From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent would be interred in isolated camps. Enacted in reaction to Pearl Harbor and the ensuing war, the Japanese internment camps are now considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century.

The camps were surrounded by barbed-wire fences patrolled by armed guards who had instructions to shoot anyone who tried to leave. Although there were a few isolated incidents of internees’ being shot and killed, as well as more numerous examples of preventable suffering, the camps generally were run humanely.

The main reason cited for internment, of course, was that Japanese Americans may still be loyal to Japan and could act as potential spies. Also, because antiJapanese sentiment ran so strongly in the US after Pearl Harbor, the government felt popular pressure to address the issue with immediate and drastic action.

The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration in concentration camps in the western interior of the country of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom lived on the Pacific Coast.

As a consequence of Hawaii granting homestead leases over the years, thousands of native Hawaiians pay little or no annual property taxes while the property taxes paid by Hawaiian citizens of different races is approximately $1,000-3,000 higher.

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The government of Japan organized and gave special protection to its people, who comprised about 25 percent of the Hawaiian population by 1896. This government agreed on behalf of Hawaii to join the US in 1898 as the Territory of Hawaii. In 1959, the islands became the state of Hawaii of the United States.

In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.

United States

Named after the largest island in the archipelago, Hawaiian is the native tongue of Hawaii and was established by King Kamehameha III in 1839. Despite its history and breadth (once spoken by 500,000 people), the Hawaiian language has been almost completely taken over by English.

It took 60 years from the time Hawaii became a United States territory until it was declared a state on August 21st, 1959. A sovereignty movement still exists today among Native Hawaiians.

Russia controlled most of the area that is now Alaska from the late 1700s until 1867, when it was purchased by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward for $7.2 million, or about two cents an acre. During World War II, the Japanese occupied two Alaskan islands, Attu and Kiska, for 15 months.

Yes, You Can Actually See Russia from Alaska.

The Alaska Purchase (Russian: Продажа Аляски, romanized: Prodazha Aliaski, meaning “Sale of Alaska”) was the United States’ acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a treaty ratified by the United States Senate.

1867: Alaska territory purchased from Russia for $7 million. 1898: Hawaii annexed as a United States territory. 1959: Alaska and Hawaii admitted, respectively, as the 49th and 50th states of the Union.