Exclusion Order for Persons of Japanese Ancestry Posted in San Francisco

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.