Objectives

• evaluate documents and photographs from the American Memory collections.
• explain how major events are related to each other in time.
• recognize point of view in print and visual materials.
• draw upon primary sources to create a presentation reflective of the Japanese internment experience.

Time Required

Recommended Grade Level

Curriculum Fit

Resources Used

Student Sources:

• Japanese-American Evacuation from Los Angeles (FSA Collection)
• FDR Signing the Declaration of War (Portraits of Presidents)
• Dorothea Lange (Women Come to the Front Collection)
• Handout of  An Interview with Marielle Tsukamoto, Elk Grove, California
• Handout of FDR's  "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" Speech
• "A Graduation Poem for Two" (Stephanie Klose)
• Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (Fleishman)

Teacher Sources:

• Executive Order 9066 - Signed by FDR, this order resulted in the forced evacuation of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast.
• "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" - In addition to a printed copy, many commercial recordings are now available of FDR's famous 6-minute speech.  The National Archives and Records Administartion site has a partial recording (Note: this sound clip requires the audio plug-in Wav format, Windows or AIFF format, MacIntosh)
• Baseball Saved Us (Ken Mochizuki) - A well-written, beautifully illustrated picture book showing the internment experience through the eyes of a child.  An excellent piece to use as an introduction to the unit.
• I Am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment (Jerry Stanley) - A powerful portrait of wartime America and of the injustice done to Japanese Americans.
• The Bill of Rights and the Japanese American World War II Experience (National Japanese American Historical Society, San Francisco Unified School District) - A teacher's guide developed to help students become aware that "when the constitutional rights of any individual are violated, all Americans are affected."
• We the People (Center for Civic Education) - A "kid-friendly" set of lessons on the background, creation, and history of our Constitution.

Procedure

Activity One - Evacuation Day (30 minutes)

Introduce students to the lesson using Photograph 1 on-line, on a handout, or overhead transparency.  Give them a copy of the Observation Sheet for recording their observations.

Guiding questions:

• Is this photograph indoors or outdoors?
• What objects and/or structures do you see?
• How many people do you see? Men? Women? Children?
• How are the people dressed?
• Are these people family members?
• Do they relate to each other?
• Are they touching in any way?
• What emotions do you see or sense? Anger? Fear? Confusion? Sadness? Joy? Expressionless?
• Is there something happening in the photograph that might trigger emotions?
• What is the setting? Where would you place this photo in time and place?
• Who was taking this photo?
• Why was this photo being taken?
• What title would you give this photo?

 

Engage in a whole-class discussion based on student observations of the photograph and prior knowledge of World War II.

Activity Two - "A Date That Will Live in Infamy" (30 minutes)

Team students in groups of 2-4 and have them brainstorm the connection between Document 1 (Dispatch announcing bombing of Pearl Harbor); Document 2 (FDR signing the Declaration of War); and Document 3 (Instructions to People of Japanese Ancestry). Each group should write a one sentence explanation of the connection(s) they see between the three documents.  Bring the groups together and have them share their sentences.
 

Activity Three - Picture Day (30 minutes)

Team students in groups of 2-4.  Give them a copy of Photograph 2, project it on the overhead, or have students access it on-line.  Allow time for them to brainstorm and record their observations on their Observation Sheet.  Ask students to create a tableau (a scene frozen in time and space) in which they become the personalities in the photograph.  They must assume the same pose as the person whose role they have taken.  Students remain frozen until you tap them.  At that time, they will answer in the "first person" any questions you might have for them.
 

Activity Four - Two Sides to Every Story: Poetry for Two Voices (2 class periods)

Introduce students to Stephanie Klose's "A Graduation Poem for Two."   Written for her middle school students, this poem is a wonderful example of poetry for two voices.   The two-column format allows writers to juxtapose two contrasting ideas, concepts, or perspectives.   Alternating lines indicate opposing view points and are read by an individual voice.  Adjacent lines represent agreement or compromise and are therefore read in unison.

Have students pair up. Distribute copies of Franklin Roosevelt's "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" speech and An Interview with Marielle Tsukamoto.   As they read through FDR's speech, they should highlight phrases that might explain why the US government chose to imprison Japanese-Americans.  As they read through Ms. Tsukamoto's interview, they should highlight phrases that explain what internment was really like from the perspective of a former camp internee.

In their own words and/or using words from the speech and interview, students will use the poetry for two voices  format to create a two-column poem on Japanese internment.

Students should illustrate their poems and mount them on construction paper.

Evaluation and Extension

The Poem for Two Voices can be scored with a class-generated rubric or with the Four-Point History-Social Studies Rubric.

Individual Assessment - Newspaper Article

The poetry activity was designed as a team project, but it could also be assigned as an individual project.

For an individual evaluation that will build on photographic analysis skills and assess historical understanding, have students write a newspaper article in response to a photo in the American Memory Gallery of Japanese Internment.  This evaluation could be assigned as an in-class writing prompt or as homework.  Before assigning the article:

• distribute copies of Guidelines for Writing a News Article
• discuss the prompt (reflect on and respond to an internment photograph) and the guidelines
• write rough drafts
• edit (independently or with peers and/or teacher)
• revise
• publish final draft of article

Extension - Freedom from Fear Revisited
Ask students to examine Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Fear poster, painted by the great illustrator in response to FDR's 1941 State of the Union Address.  If they were commissioned to design a Freedom From Fear Poster for the new millennium, what issues would they depict?

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For questions or comments regarding this web lesson, please contact Gail Desler at gailhd@jps.net.

Draft version. Submitted July 22, 1999