The first Japanese immigrants arrived in America in the 1890s. Many of these first generation Japanese immigrants— called Issei—came to the United States for the same reasons that other immigrants had come in the past— freedom, economic opportunity, and the promise of a better life. Though welcomed as a cheap source of labor, the Issei were judged by the government to be incapable of assimilating into the American melting pot and denied the opportunity to apply for citizenship. In spite of being denied citizenship, the economic opportunities available in America proved to be a powerful lure for many Japanese, and by 1910 more than 125,000 Issei had settled in Hawaii and on the Pacific Coast of the United States.

Though the Japanese proved to be hard working and industrious people, their arrival on the West Coast immediately triggered resentment among their white neighbors...