Impounded People

Book excerpt: The psychological and social effects of the evacuation and its consequences. Beginning with an account of the impact of evacuation the various segments of the Japanese American population, carries through from evacuation to re-establishment in West Coast communities after the lifting of the exclusion orders. The anxiety and unrest of the early period of adjustment in the relocation centers, the turmoil of being sorted in the registration and segregation programs, the settling down in the relocation centers after segregation, and the reluctant movement out of the centers when exclusion orders were lifted are described from the point of view of the evacuees who went through these experiences. Brings into focus the damaging effects of salvaging a people who have been subjected to life in artificial communities such as relocation centers.