Japanese Internment Camps

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which marked U.S. entry into WWII, over 120,000 people of Japanese descent were arrested and relocated to concentration camps out of fear of possible espionage. Despite having lived in the U.S. for more than one generation, over 80,000 second and third generation immigrants were forced to leave the content of their homes, businesses, and belongings beyond what could fit into a suitcase. This unit challenges dominant narratives of the equitable “melting pot” as a description for the immigrant experience through analysis of contemporary popular media, propaganda posters, and personal histories.

Unit Lessons

Create a summary describing the experiences of Japanese people during incarceration using technology or print of their choice (ex., report, speech, poster, mural, podcast, PowerPoint presentation, video documentary) to share with another class or community setting.
Analyze and critique a newspaper article, then adopt the perspective of an observer, internment victim, lawyer, or advocate and write a persuasive argument to the editor of the newspaper detailing the illegality of internment, emotional damage, or physical suffering caused by this injustice for the purpose of ending internment.
Create an artistic representation of the Japanese internment using thoughtful symbolism that honors and invokes empathy for internment victims through articles, video, poetry, or oral histories from the perspective of internment survivors

Questions

Compelling Question: How was the state of New Mexico complicit in the treatment and internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s?
Staging the Question: From your perspective, what does it mean to be an “American”?
Supporting Question 1: Did the US government’s fear of and disdain for Japan justify their treatment of Japanese Americans?
Supporting Question 2:
What are some experiences and after effects of internment on New Mexican Japanese Americans?
What was it like for Japanese people returning to their homes and businesses after being released from the internment camps?
Supporting Question 3:
What did internment represent in terms of loss of property and mobility for Japanese Americans?
What were the forms of resistance against internment?
What role does the government have in addressing its own actions?

New Mexico Social Studies Standards

History 15. Historical Change, Continuity, Context, and Reconciliation

9-12.NMH.30. Interpret data and evidence to conduct periodization of key events and contributions by key people to the events that occurred during the early 20th century.
9-12.US.77. Explore the legacy of “othering” in the United States, including boarding schools, internment camps, and detention centers.
9-12.US.88. Describe how particular historical events and developments shaped human processes and systems in World War II.

History 17. Historical Thinking

9-12.NMH.32. Demonstrate historical argumentation by using various resources and perspectives to show the impact of World War II on the people of New Mexico and the impact that the state’s citizens and resident populations had on the war.

History 15. High School World History

9-12.WH.22. Identify individuals, groups, and events in New Mexico’s history that have influenced or were influenced by events in world history.

Ethnic, Cultural and Identity Studies 20. Diversity and Identity

9-12.US.85. Examine the impact of historical, cultural, economic, political, religious, and social factors that resulted in unequal power relations among identity groups during World War II.
9-12.US.86. Assess how social policies and economic forces offer privilege or systemic inequity in accessing social, political, and economic opportunity for identity groups in education, government, healthcare, industry, and law enforcement.