Citizens of Japanese American ancestry living in California were as surprised as anyone else when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Suddenly signs were posted on telephone poles stating that if you were of Japanese ancestry, "alien and nonaliens alike," you were to report on certain days to assembly centers where you would be processed and sent to a camp. If you were lucky, you had two weeks to sell your possessions, your home, your business, and pack what belongings you could carry for the trip to the camps. If you were a farmer, you were forced to leave your land just weeks before the spring harvest. With tens of thousands of property owners forced to sell all at once, you would get virtually nothing for your possessions.
The vast majority of Japanese Americans were law-abiding citizens and obeyed the law and went peacefully to the camps.
About 100 persons refuse to obey the evacuation order. They were all arrested and convicted. Since their property was sold, they had no money to appeal their cases. Three individuals who were arrested were able to mount cases in federal courts that eventually led to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the removal order on grounds of military necessity, even though the order singled out only persons of Japanese ancestry.
