by Luke Michel
Overview:
Since migration of Japanese to America started in the mid-nineteenth century, there has been resentment and tension between Americans and Asian immigrants. In California at the turn of the century, laws were passed making it difficult for Japanese to own land in America, become naturalized, or even migrate to America. By the 1920s California had banned almost all immigration from Japan and laws made interracial marriage illegal. After WWI and the failed attempts of America create and join the League of Nations, there were strong national feelings of isolationism and nationalism that only added fuel to this fire [for an easy-to-use interactive guide to Supreme Court cases challenging discriminatory policies towards Asian citizens, see:
http://www.historynow.org/03_2005/interactive.html]
The 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan exacerbated the tension and animosity between people of Japanese descent and Caucasian Americans on the West coast. Many Americans were convinced that Japan was going to invade the US by way of California and that the Japanese there were loyal to Japan and would aid their efforts. On February 19, 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which gave military leaders authority to create military areas from which groups of people could be excluded. Eventually over 110,000 people of Japanese descent, half of whom were children and two thirds of whom were American citizens, were removed from their homes and relocated to internment camps until January of 1945, when the camps were closed.
Objectives:
- Students will understand the social and racial environment of America during the beginning of the twentieth century up to World War II.
- Students will understand the effects that the bombing of Pearl Harbor had on America, including the effects on our society at home.
- Students will understand the Japanese internment camps that were instituted in America during World War II.
- Students will analyze primary source photographs in order to understand the daily life of inmates of the Japanese internment camps
- Students will understand the legal justification for instituting the Japanese internment camps and the legal justification for discontinuing the Japanese internment camps through analysis of primary source materials.
Activity One: Post-Pearl Harbor America
Briefly review and explore the racial tension in America after the Civil War, including Plessy v. Ferguson, up to WWII. Discuss the effects of Pearl Harbor on America in terms of race and national security.
Use the sources below to introduce the topic of Japanese internment camps. Have students read primary source documents on FDR's Executive Orders 8022 and 9066 and complete questions in small groups. Bring the class back together to discuss the sources as a whole.
Introduction to the topic:
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/module19/intro_pop17.html
http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm
Comparing FDR's Executive Orders 8022 and 9066:
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/seminar_docs/
depression_doc4.html
Activity Two: Life in the Japanese Internment Camps
Using images from the website below, have students look at and analyze the photographs and complete the photo analysis sheets. Either print out copies of some of the pictures to use in small groups in analyzing the pictures or display the images by way of projector and have the students complete the work individually.
Discussion questions:
1. What was life like in the internment camps?
2. How do these images make you feel? Why?
3. What evidence did you see that confirms the fears and reasoning for
removing these people from American society? What evidence did you see
that contradicts the fears and reasoning for removing these people from
American society?
Utah Library Tule Lake education site:
http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/tule.htm
Photo analysis sheet from National Archives:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo.html
Activity Three: The Legality of Internment Camps
Review the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment
and research the Japanese American court cases Korematsu v. US and
Endo v. US. For an easy-to-use interactive guide to Supreme Court
cases challenging discriminatory policies towards Asian citizens (inlcuding
the Korematsu case), see:
http://www.historynow.org/03_2005/interactive.html
Another good source for studying these cases is:
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/intern01.htm#Cases
Follow-Up Questions:
1. Did the internment camps violate the rights of US citizens?
2. Do you agree with the national security argument?
3. Do the event and the beliefs surrounding it have relevance in America
today?
