NO-NO BOY takes its title from people who answered "No" and "No" to two questions on the Loyalty Questionnaire. Learn more about the questionnaire from the below excerpt of our Study Guide, put together by Tamio Spiegel:
In February 1943, the War Relocation Authority, the branch of the US Military that ran the internment camps presented a questionnaire to all interned adults over the age of 17 to determine the degree of loyalty of internees. By this time, the US government had already declared and announced that internees could volunteer for military service.
The core of the “Loyalty Questionnaire” was Questions #27 and #28.
Question #27
Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?
Question #28
Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any and all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese Emperor or any other foreign government, power, or organization?
These questions were asked of every interned adult over the age of 17 years. These questions were to be answered by 19 year-old male American citizens, 70-year-old Japanese immigrant women, and every other imprisoned demographic.
The “Loyalty Questionnaire” caused much confusion, consternation, debate, and disruption within the camps.
There has been speculation that the US Military made Question # 28 purposefully vague so as to assure there would be some ‘No’ responses, thereby justifying the internment, itself.
People who responded ‘No’ to both questions became known, within the Japanese American community as ‘No-No’s. Following the release of the Questionnaire, the camp at Tule Lake was designated as the location in which to concentrate perceived ‘disloyal’ internees. Thousands of people who answered ‘No-No’ were relocated there, while thousands of people residing at Tule Lake who did not answer ‘No-No’ were displaced again and sent to other camps.