A561; San Francisco, California. Civilian Exclusion Order Number 5, Ordering Evacuation of Residents of Japanese Ancestry; 4/4/1942; Central Photographic File of the War Relocation Authority, 1942 - 1945; Records of the War Relocation Authority, Record Group 210; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/exclusion-order-san-francisco, April 1, 2023]
Return to ResultsReturn

Activities that use this document

  • Japanese American Incarceration During World War II
    Created by the National Archives Education Team

Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on Twitter:twitter
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.