...and Justice for All?
A Middle School WebQuest Exploring Japanese Internment Camps
INTRODUCTION
On February 19, 1942 , Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin Roosevelt, forced almost 120,000 Japanese Americans--two-thirds of them citizens of the United States--to leave their homes, sell much of their property at enormous losses, and move into detention camps.
You are a fifteen-year old Japanese-American citizen living in San Francisco, with your parents, your brother and sister. Suddenly you are awakened by a pounding on the door! A U.S. army officer orders you to be ready for evacuation and relocation in three days!
You will view photographs, read information, respond to information and locate research tools that discuss the conditions and circumstances that affected Japanese Americans in the internment camps.
Hopefully, the completion of this quest will deepen your knowledge and understanding of the environment and situations that many Japanese Americans faced during WWII, so that you can make informed judgments about past events. This deeper knowledge will help you understand, consider, and evaluate the historical decision that was made to send people to these camps.
Individual Assignments
Prior to beginning the group assignments, each student must complete the following independent activities:
1. Write a minimum of three "journal" or "diary" entries reflecting your thoughts and feelings about your forced evacuation and relocation.
2. You are the editor of a newspaper. Write an editorial regarding the issuing of "Executive Order 9066".
3. Create a timeline focusing on the important events prior to, during and after the evacuation and internment of the Japanese.
Group Assignment
Your team will gather information on the Japanese -American Internment. You may want to consider the following questions when you are fact finding. Who and How were the decisions made about the loyalty or disloyalty of the people? Where were the camps located? How were the families selected? Why were members of families separated? Who was in charge of the camps? Which Constitutional Amendments did Executive Order 9066 violate? What kind of treatment did the Japanese-Americans receive after returning from the internment camps? What decisions did the Supreme Court issue regarding the constitutionality of the Japanese Relocation/Internment? Upon completion of your research, your group will produce a PowerPoint presentation, sharing what you have learned about this historical event.
Photo Archives
National Archives and Records Administratration
Japanese-Americans Internment Camps During World War II - from the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, and Private collections.
Camp Harmony (Photographs and Drawings)
Newspaper Articles
"Poignant Memories" By Stefanie Asin, Houston Chronicle
"Racism remained after internment camps closed" By David Foster, Associated Press
"A Stolen Youth" By Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Examiner
"When Americans were treated as traitors" by Don Kazak, Palo Alto Weekly
Documents
Excerpts from "Personal Justice Denied" from Thomas Thornhill.
A Short Chronology of Japanese American History
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Nikkei Heritage Online - from the National Japanese American Historical Society
Manzanar National Historic Site
The Museum of the City of San Francisco by Gladys Hansen
Japanese Farmers in California by Ingolf assVolgele
Children of the Camps (Includes Historical documents, a Timeline of WWII Internment and Health Impact)
Your main source of information is the internet. Start with the sites listed in the "Resources" section and branch out from there. You may want to return to a site, so keep track of the ones which turn out to be the most helpful. Bookmark them for easy retrieval.
Of course, you will also want to consult books, encyclopedias (online and print), magazines, maps and other reference materials. Remember, the more sources you use, the more likely you are to gather accurate and complete information. Take good notes and be as thorough as possible. Remember to cite the sources you consulted. For help with citing sources, go to Citing Sources. Consult Webster's Online Dictionary for help with word meanings, word choice , pronunciation and spelling.
Source of graphic- The Japanese Tutor
The Timeline will be evaluated by using the following rubric from Prentice Hall School
TIME LINE RUBRIC
Name:_________________________________________
Date: ______________________________
Class: ______________________________
| Distinguished | Proficient | Limited | Attempted | |
| Item Choice | Evidence of care taken in choosing items (either most significant, or revealing some pattern, or showing cause/effect relationship) | Items meet criteria of assignment; few or no inaccuracies | Includes required number of items; some inaccuracies | Does not include required number of items |
| Scale and Sequence | Scale consistent and accurate; very appropriate for subject matter; all items in sequence with care taken on placement within increments | Scale consistent, accurate, and appropriate; items in sequence; increments marked | Scale roughly drawn; a few items out of sequence; increments marked | No apparent scale; numerous items out of sequence; time increments not marked |
| Mechanics | Flawless | Few mechanical errors | Some errors in spelling, identification, or dating | Many errors in spelling, identification, or dating |
| Presentation | Visually striking; attention apparent to making time line an effective tool for communicating information | Clear, uncluttered, and attractive | Legible | Illegible or messy |
Copyright © Prentice-Hall, Inc., a division of Pearson Education
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
The Power Point Presentation will be
evaluated using the Powerpoint Presentation Rubric below.
Based on a Model by Steven
F. Bass, Meadowbrook Middle School
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Arizona Standards Alignment
Social Studies
Standard 1: History
PO 1. thru PO 8.
Standard 2: Civics/Government
PO 1. thru PO 3.
PO 7.
Language Arts Standards
Reading:
R-E2: Use reading strategies such as making inferences and predictions, summarizing, paraphrasing, differentiating fact from opinion, drawing conclusions, and determining the author's purpose and perspective to comprehend written selections.
PO 1, thru PO 8
R-E3: Analyze selections of fiction, nonfiction and poetry ..
PO 1, PO 3, PO 5 and PO 7
Writing
Standard 1-A: Students effectively use written language for a variety of purposes and with a variety of audiences.
W-E 2: Write a personal experience narrative or a creative story ...
PO 1.
W-E 5: Write a report that conveys a point of view and develops a topic with appropriate facts, details, examples and descriptions from a variety of cited sources.
PO 1 thru PO 4
W-E 8 Demonstrate research skills using reference materials ...
PO 1
W-E 6 Write formal communications, such as personal or business letters, messages, directions, and applications for a specific audience and purpose.
PO 1., PO 2, PO 3.
NETS - Technology Standards
Performance Indicators Grades 6-8: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Source of graphic- Kanji-picture-collection
Picture Books
Bunting, Eve. So Far From the Sea. Clarion Books, 1998.
Hamanaka, Sheila. The Journey. New York: Orchard Books, 1990.
Mochizuki, Ken. Baseball Saved Us. New York: Lee & Law Books, Inc., 1993.
Mochizuki, Ken. Heroes. New York: Lee & Law Books, Inc., 1994.
Savin, Marcia. The Moon Bridge. New York; Scholastic, 1995.
Shigekawa, Marlene. Blue Jay in the Desert. Chicago: Polychrome Books, 1993.
Takashima, Shizue. A Child in Prison Camp. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1971.
Novels
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki and James Houston. Farewell to Manzanar. New York: Bantam Books, 1973.
Irwin, Hadley. Kim/Kimi. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987.
Kogawa, Joy. Itsuka. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Kogawa, Joy. Obasan. Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 1981.
Uchido, Yoshiko. The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography. Beech Tree, 1995.
Non Fiction:
Armor, John and Peter Wright. Manzanar. Times Books, 1988.
Bernstein, Jon L. & Daniel E. Lungren, et al. Personal Justice Denied. Washington D.C: 1982.
Brimmer, Larry Dane. Voices From the Camps. Franklin Watts, 1994.
McGowen, Tom. Go for Broke: Japanese Americans in WW II. Franklin Watts, 1995.
Sinnot, Susan. Our Burden of Shame: Japanese-American Internment during World War II. Franklin Watts, 1995.
Smith, Page. Democracy on Trial: The Japanese American Evacuation and Relocation in World War II. Simon and Schuster. 1994.
Stanley, Jerry. I am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment. Crown, 1994. Takei, George. To the Stars. Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Yancey, Diane. Life In a Japanese American Internment Camp. [The Way People Live Series] Lucent Books, 1998.
Poetry
De Cristofaro & Violet Kazue Matsuda. "There is always Tomorrow: an Anthology of Wartime Haiku," in Amerasia Journal. 19:1, pp. 93-116. 1993.
Okita, Dwight. "In Response to Executive Order 9066," in Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. Ed. Maria Mazziotti Giollian and Jeninifer Gillian. Penquin Books, 1994. p. 44
Okita, Dwight. 'The Nice thing About Counting Stars," in Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. Ed. Maria Mazziotti Gillian and Jennifer Gillian. Penquin Books, 1994, p. 45-47.
Uyematsu, Amy. 30 Miles from J-Town. Story Line Press, 1992.
Yamada, Mitsuye. Desert Run. Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1988.
Barbed wire symbol from Animation Factory.
This WebQuest was created by Kathleen Kendall, 09/23/08 .
Based on template written by Bernie Dodge.
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