1868: Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii to work in sugarcane industry.
1869: Japanese immigrants begin to arrive in California.
1882: Congress passes Chinese Exclusion Act, which stops flow of Chinese workers to U.S. and results in increasing immigration of Japanese workers.
1890s to 1924: Economic hardship pushes farmers and peasants to leave Japan for the United States, where they are sought by mining, logging, agricultural, railroad and fish-canning industries. Kenji Ima's grandfather arrives in Seattle from an island in southern Japan during this era in search of work.
1900: King County (Wash.) Republican Club calls for exclusion of Japanese.
1908: Under so-called "Gentleman's Agreement" between the two countries, Japan stops immigration of laborers to U.S.
1919: Anti-Japanese League formed by Seattle businessmen.
1921: California and Washington pass laws prohibiting Asians from owning land.
1922: Congress passes Cable Act, effectively revoking U.S. citizenship of women who marry Japanese-born immigrants. U.S. Supreme Court upholds prohibition against Japanese immigrants becoming naturalized citizens.
1924: Immigration Exclusion Act prohibits all Asian immigration except Filipinos, who are U.S. subjects.
1936: Congress repeals Cable Act, which revoked citizenship of any woman who married a Japanese immigrant. President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggests the Chief of Naval Operations compile a list of suspicious Japanese living in Hawaii who would be placed in prison camps in the event of trouble.
Nov. 7, 1941: Munson Report delivered to Roosevelt Administration, which says people of Japanese ancestry living in the U.S. are loyal Americans and do not pose a threat to the country.
Dec. 7, 1941: Japan attacks U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, prompting U.S. entry into World War II. Newspapers and politicians unfairly blame Japanese Americans for aiding in attack and initiate call for American prison camps.
Feb. 19, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, clearing the way for more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent – two-thirds of them U.S. citizens – to be taken to 10 prison camps.
1943: War Department creates two segregated Japanese American combat units – the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion. Japanese Americans also serve units including the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, Military Intelligence Service and 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion.
1944: The 100th and 442nd combat units suffer more than 800 casualties rescuing the 211 members of the Texas 'Lost Battalion' in October. In December, U.S. Supreme Court rules the government cannot imprison "loyal citizens" in a case brought on behalf of Japanese Americans. The last Japanese American prison camp won't close until March 1946.
April 29, 1945: Members of the all Japanese American 522nd Field Artillery Battalion are among the first Allied troops to liberate prisoners at Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany.
August 1945: U.S. drops two atomic bombs on Japan, forcing surrender.
1948: Congress authorizes reimbursement of some property losses suffered by Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II.
1952: Congress overrides President Harry S. Truman's veto and legalizes citizenship for Japanese immigrants.
1983: After a three-year investigation, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians calls for a presidential apology and payment of $20,000 to each of the 60,000 survivors of the Japanese American prison camps.
1988: Congress passes law acknowledging mass imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II was wrong, issues official apology, and authorizes reparations of $20,000 for each person incarcerated.
Sources: Divided by Destiny by David A. Takami, Living Voices, Densho.org
