Japanese Internment (1942-1945)

 

Web-quest

J. DeLong

Proctor High School

Spring 2015

 

 

 

Introduction:

          Prior to the United States entrance into WWII (1941), Japanese Americans faced prejudice and discrimination in America.  Some of this began as a result of rapid industrialization and increased immigration in the later part of the 1800s.  The Gentleman’s Agreement (1907) was an attempt to address the problems created by massive Japanese immigration, nativist prejudice, and segregation of Asian students in San Francisco public schools.  In 1913, California passed the Webb Alien Land Law, further restricting Asians from owning farm land.  Competition for jobs, declining pay rates, and government policies contributed to the further escalation and resentment of Japanese Americans.  This distrust and hostility peaked on December 7, 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.

            On December 8, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt went before Congress, stating the attack to be … “a day that will live in infamy” and asked for a declaration of war on the Empire of Japan.  Hostility, hatred, and hysteria grew as rumors of Japanese sabotage in California circulated.  The press spun the rumors and Americans speculated that spies were everywhere.

            The preexisting prejudice, racism, and general distrust of Japanese immigrants raised many red flags.  The primary concern and problem was that there was suspicion of Japanese espionage and sabotage in United States.  This was a major dilemma for the homeland military mobilization, because it could compromise the war effort, particularly on the West coast of America.  

            As a response to the calls for action, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.  It authorized the Secretary of War to establish military zones on the West coast.  The War Relocation Authority then began moving about 120,000 Japanese-American citizens and non-citizens to eight internment camps in remote areas far from the coast.

 

 

Task:

 

1.     Evaluate the policy of Japanese Internment.

2.     Analyze the effectiveness of the Japanese Internment.

3.     The final product is your choice of the following:

 

a.     Write a summary essay (2-3 pages).

b.     Give an oral presentation (roughly 5-10 minutes).

c.      Create a poster (should illustrate both aspects of the task).

 

 

 

Process:

 

The 4 Steps of the American History Public Policy Analyst (AHPPA)

 

1.     Define the Problem

2.     Gather the Evidence

3.     Identify the Causes

4.     Evaluate the Policy

 

 

 

Evaluation:

 

GRADING:   A=14-16 P0INTS

                       B=11-13 POINTS

                       C=8-10 POINTS

                       D=5-7 POINTS

                       F=0-4 POINTS

 

 

 

Links:

 

1.    www.ushitory.org/us/51e.asp

2.    www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html

3.    www.archives.gov/.../alic/reference/military/japanese-internment.html

 

 

NYS Social Studies Standards:

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York

 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 2: World History

 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3: Geography

 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

Standard 4: Economics

 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.

Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

 

Common Core Standards:

1) Research and evidence based

2) Clear, understandable, and consistent

3) Aligned with college and career expectations

4) Based on rigorous content and the application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skills

5) Built upon the strengths and lessons of current state standards

6) Informed by other top-performing countries to prepare all students for success in our global economy and society

 

 

Summary:

        Hopefully the students take away a better appreciation of the hardships, prejudice, and injustice of the Japanese Internment.  Many lost their homes, businesses, and personal freedoms during this dark period of American history.  On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan and Congress signed the Redress Act.  This Act acknowledged the history, provided some 60,000 surviving family members with restitution, and apologized.