Title: Japanese Internment Camps in the US during World War II

Author: Sandra W. Coleman

Grade Level: 8th

Course:US History Survey Course

Duration: 2-3 days

Core Learning Goal:

Students will examine significant ideas, beliefs and themes; organize patterns and events; analyze how individuals and societies have changed over time in Maryland, the United States and the world.

Content Standard Indicator:

Students will examine the causes and impact of WWII on the world community in order to make generalizations about international cooperation and conflict.

Objectives:

1.Students will be able to analyze the impact of the Japanese/American conflict during World War II on the Japanese American population by examining primary sources.

2.Students will evaluate the consequences of government action regarding international conflict and demonstrate their understanding by creating a collage of pictures or words.

Vocabulary:

Internment

National Security

Relocation

Materials:

Student worksheets

A resource packet of glossary terms 

Computer or library lab with Internet access

Notes to the Teacher (content narrative):

Japan’s imperialistic aggression in China brought the United States into conflict with Japan in the early 1940’s.In an effort to stop Japan’s aggression, the US placed an embargo on oil and scrap iron and refused Japan’s demand to cut off all aid to China.The Japanese felt they were faced with the choice of giving up their dreams of empire or going to war.A more warlike government under General Hideki Tojo came to power in Japan in mid October 1941 and the new militarists chose war.The Japanese chose to attack Pearl Harbor hoping to eliminate a threat of American intervention long enough for Japan to acquire the territories it desired.On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.The attack devastated the America’s Pacific Fleet by destroying 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 188 planes.The attack left 2,400 dead and 1,100 wounded.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that the day would live in infamy in his famous speech to Congress.Congress quickly approved Roosevelt’s request to declare war on Japan.Three days later, Germany and Italy honored their treaty obligations and declared war on the US.The US Congress then declared war on them as well. The attack launched the US into two theaters of world war.Previous to this event, the United States had only been involved in the European war by supplying England and other antifascist countries of Europe with the munitions of war.

The attack on Pearl Harbor launched the US into massive rush to prepare for the conflict ahead.The face of America changed from a nation at peace to a wartime society.Many changes took place on the homefront.Among the changes was a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West Coast.Within hours of the attack, FBI agents were breaking into and searching the homes of respected Japanese Americans.Japanese Americans were seen as “enemy aliens” that threatened the country.In February 1942, just two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt as commander-in chief, issued Executive Order 9066, which had the effect of relocating all persons of Japanese ancestry, both citizens and aliens, inland, outside of the Pacific military zone.The objectives of the order were to prevent espionage and to protect persons of Japanese descent from harm at the hands of Americans who had strong anti-Japanese attitudes.

In Washington and Oregon, the eastern boundary of the military zone was an imaginary line along the rim of the Cascade Mountains; this line continued down the spine of California from north to south. From that line to the Pacific coast, the military restricted zones in those three states were defined.

Roosevelt’s order affected 117,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were native-born citizens of the US.The Issei were the first generation of Japanese, born in Japan and immigrating to this country; the Nisei were the second generation, born in the US, numbering 70,000 American citizens at the time of internment.Within weeks, all persons of Japanese ancestry, whether citizens or enemy aliens, young or old, rich or poor, were ordered to assembly centers outside the restricted military zones.

For example, persons of Japanese ancestry in western Washington State were sent to the assembly center at the Puyallup Fairgrounds near Tacoma.AtPuyallup, internees found that a cowshed at a fairgrounds or a horse stall at a racetrack was home for several months before they were transported to a permanent wartime residence.Relocation centers were situated many miles inland, often in remote and desolate places.Sites included Tule Lake, California; Minidoka, Idaho; Manzanar, California;Topaz, Utah;Jerome, Arkansas;Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Poston, Arizona;Granada, Colorado; and Rohwer, Arkansas.

Life at the camps was difficult as families with their few possessions crowded into tar-papered barracks.Common areas were used for eating, laundry and bathroom facilities.The internees created some familiar routines for schooling and socializing, but limited opportunites interrupted other social and cultural patterns.Persons who were uncooperative and troublesome were sent to the Tule Lake facility, where all dissidents were housed.

In 1943 and 1944, the government recruited a combat unit of Japanese Americans for the war in Europe.The 442^nd Regimental Combat Team gained fame as the most highly decorated of World War II, but also suffered many casualities.Their military record demonstrated their patriotism for America.

As the war drew to a close, the relocation centers were slowly evacuated.While some persons of Japanese ancestry returned to their hometowns, most sought new places to live.Most Japanese Americans never recovered their homes, businesses or property and had to rebuild their lives. 

The internment of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War IIsparked constitutional and political debate.In the 1940’s, three men, Hirabayashi, Korematsu and Endo, challenged the constitutionality of the relocation and curfew orders.All three received negative judgments from the Supreme Court.Some people refer to the relocation centers as concentration camps while others view internment as an unfortunate consequence for military necessity.During the Reagan/Bush years, Congress moved toward the passage of Public Law 100-383 in 1988 which acknowledged the injustice of internment, apologized for it and provided a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was interned.

Motivation:

Ask students if they can identify the event being described in the followingselection as you read it to them or place it on an overhead screen:

“It began on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.The planes had swept in, unopposed for the most part;many of our ships were damaged or destroyed.The day we’d never expected had arrived, and our country was challenged to pick itself up, regroup, rebuild and fight back.Our men were gone, the regrouping and rebuilding had already begun, and , although none of the shells, bombs, or torpedoes had reached us, we, wives and families, had taken a hit, too.

We’re at war;we’re far from home, and we’re alone.It’s Monday morning-the day after.”

Coleman, Agnes P., “Pearl Harbor-The Day After”, Naval Affairs, December 18, 1996

The class discussion should include reviewing the following information about Pearl Harbor:The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, it lasted less than 2 hours, most of the American Pacific Fleet was destroyed or damaged, 188 planes were destroyed, 2,400 died, 1,100 wounded, it led to the US declaring war on Japan.

Procedures:

1.Conduct a brainstorming session of possible events, problems and issues that might occur because of the US war declaration on Japan.This should begin to stimulate student thinking about the implications of war for a country, foreign and domestic. 

-cutting off all diplomatic and economic ties to the other country

-mobilization of forces to areas outside the country

-need for increased military forces, voluntary enlistment or draft 

-need for increased war supply production

-mobilizing the population to support the war effort, rationing/buying war bonds/recycling 

-government sponsored propaganda against enemies

-government control over the economy/media

-government taking actions to increase security at home

2.Class discussion:Ask students to think about what makes America a unique nation in the world.A poster, pictures or a written description can prompt a student response of multicultural or pluralistic.

When a pluralistic society such as the US goes to war, would there be any issues of which the government and the citizens may have to be specially concerned? 

There will probably be an ethnic group within the US with ancestry from that country and if there are, there will be questions of where will their loyalties lie.

When the US went to war in 1941, do you think this was an issue?

3.Ask students what the following selection is describing.Read aloud the following selection or place it on an overhead screen to determine if they have any prior knowledge of the camps.

“’I was 10 years old and wearing my Cub Scout uniform when we were packed onto a train in San Jose,’ recalls California Democratic Congressman Norman Mineta. ‘People had to just padlock and walk away from their businesses—they lost millions.After six months in a barracks at the Santa Anita Racetrack, we were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyo.We arrived in the middle of a blinding snowstorm, five of us children in our California clothes.When we got to our tar-paper barracks, we found sand coming in through the walls, around the windows, up through the floor.’

‘The camp was surrounded by barbed wire.Guards with machine guns were posted at watchtowers, with orders to shoot anyone who tried to escape.Our own government put a yoke of disloyalty around our shoulders.But throughout our ordeal, we cooperated with the government because we felt that in the long run, we could prove our citizenship.’

Otto, Frederick, “A Time of Agony for Japanese Americans,” Time, vol.138, no.22 (December 2, 1991), p. 69.

A short discussion will reflect on the reading:

What is this describing?How does the writer react to what is happening?

4.Students will be given the following activity sheet to work through in a computer or library lab setting.

Part I will be completed individually by each student.

Part IIwill be completed by students in assigned groups.

Part III will be completed through a jig saw strategy, regrouping students to share their information.

Students should be given a glossary resource packet of terms found in many primary sources about the camps.A copy of this resource can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/glossary.html

You will begin an investigation into one consequence of the Japanese-American conflict during World War II – the internment camps.As you explore the following primary source materials, you will be analyzing the impact of these camps on the Japanese American population as well as the implications for the American nation as a whole.

Part I – Introduction

All students should complete the questions below to gain background knowledge about the camps.Click on A Brief History to find out more.

1.When were the camps established?

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1.What do the camp locations have in common?

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Part II – Case Study Investigations

Activity 1-The President’s OrderGroup#1

1.Read through the document you find here and complete the Written Document Analysis Worksheet

2.Check out this map of military zones and describe in writing the locations of the zones.

Activity 2-Relocation NotificationGroup #2

1.Read the poster that was posted in Japanese American communities and complete the Written Document Analysis Worksheet 

Activity 3-Pictures of the experienceGroup #3

1.Explore this site of photographs , select four (4) and complete the Photograph Analysis Worksheet for each photograph.

Activity 4-Personal Stories 1Group #4

1.Explore this site and select 2 personal accounts of Japanese American experiences and complete a Written Document Analysis Worksheet for each.

Activity 5-Personal Stories 2 / Personal Stories 3Group #5

1.Explore this site and select 2 personal accounts of Japanese American experiences and complete a Written Document Analysis Worksheet for each.

Activity 6-Japanese ReactionGroup #6

1. Read this story about how the people of Japan reacted to the treatment of Japanese Americans in the US.Complete a Written Document Analysis Worksheet when you are finished. 

Part III Sharing the Wealth

You will now regroup to share your findings with other group members.Each member should think about, discuss and take notes on the following question:

What was the impact of the internment camps on Japanese Americans and on the international relations between the nations of Japan and the US?

Notes from group sharing and discussion:

________________________________________________________________________________________________

-They lost most of their possessions, money, businesses, homes

-They lost dignity and privacy with the conditions of the camps

-The government said they were in part protecting Japanese Americans but were in fact giving in to racial hysteria

-There was a loss of confidence in the reality of equal rights and protections guaranteed by the Constitution

-There was increased distrust and prejudice between Americans and Japanese on the international as well as domestic levels

Assessment: 

The Smithsonian Museum of American History is developing a new exhibit on the Japanese American Internment Camps.You have been chosen to contribute to a portion of the exhibit as a result of your excellent investigative work with primary sources from that historical period.You are asked to create a collage or mural illustrating the theme, “Japanese American Internment Camps Impact American citizens and the Nation” You may use words, phrases, pictures, drawings or any other method to illustrate this theme in your final creation.Your collage or mural will be put on display as part of the museum exhibit to give visitors a quick, concise view of what the internment camps meant in American history. 

Extension Activities:

1.Imagine you and your family were Japanese-Americans living in a coastal town in California in 1941.You have been evacuated to an internment camp by Order 9066.Write a persuasive letter to President Roosevelt explaining why you and other Japanese-Americans should not be living in these camps. 

2.Write an essay comparing the Japanese internment camps in America to the Jewish concentration camps in Europe during WWII.

3.Conduct an interview with a survivor or relative of a survivor of a Japanese internment camp to determine how they were impacted by their experience.

Bibliography (non web based):

Adams, Ansel.Manzanar. New York:Times Books, 1988.

Houston, Jeanne and James.Farewell to Manzanar.Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 1973.

Daniels, Roger. Prisoners Without Trial:Japnese Americans in World War II. New York:Hill and Wang, 1993.

Website annotations:

http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/jpamer/execordr.html

“War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona, 1942-1946”This shows the actual text of the Executive Order No. 9066 issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19,1942.

www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/poster.htmlThis is a link off a site entitled “Japanese Internment Camps”.This shows one of the original posters that was posted within the military zones on the West coast to inform Japanese Americans of the order to have them relocated.The entire text of instructions for relocation:what to bring, where and when to report, etc. is included in this site.

www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm“Japanese American Internment Camps During World War II.”This site has several series of photos from the Tule Lake, California and Topaz, Utah camp sites.There is a good range of subject matter covering different aspects of life at the camps.

www.uwec.edu/Academic/Geography/Ivogeler/w188/life.htm “Japanese Internment Camps:A Personal Account”This site has a short narrative by Reiko Oshima Komoto about her experiences at the Topaz, Utah camp.She describes the environment of the camp as well as the activities of the residents and guards.There are many personal feelings expressed throughout her narrative which gives insight into how the camp experience affected her life and her family’s.

www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/memories.htmlThis is a link off a site entitled “Japanese Internment Camps”.This particular link has two short narratives about the experiences of a young man taken to an assembly center for relocation and an army private of Japanese descent.This site gives perspectives on different aspects of the relocation process and discrimination faced by Japanese Americans.

www.qnet.com/~earthsun/manzanar.htmThis is a good site which gives an overall history of the camps along with photographs and a number of quotes of Japanese Americans who experienced the process of relocation to the camps.This provides a quick, concise look at the entire topic.

http://chem.nwc.cc.wy.us/HMDP/history.htm“A Brief History of the Heart Mountain Relocation Center and the Japanese Experience”This is a secondary source site that can be used with gifted and talented students to gain a more in depth understanding of the events leading to the establishment of the camp and the later consequences.

www.goldsea.com/Bookview/Memoirs/Stars/stars.htmlThis site is an excerpt of a book by George Takei of Star Trek fame.His family was one of those relocated to the camps and this particular section deals with the issue of Questions 27 and 28.Takei describes the emotions of his father when he was asked about his willingness to serve in the military as a demonstration of loyalty to the US.

Resources for the teacher:

Guterson, David.Snow Falling on Cedars. San Diego:Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Brokaw, Tom.The Greatest Generation.New York:Pantheon Books, 1998. 

Part I – Introduction

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1.What do the camp locations have in common?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Part II – Case Study Investigations

*Activity 2-Relocation NotificationGroup #2

1.Read the poster that was posted in Japanese American communities and complete the Written Document Analysis Worksheet 

*Activity 3-Pictures of the experienceGroup #3

1.Explore this site of photographs , select four (4) and complete the Photograph Analysis Worksheet for each photograph.

*Activity 4-Personal Stories 1Group #4

1.Explore this site and select 2 personal accounts of Japanese American experiences and complete a Written Document Analysis Worksheet for each.

*Activity 5-Personal Stories 2 /Personal Stories 3Group #5

1.Explore this site and select 2 personal accounts of Japanese American experiences and complete a Written Document Analysis Worksheet for each.

*Activity 6-Japanese ReactionGroup #6

1.Read this story about how the people of Japan reacted to the treatment of Japanese Americans in the US.Complete a Written Document Analysis Worksheet when you are finished. 

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