Original Sources and Research Concerning Census Bureau Efforts to Support Japanese Internment

Abstract

With each decennial census for the last 40-50 years, the question of whether the Census Bureau provided confidential data to facilitate the evacuation and relocation of the Japanese Americans during World War II (i.e., the “Japanese internment”) rematerializes, seemingly never resolved. The question is important because it speaks to the Census Bureau’s integrity. The attached spreadsheet is a catalog of documents and materials from the National Archives and various research papers. I gathered these materials starting in the mid-2000s through 2017 for the purpose of examining the question of whether the Census Bureau provided confidential data during the critical planning and implementation phase of the Japanese Relocation Program, otherwise known as the Japanese internment.