The Role of the YWCA in the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans: A Cautionary Tale for Social Work

The Young Women’s Christian Organization’s work on behalf of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated in federal relocation camps during World War II was progressive in its vision of racial equality and courageous in its proactive, vocal consistency. The YWCA was unique among social work organizations in seeing the internment as an ethical, moral, and political challenge to the profession and to the national democracy. In its conviction of the necessity for assimilation, however, the YWCA functionally supported the racist stances it opposed: the military’s rationale for the internment and Americanization schemes of eras past. Using primary archival records, this study outlines the scope of the YWCA’s work and analyzes its well-intentioned but problematic role in the history of the internment. The history makes clear that even the deeds of conscientious and skilled individuals are not necessarily free of bias and partiality. This analysis seeks to bring this lesson to the fore.