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Biography of Ansel AdamsGlossary of Internment
Issei
The first generation. Born in Japan, they immigrated to the U.S. where laws prevented them from being naturalized as citizens.
JACL
Japanese American Citizens League. It often worked closely with camp administration and as a result, its members were often labeled inu.
Kibei
Japanese Americans born in the U.S. who returned to America after being educated in Japan.
loyalty question
Two questions on a loyalty questionaire given to all Japanese Americans (seventeen and older) held in the internment camps. Soon after Stimson announced plans for an all-Nisei combat team on January 29, 1943, the War Department began to use the loyalty questionaire to register imprisoned male citizens, while the WRA handled all other prisoners age 17 and over.1
No. 27. Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty wherever ordered?
No. 28. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization?
For female citizens, question 27 was reworded, asking if they were willing to volunteer for the Army Nurse Corps or Women's Army Corp if they were found qualified; and question 28 left out defense during attack.1
Nisei
The second generation of Japanese Americans. U.S. citizens by birth (as opposed to their Issei parents who were not allowed to be naturalized).
non-alien
A U.S. citizen with Japanese ancestry. (Japanese Americans were referred to as aliens and non-aliens, rather than as non-citizens and citizens.)
relocation
Euphemism for the imprisonment/incarceration of Japanese Americans in concentration camps within the interior of the country.
Sansei
The third generation of Japanese Americans. Children of the Nisei.
