{{Short description|2014 graphic novel}} {{italic title}} '''''Citizen 13660''''' is a book about internment of Japanese Americans written by Miné Okubo. It is a graphic novel completely illustrated by Miné that depicts the life and community within the Japanese internment camps in the United States. Miné was placed in two camps, first Tanforan Assembly Center and then moved to Topaz War Relocation Center. The book was published in 1946 <ref>{{Cite web |title=Citizen 13660 (book) |url=https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Citizen_13660_(book)/#:~:text=Published%20in%201946%20as%20the,the%20American%20concentration%20camp%20experience. |website=Densho Encyclopedia}}</ref> and was a first real look into the camps because cameras were not allowed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Okubo |first=Miné |title=Citizen 13660 |date=1946 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295993546 |edition=Introduction to 2014 Version |pages=VIII}}</ref>
== Background == Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. It made it legal for the US government to create exclusive internment zones for U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stanutz |first=Katherine |date=2018 |title=Inscrutable Grief: Memorializing Japanese American Internment in Miné Okubo's Citizen 13660 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/120/article/697036 |journal=American Studies |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=47–68 |issn=2153-6856}}</ref> Before entering World War II, the US government used the term "illegal alien" when referring to US citizens of German, Italian and Japanese descent that were under special supervision because the government identified them as a threat.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II {{!}} National Archives |url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=www.archives.gov}}</ref> This grew stronger after the Pearl Harbor attack, and made the internment of Japanese Citizens legal.
== Legacy == thumb|Spectators viewing works by Miné Okubo Miné Okubo testified about her experience within the camps and showcased her book in 1981.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kraut |first1=Lauren |title=Documenting the Internment Experience: Miné Okubo and Citizen 13660 |url=https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/mine-okubo-citizen-13660/ |website=Daily Art Magazine |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref> This novel helped the public understand what happened within Japanese Internment and what it was like. Okubo was an artist and this book has been used in education to teach about women studies, art, and historical contexts.
== Summary == ''Citizen 13360'' by Miné Okubo is a graphic novel that displays a first hand account of being a prisoner in the Japanese Internment Camps during WW II. The book goes through details of the transportation, daily life, infrastructure and protocols that prisoners had to live with on a daily basis. Okubo is initially sent to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, CA. This book shows the devastation of being uprooted from one's home, family and future.
== References == {{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1946 in comics Category:1946 American novels Category:1946 graphic novels Category:American graphic novels Category:Graphic novels set in the United States Category:Graphic novels set in the 1940s Category:Graphic novels about race and ethnicity Category:Books about the internment of Japanese Americans Category:American Book Award–winning works Category:University of Washington Press books