Race and National Security in Legal History: The Case of the Japanese American "Internment"

This course examines how law constructed the program of removal and detention of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry in WWII, and how Japanese Americans experienced and contested the government's program. The course will examine prewar Asian American legal history, the actions of the executive, legislative and judicial branches in carrying out the removal and detention program, the postwar path to redress, and the legacy of this history for antiterrorism policy and reparations for historical injustices.