Center for History Education
Japanese American Internment During World War II
World War II turned nations against each other and neighbors into enemies. An eye-opening lesson explores the dark past of Japanese-American internment camps during WWII. Scholars learn of the fear and distrust toward Asian Americans...
Curated OER
Japanese-American Internment--Constitutional or Unconstitutional
Explore what the home front during WWII was like for Japanese-Americans. Learners use a worksheet and the Internet to guide their research as they consider the constitutionality of Japanese Internment. They work in pairs to create an...
PBS
WWII: Detained
Imagine being forced against your will behind barbed wire for doing nothing but being yourself. Scholars investigate the impact Japanese-American internment camps had during World War II. Through video and archival evidence, they create...
NPR
Civil Rights of Japanese-American Internees
Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...
Curated OER
Japanese Internment
Fourth graders practice their writing skills. In this reading comprehension lesson, 4th graders review baseball terminology and then read Baseball Saved Us. In this story students learn about Japanese Americans that were taken from...
Curated OER
Lesson III: Crisis, Pearl Harbor, Internment
The third in a series of lessons introduced by “A Fence Away From Freedom,” uses the Smithsonian website, “A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution” and focuses on the section of the presentation devoted to the...
Curated OER
World War II: Internment in Hawaii
Students examine world history by writing an essay in class. In this World War II lesson, students identify the attack on Pearl Harbor, the response from the U.S and the effect it had on Japanese-Americans. Students define Japanese...
Curated OER
Japanese-American Relocation
Consider the causes and effects that led to the internment and relocation of Japanese Americans during WWII. Learners read the story "Baseball Saved Us" and selected chapters from Farewell to Manzanar. Then, they view a slide-show, and...
Curated OER
Prisoner in One's Own Home
Examine the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. After reading an article from the New York Times and exploring the author's word choice, young readers find the central idea in the text and work on researching additional...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, Part 4
Learners use a Analyzing Mediums handout to detail the advantages and disadvantages of communicating with mediums such as artwork, photographs, and political cartoons in the Japanese-American Internment during World War II primary...
Curated OER
The Homefront: America and WWII
Young scholars are introduced to the experiences of various groups of Americans at home during WWII, highlighting race, gender, and ethnicity. They improve their ability to analyze and interpret historical documents and images.
Curated OER
Japanese Internment During World War II
Students identify, describe and discuss the reasons why Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps and what life was like at these camps. Then they write an unsent letter to a family member on the East Coast describing their...
Curated OER
Japanese-American Internment/Relocation Camps
Learners create poetry and verse, using all 5 senses to paint a visual image of life in a Japanese-American internment camp.
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, Part 3
Check those sources carefully. Scholars learn to analyze and critique primary sources with the work they completed in the previous activity. Learners compare and contrast sources that agree and disagree about Japanese-American internment...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, Part 2
Scholars learn about primary sources with a Primary Sources: Japanese-American Internment during World War II packet. Pupils work with a partner to read challenging sources in the packet while making notes in the margins. They then...
Shaker Junior High School Library Media Center
WWII Project Outline
Work together as a class and get to know the ins and outs of World War II with this engaging collaborative project. Class members are broken into groups to research particular war topics, from life on the home front to the Holocaust and...
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
WWII Position Paper
There are some historical events that may warrant greater reflection and more in-depth analysis, and the decision to intern Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, as well as to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and...
Curated OER
World War II Home Front
Eleventh graders examine the political demands put on one of four groups living in America during WWII. Each class member is asked to research and write a paper describing the homefront experience for women, Hispanics, African-Americans,...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Camp Aliceville: The Story of WWII Prisoners of War Who Came to Alabama
POW camps in the United states? In Alabama? The German POW camp in Aliceville, Alabama is used as the focus of a study of the more than 700 camps built in the US during World War II.
Curated OER
Japanese Internment Camps in the US During World War II
Eighth graders analyze the impact of the Japanese/American conflict during World War II on the Japanese American population and evaluate the consequences of government action regarding international conflict. Students demonstrate their...
Curated OER
World War II: Modern History of Hawaii
Students examine world geography by viewing a documentary film in class. For this World War II lesson, students discuss the role Hawaii played in the great battle and what type conflicts happened among the island chain. Students view a...
Student Achievement Partners
Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston's "Farewell to Manzanar"
Passages from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar provide the context for a study of the historical themes of experiencing war, resilience during war, and understanding the lasting trauma of war. Appendices include extension activities,...
Curated OER
Forced Imprisonment WWII
Seventh graders examine Japanese-American internment camps. For this World War II lesson, 7th graders research the details of Japanese-American internment and create digital journals of the experience from the perspectives of internees.
Curated OER
Under the Blood-Red Sun
Fifth graders explore U.S. history by reading an award winning book about World War II. In this Japanese internment camp lesson plan, 5th graders read the book Under the Blood-Red Sun and discuss the entrapment of Japanese-Americans on...