A visit to Japanese-American National Museum - Essay Example

Japanese-American National Museum Visitation Paper The Japanese-American National Museum can be regarded as the first museum in the U.S that has strived to share the experiences of the Japanese Americans, and their place in the U.S. history. The museum has a collection of documents, images, objects, publications, documentaries, exhibitions, and education programs. The artifacts in the museum help to share the story of the Japanese Americans with both an international and national audience. In 2000, the museum became an affiliate of the Smithsonian, which has enabled the museum to host objects and travelling exhibitions from collections of the Smithsonian (Hanel 7).

One of the most notable exhibits found in the Japanese American National Museum is the Giant Robot Bienale 3. This exhibit is interactive and it has childish features, thus making it impressive to many. The figurines in the giant robot indicate the superb artistic features that created the exhibit. In the exhibit, one can find a themed video game and a cat. This exhibit can be regarded as a permanent image that explains the internment of the Japanese during the Second World War. There is good spacing between the exhibits as they appear arranged all over the building.

Another key exhibit found in the Japanese American National Museum includes the gift shop. In this gift shop, one can purchase a lot of gifts that include a collection of books, bags, Kokeshi dolls, and t-shirts that are screened with silk (Hanel 8). The museum also consists of stories and artifacts from the camps in World War II. The museum points out the images from the concentration camps and how life was like in these camps during World War II. There is a gallery in the museum that consists of information and items that help the reader to have a glimpse of the struggles by the Americans and the Japanese during the war and after the war ended.

There are board rooms in the museum and a youth center where there are activities carried out. The board rooms host events and there are museum shops for fun (Malkin 7). During the Second World War, there was the loss of civil rights and liberties as a result of the racism directed towards the Japanese in the internment camps. The Japanese taken to the internment camps lost their possessions and their homes. While in the camps, they lived in barracks that were crowded and there was barbed wire and armed guards surrounding them.

Despite the harsh conditions they were subjected to, the Japanese tried to make their lives normal by making sure that they had churches and schools of their own in the camps. The forceful eviction of more than 200,000 Japanese Americans from their homes and business amounted to violation of their liberty rights (Ng 14). The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 forced America to take part in World War II. This attack led to prejudice and hatred towards the Japanese, as the Americans viewed the Japanese as a threat to stability in the United States.

Fear of the Japanese Americans erupted in the West Coast, and they were considered as the enemy of the Americans. Pressure groups, the United States Army and the journalists spread hate messages towards the Japanese Americans. This led to racial profiling and discrimination of the Japanese Americans since they were considered as outcasts in the American society. There were numerous Japanese to have them expelled from the United States (Ng 19). The Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Roosevelt on February 19, 1942; this order required the internment of all Japanese Americans in detention camps and their exclusion from the rest of the Americans.

As a result of Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, the military gained powers to have any citizen who was 50 to 60 miles from the coastal area banned. The order also made an authorization for the transportation of the Japanese to assembly centers that were governed by the military. The executive order also affected other minority groups in the United States such as the Germans and Italians. The violations of civil liberties significantly affected the Japanese Americans more than other minority groups in America.

The Executive Order 9066 saw the establishment of the War Relocation Authority which mandate included administering the detention camps. The military guarded the transportation of Japanese Americans to the detention camps where they were transported on buses and trains (Hatamiya 15). Works Cited Hanel, Rachael. The Japanese American Internment: An Interactive History Adventure. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press, 2008. Print. Hatamiya, Leslie T. Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and the Passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

Stanford: Stanford Univ Press, 1994. Print. Malkin, Michelle. In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror. Washington, D.C: Regnery Publ, 2004. Print. Ng, Wendy L. Japanese American Internment during World War II: A History and Reference Guide. Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print.