This lesson explores the topics of Japanese American incarceration and redress, and its relation to the definition of an “American”, rights, and the Census. Definitions of race, nationality, ethnicity, and rights are explained to define “American”. The lesson also explains how Constitutional rights are basic human rights granted to all people regardless of citizenship as well as the differences that benefit an American citizen. To further analyze Japanese incarceration camps, studying the Census will explain its role in carrying out Executive Order 9066 as well as how the laws have changed to protect all Americans. Lastly, students will review the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 to understand how the American government apologized for the treatment of Japanese Americans.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 7.5, 8.9, HS.2, HS.6, HS.9, HS.11
Historical Knowledge: 8.25, 8.27, HS.58, HS.60, HS.65, HS.66
Historical Thinking: 8.31, 8.32, HS.67
Social Science Analysis: 7.27, 7.30, 8.33, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74, HS.78

This collection uses primary sources to explore Japanese American internment during World War II. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This resource includes primary sources which examine and investigate the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The original author of this resource (Franky Abbott)  utilized some of the Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets.  These Source Sets can be used to help students further develop their critical thinking skills. These sets may include an overview, primary sources, links to other relevant resources, and a teaching guide for instructors. According to the original author, these sets were both created and then reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee. I have added four YouTube videos to this resource.  I want students to have the opportunity to listen to survivors of the Japanese American Internment Camps. I also want students to better understand the historical events that led to the incarceration of Japanese Americans. 

This lesson covers personal narratives from victims and descendants and highlights how the American government forced Japanese Americans and the Aleuts of Alaska into incarceration camps under President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. It additionally covers the forced removal process, conditions and lives in the camps, and the eventual release of prisoners. The lesson analyzes the incarceration of Japanese Americans and Aleuts as a violation of their constitutional rights. Students discuss examples of incarceration and connect instances of incarceration with current social and political events pertaining to the concept of “families belong together.”

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 8.2, 8.5, 8.8, HS.1, HS.9
Historical Knowledge: 6.20, 6.21, 8,22, HS.52, HS.64
Historical Thinking: 7.25, 8.31, HS.67
Social Science Analysis: 6.24, 6.28, 7.27, 7.30, 8.33, 8.36, HS.71, HS.72, HS.73, HS.74

This activity “Becoming aware of the Japanese American Internment Camp Experience” is intended to help students become aware of, and sensitive to, the Japanese American interment camp experience. They will develop a sense of empathy by simulating the situations which Japanese American children faced.

On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan attacked a US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Pre-existing racial tensions and “yellow peril” hysteria magnified as the American public grew increasingly suspicious of Japanese Americans and uncertain of their loyalty. They were regarded as potential spies and anti-Japanese propaganda quickly spread. Then, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry (two-thirds of whom were US citizens) were forced to evacuate from their homes and report to assembly centers. From there, they were moved to one of ten internment camps, or War Relocation Centers, located in remote areas of seven states—California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Arkansas.For the next three years, Japanese Americans acclimated to life behind barbed wire and under armed guard. Uprooted from their lives, they found themselves in strange and uncomfortable environments. They had to adapt to their new situation by adjusting to new living conditions, attending new schools, and finding inventive ways to pass the time. They attempted to maintain a sense of normalcy by attending religious meetings and by finding employment.This exhibition tells stories of everyday lives in Japanese Internment camps during World War II. It was created as part of the DPLA’s Digital Curation Program by the following students as part of Dr. Joan E. Beaudoin's course "Metadata in Theory and Practice" in the School of Library and Information Science at Wayne State University: Stephanie Chapman, Jessica Keener, Nicole Sobota, and Courtney Whitmore.