Lesson 4: The Incarceration Years

Lesson 4: The Incarceration Years

Organizing Questions

Why were Japanese Americans incarcerated?
What, if any, civil rights of Japanese Americans did the incarceration violate?
What were the incarceration years like?
What are some perspectives on incarceration?

Introduction

In this lesson, students examine the incarceration years and study the impact this period had on Japanese American lives. The nine activities in this lesson provide a wide range of perspectives on the incarceration. It is recommended that Activity 4-1 be taught to students, as well as two or more of the other activities.

Objectives

knowledge

to learn about the incarceration experience

attitude

to appreciate the impact the incarceration had on people's lives
to appreciate diverse perspectives on the incarceration

skill

to work effectively in small groups
to critically analyze primary source documents, photographs, art, film, and narrative accounts of the incarceration period

Reading: The Incarceration Years

Before beginning the activities in this lesson, discuss The Incarceration Years with the following questions:

In what ways were Japanese Americans' lives impacted as a result of the mass removal and incarceration?
In what ways do you think life in the incarceration camps impacted the lives of individual families?
What were the similarities and differences between the "assembly centers" and the incarceration camps?
How do terms like "assembly centers," "relocation centers," "internment camps," "internees," and "evacuees" color our understanding of the Japanese American experience during World War II?
Why might camp administrators have favored JACL leaders? Why might one have joined the JACL or opposed it?

Activities

Activity 4-1: U.S. Government Perspectives Through a Newsreel

Students analyze a newsreel, Japanese Relocation, produced by the U.S. War Relocation Authority and the Motion Pictures Division of the Department of War, which was shown to the U.S. public in 1943.

Activity 4-2: Perspectives Through Photographs

Students analyze sixteen photographs of the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States.

Activity 4-3: Perspectives of a Scholar in the Camps Through His Writings

Students analyze selected writings from Stanford University Professor Yamato Ichihashi, who was incarcerated during World War II.

Activity 4-4: Perspectives of Incarcerated Japanese Americans Through Poetry and Art

Students analyze poetry and art developed by first-, second-, and third-generation Japanese American poets and artists.

Activity 4-5: Perspectives of a Caucasian Woman in Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp

Students analyze the experiences of Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian woman married to a Japanese American, through excerpts from the Academy Award-winning documentary Days of Waiting. Mrs. Ishigo joined her husband in an incarceration camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming.