PERIOD III:
1931-1945
In San Francisco's Chinatown, 1938, Chinese women garment workers held a strike for three months against the National Dollar Stores. In the 30s, the garment industry was the largest employer in San Francisco. Workers worked in sweatshop conditions, earning wages ranging from $4 to $16 a week. The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) established the Chinese Ladies' Garment Worker's Local Union 361. A successful union election was won in 1938 at the National Dollar Stores for better wages. However, the owner, a Chinese businessman, sold the company to another former National Dollar Store manager. The transfer of management allowed for the new company owner to set aside the hard won contract. The enraged workers responded by going on strike and picketing the factory and the stores in San Francisco for 15 weeks. When the white retail workers supported the strikers, the owner finally negotiated a contract. The workers won a 5% raise, a 40-hour workweek, enforcement of safety conditions, and guaranteed job security of 11 years.
Two months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 ordering all Japanese-Americans to evacuate the West Coast. Approximately 120,000 people, many of whom were American citizens, were relocated to one of the ten internment camps built to house Japanese-Americans. Some citizens were returned to the West Coast in the beginning of 1945 and the last camp closed in March 1946.
The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps was one of the most flagrant violations of civil liberties in American history. According to the census of 1940, 127,000 persons of Japanese ancestry lived in the US. One-third of this population had been born in Japan and were not allowed to own land, be naturalized citizens, or vote in some states. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, rumors spread fueled by prejudice about Japanese-Americans being spies.
The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps was one of the most flagrant violations of civil liberties in American history. According to the census of 1940, 127,000 persons of Japanese ancestry lived in the US. One-third of this population had been born in Japan and were not allowed to own land, be naturalized citizens, or vote in some states. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, rumors spread fueled by prejudice about Japanese-Americans being spies.