On December 7th, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army dropped a bomb on Pearl Harbor, resulting in the deaths of 3,4351 Americans, with over a thousand others injured. The attack came after failed negotiations between Imperial Japan and the United States. The attack created ripple effects across the United States, as wartime hysteria was fueling the prejudiced masses, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began planning America’s response. On February 19th, 1942, FDR responded with the enactment of Executive Order 9066, which authorized military officials to create exclusion zones that justified the forced removal of any persons. These exclusion zones specifically targeted the West coast, while the executive order didn’t specifically outline the removal of Japanese Americans, the exclusion zones were in predominantly Japanese-American and Japanese communities.

After the EO was signed, Japanese Americans and Chinese Americans living alongside the West Coast were faced with immense violence. While Chinese Americans weren’t targeted in the EO, they were still faced with violent attacks and discrimination due to racial scripts and stereotypes. A vast majority of American citizens were in support of the EO as they felt they were under attack internally, which was further driven by government-based propaganda that labeled Japanese Americans as enemies of war, spies, criminals, and a blatant danger to the greater society. Many Japanese business owners had their businesses destroyed or looted before they were forced to leave. When military officials began the forced removal of Japanese Americans, they were only allowed to bring one bag per person, and all of their other belongings, including their homes, businesses, farms, everything, were taken and sold out from under them.

The Executive Order didn’t only remove their persons, but rather their existence and belonging in the West, as they were forced inward to incarceration camps in the American West, Midwest, and South. The locations of these camps were purposely in rugged areas with harsh climates, as it made it harder for Japanese Americans to escape and provided harsher working conditions. These camps were initially referred to as internment camps, meant to simply house and hold Japanese Americans until the threat had been resolved. However, this term is drastically ignorant of the atrocities that occurred at these camps and paints a much different image than what actually happened. Rather, these camps, or relocation centers, should be referred to as incarceration camps; Japanese Americans were forced into barracks-style military camps against their will, where they were later forced to work. The majority of the jobs given to those in these camps consisted of hard manual labor.

Camp Amache, located in Grenada, Colorado, is in a dry, hot climate with little to nothing nearby. This area became known mainly for the incarceration camp, as 75,002 people were incarcerated there between 1942 and 1945. Camp Amache was similar to other camps as it forced Japanese Americans to live in close quarters with multiple other families, attempted to cleanse them of their culture, and forced them to work hard, manual labor jobs without any pay. Furthermore, they had to create and make everything they needed in order to survive. Women and children in the camps were typically responsible for cooking, cleaning, canning food that had been harvested, sewing clothing, and teaching the children in the camps. While the U.S. Government did provide schools for the children in these camps, they were heavily intended to assimilate. Men and older children would work in the field or were forced to join the military draft. These camps strongly encouraged the youth to join the draft and fight for the United States. This later became an opportunity for older teens to leave the camp, however, many died soon after leaving. Camp Amache was also different than other camps, as it allowed them to sell their extra harvest and other goods made at the camp. This allowed a small economy to build within the camp and the local area. The Colorado Governor, Ralph Carr, was also openly speaking against the incarceration camps, calling them unconstitutional. However, actions speak much louder than words, as Governor Carr did nothing to change or challenge the Executive Order, Japanese Americans were dealt immense violence, oppression, and discrimination, inside and out of the camps. As Executive Order 9066 ended, the incarceration camps began closing around the United States, with Camp Amache closing in October of 1945, the last prisoner was released and returned to his home in California. However, this wasn’t the reality for many prisoners, as they were slowly released, many stayed in Denver for a few years, as tensions remained high on the West Coast. Denver’s Five Points neighborhood became home to a large population of Japanese Americans seeking new beginnings following their forced displacement and incarceration.