Lesson Overview:

Students learn about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were relocated from their homes to detainment camps during World War II. By studying and learning to analyze photographs and texts that document the period, in conjunction with the historically-based novel The Journal of Ben Uchida, students will understand the discrimination and hardship Japanese Americans faced during this time. Students will learn about daily life for Japanese Americans in the camps, as well as explore the everyday life in the camp, research camp locations, and study the various types of communities that formed within the camps.

Length of Lesson:

Four 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 7-8.

Instructional Objectives:

• analyze photographs to understand the Japanese American experience during World War II.
• develop an understanding of how Japanese American citizens were treated in the U.S. during World War II.
• understand events inside the U.S. during World War II.
• understand how World War II affected minority groups.
• record, reflect, and summarize in a personal journal.

Supplies:

• Copies for students of the novel The Journal of Ben Uchida
• Student journals
• Pens or pencils
• Examples of an evacuation poster

Instructional Plan:

Note: The following lessons can be taught in conjunction with a class reading of The Journal of Ben Uchida.

Show students a photograph of Japanese Americans being evacuated with their belongings. Lead the class in a discussion of the photograph. Ask, "What do you see?" Note students' reactions on chart paper.

Show students more photographs taken during the evacuation. Write their comments on chart paper again. After noting their thoughts, inform students that these are American citizens being sent to an internment camp. Discuss the students' reactions to these photographs again, with this new information. Ask the class, "Why do you suppose this might be happening?" Have them note their reactions in journals, which they will revisit.

Explain to the students that they will learn to analyze photographs. A photo is a work of art. It has a story to tell just like a painting or a book. In a photo you have to look for the clues. It takes concentration and attention to detail.

Questions to ask when looking at a photo include:

• What is the historical time frame of the photo?
• Is the photo historically significant?
• Why do you think the photo was taken?
• What is unusual or significant about the photo?
• Who took the photo?
• What can you tell me about the subjects in the photo?
• What can you tell me about other small items in the photo that could give you more specific information on a subject in the photo.
• What in the photo leads you to these conclusions?
• Can you feel or see any emotions from the subjects? What emotion, which subject, and why? Name some of the clues you discovered in looking at the photo that lead you to these conclusions.
• What do you see in the photograph that touches you in some way?
• Is the photo itself unusual in the way the photographer took the picture or manipulated the photo or the development with special techniques.

Have the students brainstorm and add to this list other questions that they deem appropriate or helpful in analyzing a photo. This list should be kept on the board on chart paper and students should feel free to add to it at any time during the lesson.

Introduce The Journal of Ben Uchida. Direct students to pages 142–151. Have students discuss either with a partner or in groups what the photographs show. Explain to the class that these photographs were taken during World War II and show Japanese Americans living in America. Use the above questions on and the Photo Analysis worksheet at the U.S. National Archives & Records Administration Site when working with these photos. Each student should fill out and turn in his/her own sheet.

After completing the group discussion of the photos, have each student choose one photo and imagine he/she is a person in that photo. Have them write an addition to their journal describing from this persons point of view what the are seeing and feeling, what they sense and smell. Also include a beginning paragraph on how they became a part of this scene.

Next, have the class turn to page 142 of The Journal of Ben Uchida, or show an example of an evacuation poster. Direct the students to carefully examine this document. After they have studied it, tell them that thousands of copies of this poster were distributed and displayed in various West Coast U.S. neighborhoods in May of 1942. Ask students, "Why would such a thing happen?" Lead the class in a discussion of this poster and explain to students that it was created during World War II, when the United States was at war with Japan, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. During the war, there was a movement by the U.S. government to relocate all persons of Japanese ancestry, including U.S. citizens, to detention camps. Elicit from students their thoughts about this, and encourage them to record their feelings in their journals.

To gain a better understanding of this period of American history, and what life was life for Japanese Americans during this time and in the detainment camps, divide the class into six groups to conduct online research. Have the groups access the Smithsonian Museum Web site: A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans & the U.S. Constitution, which gives a detailed overview view of the period.

Distribute the Japanese Americans During World War II research guide to each group, and guide students to identify 4-5 key points from each section of the site: Immigration, Removal, Internment, Loyalty, Service, and Injustice. Then assign one of the sections to each of the six different groups, to present to the rest of the class.

Review the evaculation photograph and American Memory Gallery of Japanese Internment photographs viewed at the beginning of the lesson. Have the class read what they wrote about these photographs in their journals. Have their views on these photographs changed after learning more about this period in history? If so, how?

Does the information they have about an episode, a moment in history or a time period influence their ability to analyze a photo? Using the Photograph Observation worksheet, have students study the photographs and record their thoughts on the worksheet.

Have students write a short essay on the differences in their perceptions of these photos from the beginning of class to the end. Continue this with a classroom discussion, having students share their thoughts, revelations, and new skills in photo analysis. Also discuss where they might be able to put these newfound skills to use.

• Newspaper photos
• Family history photos
• Television documentaries

Assessment:

Use the Assessment Rubric to assess your students' works.

Extensions:

Have students write short reports or essays after reviewing the following resources: The Japanese American National Museum Website tells the story of Miss Clara Breed, the children’s librarian at the San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. Miss Breed got to know many children, including many Japanese American children. As they and their families were being sent to the internment camps, she gave them stamped and addressed envelopes so they could write to her. This site includes many of those letters. The PBS website for the documentary film Children of Camps. The site features various pictures showing what life was like in the internment camps, as well as referencing a Web page that gives mini biographies of the photographers.

Authors:

• Scholastic Inc.
  New York, NY