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333 articles
The Sun Gods (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Power of the past, Power of silence, Quest for discovery, Everlasting love
- Widely available
Novel by Jay Rubin set in Seattle and that involves wartime incarceration at the Minidoka , Idaho, concentration camp.
The War (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
Documentary mini-series by Ken Burns on the American experience of World War II. Produced in 2006, The War debuted on public television stations in September 2007, shown in seven roughly two-hour parts. Included in the sprawling documentary is the story of Japanese American forced removal and incarceration as well as the story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team .
The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear was Stronger than Justice (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Injustice, Rights - individual or societal, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
This lesson for upper elementary and secondary students produced by the National Park Service centers on files from the National Register of Historic Places: " Manzanar War Relocation Center" and " Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery". The lesson can be used in the study of World War II in U.S. History or human rights in a social studies unit. Links allow teachers to search for relevant curriculum standards by subject and grade level.
Honouliuli: Hawai'i's Hidden Internment Camp (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Power of the past, Injustice, Evils of racism
- Widely available
Documentary short film on the Honouliuli Internment Camp in central Ō'ahu produced by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i. Interviews and other footage from this film were later incorporated into a broader documentary film, The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai'i . Ryan Kawamoto wrote, directed, and edited both films.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (curricula)
- Curricula
- Family - blessing or curse, Growing up - pain or pleasure, Evils of racism, Lost love
- Widely available
This teacher's guide supports the instructional use of the bestselling 2009 novel by Jamie Ford about a budding romance between a young Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl, set in 1942 Seattle as aspects of World War II impact their lives. Appropriate for the middle/high school English/language arts classroom, and because of the setting, also social studies. The guide notes the novel is written at a seventh grade reading level.
House of the Red Fish (book)
- Books
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Historical Fiction, Young Adult
- Coming of age, Empowerment, Good versus bad, Importance of community
- Widely available
Young adult novel by Graham Salisbury about a Nisei teenager in wartime Honolulu who struggles to bring up the sunken fishing boat of his interned father. It is a sequel to the popular 1994 novel Under the Blood-Red Sun .
Hunt for the Bamboo Rat (book)
- Books
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 6-8
- Children's
- Facing darkness, Forgiveness, Heroism – real and perceived, Will to survive
- Widely available
Young adult novel by Graham Salisbury based on the wartime exploits of Richard Sakakida , a Nisei intelligence agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps who was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines.
I Am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Children's
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice
- Widely available
Book aimed at middle school audiences that tells the larger story of the Japanese American World War II removal and incarceration through the experiences of one typical Nisei teenager.
I Call to Remembrance: Toyo Suyemoto's Years of Internment (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Rights - individual or societal, Motherhood, Displacement
- Widely available
The memoir of poet Toyo Suyemoto that spans her years of incarceration in Tanforan Assembly Center and later, at Topaz in Utah, from spring 1942 to late autumn 1945. The book, published in 2007 by Rutgers University Press, focuses on the quotidian life in an American concentration camp, while coping both physically and psychologically with the brutality of imprisonment behind barbed wire. The book is dedicated to Suyemoto's son Kay and details his short life from birth in Berkeley, California, to his first steps at Tanforan in a crowded horse stall, and finally to Utah where he developed a serious asthmatic condition and pneumonia in the harsh atmosphere of camp which eventually lead to his premature death. Suyemoto's memoir includes the impact of policies and wartime decisions on her family and the larger Japanese American community, bringing insight on complex and controversial questions of loyalty, citizenship and resistance. She also …
The Idaho Homefront: Of Camps and Combat (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Injustice, Patriotism - positive side or complications
- Widely available
Documentary video written and produced by Jim Peck for Idaho Public Television that tells the story of the Minidoka camp in Idaho and of Japanese Americans who served in World War II from Idaho, both those in Minidoka and those born and raised in Idaho. The show was a follow up to an earlier documentary by Peck titled The Idaho Homefront: World War II that had included a mention of Minidoka and of the 442nd . Narrated by Sue Galligan, and featuring interviews with Hero Shiosaki, Roy Gikui, Robert Sims, Bethine Church, Fumiko Hayashida, and Toshi Ito. Funding for the show came in part from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, WETA Public Broadcasting, and from Wal-Mart. The half-hour show premiered on Idaho public television stations on September 20, 2007.
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young adult
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Lavishly illustrated large-format juvenile book for that provides an overview of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, military service, and the redress movement.
In Time of War (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Circle of life, Displacement, Injustice, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Widely available
Documentary film on the Japanese American experience in the Pacific Northwest including " voluntary evacuation ," forced removal and confinement, and the debate over military service. Produced by North By Northwest Entertainment for Whitworth College, the project was funded by a grant from the Washington Civil Liberties Public Education Program .
The Internment of Japanese Americans (ReferencePoint Press) (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young adult
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Overview volume on the wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans aimed at middle and high school audiences published in 2014 by ReferencePoint Press as part of the "Understanding American History" series.
The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Young adult
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Hazards of passing judgment, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Overview work on the Japanese American World War II incarceration aimed at middle and high school audiences.
The Invisible Thread (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Memoir, Children's
- Immigrant experience, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Expression through art, Facing darkness, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Widely available
Memoir for young adult readers by the acclaimed children's book author that covers her charmed childhood in Berkeley, California, and her wartime incarceration during World War II.
Island Roots (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary, History
- Change versus tradition, Rebirth
- Widely available
Short documentary film on the Filipino American community on Bainbridge Island, Washington from the migration of the first immigrants in the late 1920s to the present day. Many came to Bainbridge to serve as farm laborers on strawberry farms run by Japanese Americans. During World War II, when Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from Bainbridge and the entire West Coast, many turned their farms over to their Filipino American farmhands to mange in their absence. As a result, many Japanese American farmers were able to return to intact farms after the war. Some Filipino Americans were able to use this as a jumping off point to owning their own farms after the war. The film concludes with the restoration of the Filipino American community hall on Bainbridge and the return of the Strawberry Festival that serve as the center of the community in the present.
Japanese Relocation During World War II (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Displacement, Injustice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Rights - individual or societal
- Widely available
This resource from the National Archives provides historical background, an annotated bibliography of other resources, links to primary source materials (documents, photos), standards correlations, and teaching activities.
Japanese-American Internment during World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12
- Grades 9-12
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Overview book by Peggy Daniels Becker on the World War II removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans that includes a one-hundred page narrative summary, eleven short biographies of key figures, and a selection of primary sources. It is part of the "Defining Moments" series published by Omnigraphics.
A Jive Bomber's Christmas (play)
- Plays
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Musical
- Importance of community, Optimism - power or folly
- Widely available
Musical play set in a World War II concentration camp by Saachiko and Dom Magwili. First produced for the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in 1994, A Jive Bomber's Christmas became a holiday tradition in Los Angeles, enjoying a nine-year run and subsequent revivals in Los Angeles and in Hawai'i. The play was based in part on Saachiko Magwili's childhood memories of Heart Mountain and shares a structural similarity with Dom Magwili's earlier Christmas in Camp , first produced at East West Players in 1981.
Join Me in Laughter (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Motherhood, Optimism—power of folly, Wisdom of experience
- Widely available
A grandmother tells her grandchildren about the meaning of life, while recalling episodes related to her confinement and return from Topaz . Apparently the same character as in the story " The Remembered Days ," published a year earlier, she recalls her adult children leaving Topaz behind to move on with their lives, acts of both prejudice and kindness upon her return to California, and the end of the war, while encouraging an optimistic attitude towards life.
Journey of Heroes: The Story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Heroism – real and perceived, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Evils of racism
- Widely available
A comic book version of the story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team told in the first person voice of a Nisei from Hawai'i.
Journey of Honor (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real and perceived
- Widely available
Documentary film produced and directed by Stuart Yamane centering on a trip by a group of Hawai'i Nisei veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team to Italy some fifty-five years after they fought there during World War II. In documenting the trip, Yamane reconnects with his late and estranged father Masakichi, a World War II veteran, who had served with some of the men on the trip. Led by columnist and military history buff Bob Jones, the trip includes stops at Pietrasanta, where they the men are honored in a Liberation Day ceremony and take part in the unveiling of a statue honoring Sadao Munemori ; Mt. Fologorito, where they have a reunion with the Alpini, the Italian Mountain Corps who guided Allied troops; the American Cemetary and Memorial in Nettuno; and, finally, Monte Cassino, a mountain that was the site of one of their most …
Kim/Kimi (book)
- Books
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 6-8
- Children's, Young Adult
- Coming of age, Identity crisis, Quest for discovery
- Widely available
Kim/Kimi (1987) by Hadley Irwin explores one teen's quest to discover herself by finding out about her father's past. Kimi Yogushi, who is more commonly known as Kim Anderson, has an Irish American mother. Kim's father Kenji, who had died before she was born, was Japanese American. Sixteen-year-old Kim happily lives with her family in an all-white community in Iowa but she begins to want to know more about the Japanese American part of her identity. Her mother finally tells Kim that Kenji had been disowned by his family for marrying outside his race.
Korematsu and Civil Liberties (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Documentary
- Injustice, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
Documentary video focusing on the collision of security concerns and civil liberties as illustrated by theWorld War II roundup of Japanese Americans and the Korematsu Supreme Court case.
Las Vegas Charley (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction
- Disillusionment and dreams, Temptation and destruction, Vulnerability of the meek, Working class struggles
- Widely available
Short story by Hisaye Yamamoto about an Issei man named Kazuyuki Matsumoto, who works as a dishwasher at a Las Vegas restaurant while gambling away his wages. In flashback, we learn of his life story: boyhood in Kumamoto prefecture, then migration to the U.S. where he becomes a successful farmer in Santa Maria, California, and is soon joined by a "picture bride" wife, Haru and two sons. But Haru's death in childbirth after the birth of their second son changes Kazuyuki's life decisively. He sends the two boys to live with his mother in Japan and becomes a migrant laborer. At first, he sends regular remittances home, but he soon picks up a gambling habit and the payments gradually come to an end. He later brings his Kibei sons back to the U.S., where they start a new farming venture in Orange County, California, this one less successful. Then comes …