Browse > Time > 1940s
133 articles
The Untold Story of Ralph Carr and the Japanese: The Fate of 3 Japanese-Americans and the Internment (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary, History
- Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Japanese-produced documentary film on Colorado Governor Ralph Carr and his embrace of Japanese Americans during World War II, along with the experiences of three Japanese Americans affected in different ways by his stance.
Yamashita (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Animation, History
- Coming of age, Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Facing darkness, Family – blessing or curse
- Widely available
Short animated film by Hayley Foster that tells the incarceration story from the perspective of a girl of about eight: her removal from home with her parents and grandfather, the hardships they face at Manzanar (meals in communal mess halls, the barbed wire fences, and saying the pledge of allegiance in a barrack classroom), and her embrace of Japanese culture that her mother discourages, but that her beloved grandfather supports. The hand drawn animation is mostly in black-and-white, with strategic bursts of color.
What the Scarecrow Said (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Importance of community
- Facing darkness, Importance of community, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Widely available
Novel set in the last months of World War II whose protagonist is a middle-aged Nisei widower who resettles in a small New England town.
What, No Sushi? My Solar-Powered History at a Japanese-American Internment Camp (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Injustice, Power of the past, Family – blessing or curse
- Widely available
Book aimed at elementary school children about three young brothers from Alaska who take a time machine to experience the mass exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II with their great-grandmother in California.
When Rabbit Left the Moon (film)
- Films and Video
- Widely available
- Documentary
- Power of the past, Wisdom of experience
- Available
Video essay by Emiko Omori on the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 that traces the story of the wartime forced removal and incarceration through moving and still images and spare original music by Janice Giteck and Todd Boekelheide. The film begins with images of the Issei period, moving on to images of the incarceration, and to various aspect of life in the concentration camps beginning with happier scenes before turning to harsher ones, including images of post-segregation Tule Lake and documents describing shooting victims at Manzanar and draft resistance . The film moves on to images connected to Nisei soldiers in camp and on the battlefield before ending with camp cemeteries and images of the sites today. The title refers to a Japanese proverb and also to Omori's 1999 documentary, Rabbit in the Moon .
Woman With a Blue Pencil (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Mystery, Historical Fiction
- Character – destruction, building up, Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Disillusionment and dreams, Evils of racism, Heroism – real and perceived, Manipulation
- Widely available
Novel about a pulp mystery novel written by a young Nisei as World War II breaks out, his interactions with a sometimes overzealous editor, and his protest in the form of an unpublished manuscript centering on the Nisei private detective he was forced to remove from the novel.
When the World Winds Down (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction
- Isolation, Lost love
- Limited availability
Short story by Sharon Hashimoto about a watch repairman who fixes a gold watch brought in by a young man who reminds him of his late brother. Fred Fujita is one of the last remaining Nisei businessmen in the old Japanese section of Seattle. Agreeing to fix the gold watch at the end of one day, he decides to work on it at home, observing that his late wife would have objected to his doing so. While working on the watch, he recalls his brother Jimmy—the night at Heart Mountain when the seventeen-year-old Jimmy tells him he is going to enlist, trying to talk him out of it, and receiving word that he is missing in action.
When Your Body Has Been Rolled in Thorns (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction
- Evils of racism, Facing reality, Loss of innocence, Will to survive
- Widely available
Short story by Ferris Takahashi about a Japanese American family leaving a concentration camp to return to their old home in Los Angeles. Told from the perspective of a college educated Nisei husband and father of two young children, the story begins as they gather up their possessions and prepare to leave the camp. Yosh, a friend who had returned earlier and was able to reestablish his business, greets them at the train station. When they return to their home, they find it trashed and vandalized, with all the furniture gone. They also learn that the Buddhist temple in which they had stored other possessions had burned down. Yosh and his family offer to put them up until they can fix their house. Returning to look more closely at the house after dinner, the man and his Issei mother find racist graffiti. His mother assures him that they will rebound.
White Road of Thorns: Journalist's Diary—Trials and Tribulations of the Japanese American Internment During World War II (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Evils of racism, Facing darkness, Will to survive
- Available
Wartime diary of Issei journalist and Japanese language school teacher Hisa Aoki that covers the period prior to her return to Japan on the second voyage of the Gripsholm . Originally published in Japan in 1953, it was translated into English by Archie Miyamoto at the behest of Aoki's elder daughter, Mary Yoko Nakamura.
Weedflower (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Growing up – pain or pleasure, Evils of racism, Fear of other, Losing hope
- Widely available
Coming-of-age novel for young adults set in Poston with a young Nisei girl as the protagonist. Weedflower was author Cynthia Kadohata's second young adult novel, after the Newbery Medal winning Kira-Kira .
Welcome Home! (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Evils of racism, Injustice, Totalitarianism
- Widely available
Short story that contrasts the reception of two returning soldiers to their homes after serving overseas. Two soldiers meet on a train and talk about what they look forward to upon returning home. The first, presumably white, gets off the train to a warm welcome by parents, a girlfriend and the family pet. The second, a Japanese American has no one waiting for him, since his family is still incarcerated in an Arizona concentration camp. He is ignored or greeted coldly by the locals in his hometown and when he gets to his family home, finds that it has been vandalized and painted with racist epithets. Authored by Sgt. Len Zinberg, Welcome Home! was first published in Yank , a weekly magazine published by the U.S. Army and reprinted in the Pacific Citizen in 1945.
We Said No! No!: A Story of Civil Disobedience (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Convention and rebellion, Heroism - Real and Perceived, Injustice
- Limited availability
Documentary film by Arnold Tadao Maeda that focuses on life at post-segregation Tule Lake .
Yukiko and Carlos (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Everlasting love, Family – blessing or curse, Power of tradition, Working class struggles, Youth and beauty
- Widely available
Love story by Rubén "Funkahuatl" Guevara about a Chicano young man and a Nisei young woman that begins in 1941. Written in the first person voice of Carlos Gutiérrez, the story begins when he spots Yukiko Nakamura dancing at a bon dance while he is walking home from work. At Roosevelt High School, he approaches her, and they become friends, with each learning about the other's culture. Carlos aspires to be a boxing champion and is estranged from his alcoholic father. He soon becomes a regular at Yukiko's family's restaurant and begins taking lessons in the martial arts from Yukiko's father, eventually winning his respect and the right to date Yukiko. But the coming of war and the forced removal of Japanese Americans separate the couple, as Yukiko and her family are sent to Manzanar . Carlos eventually becomes a war hero by applying the lessons he learned from Mr. …
Valley of the Heart (play)
- Plays
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Drama, History
- Change versus tradition, Everlasting love, Family – blessing or curse, Love and sacrifice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
Play by Luis Valdez centered on two farm families—one Japanese American and one Mexican American—in Cupertino, California, during World War II.
Valor with Honor (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary, War
- War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism – real and perceived, Evils of racism
- Available
Documentary film by Burt Takeuchi that tells the story of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team . Eschewing a narrator, the film is built around the thirty-five interviews with veterans Takeuchi conducted and also includes brief reenactments of battle scenes that were shot at Sequoia Paintball Park in Santa Cruz, California. Valor With Honor tells the story in largely chronological fashion, starting with prewar life, the impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the roundup of Japanese Americans on the West Coast before getting to induction and basic training, combat in Italy, the rescue of the Lost Battalion , the liberation of Dachau sub camps, and the return to postwar society. Much of the running time focuses on the Rescue of the Lost Battalion and includes interviews with members of the 141st, the men who were rescued. The 86-minute film was completed in 2010 and has been screened widely across …
Legacy of the Nisei: Stories of Japanese American Internment and World War II Veterans (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real and perceived, Role of men, Injustice, Evils of racism
- Limited availability
The second video produced by the San Leandro Public Library built around interviews with Japanese American veterans and former concentration camp inmates from the San Francisco Bay area.
Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 3-5
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Change versus tradition, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
- Limited availability
Children's picture book that tells in simplified form the story of the landmark Mendez case that ultimately ended segregated schools in California. The story is told through the perspective of Sylvia Mendez who is eight years old in 1943. Having rented the farm of Munemitsu family, who had been forcibly removed to concentration camps, they were new to Westminster, California. When she and her brothers are prohibited from attending the same school as her cousins (who can pass as "white") and must attend the inferior school for those of Mexican, African or Asian ancestry, her family decides to sue. With the help of lawyer David C. Marcus—and support from various organizations including the Japanese American Citizens League —the suit proves successful, ending segregation in the state. A brief epilogue notes the long-term impact of the case and the fate of Sylvia and others involved in it.
Clark and Division (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Convention and rebellion, Disillusionment and dreams, Quest for discovery
- Widely available
Edgar Award winning mystery novel by Naomi Hirahara set among Japanese Americans who have resettled in Chicago in 1944.
Those Who Helped Us (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Coming of age, Heroism – real and perceived, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Simply animated story set in Minidoka told in the first-person voice of a young Nisei girl named Sumi that highlights the role that key white supporters in and out of the concentration camps played in aiding Japanese Americans. After noting the deprivations Nikkei faced in the early months at Minidoka, Sumi notes the presence of Reverend Andy ( Emery Andrews ), who had come to minister to his flock all the way from Seattle. Later, she highlights the role played by Thomas Bodine of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council and Father Leopold Tibesar in helping Sumi's older sister, Yuri, leave Minidoka to attend college in Philadelphia. The black and white animation turns to color as Yuri leaves camp. After the main story, author Ken Mochizuki provides brief profiles of Andrews, Bodine, and Tibesar, along with Minidoka Education Superintendent Arthur Kleinkopf and Deaconess Margaret Peppers, both of whom are …
A Place to Belong (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Grades 7-8
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Facing darkness, Family – blessing or curse, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Loss of innocence, Will to survive
- Widely available
Young adult novel by Cynthia Kadohata that tells the story of a Japanese American family's experience in postwar Japan from the perspective of an adolescent female protagonist.
The War Outside (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Coming of age, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Loss of innocence
- Widely available
Young adult novel by Monica Hesse that tells a complex story of a friendship between two teenage girls, one Japanese American and one German American, in the Crystal City internment camp in the fall of 1944.
Oregon's Japanese Americans: Beyond the Wire (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Evils of racism, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Power of the past
- Widely available
Documentary film on Japanese Americans in Oregon that largely focuses on the wartime incarceration and aftermath. Part of the Oregon Experience series, it was produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting in partnership with the Oregon Historical Society.
American Heroes: Japanese American World War II Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Patriotism - positive side or complications, Heroism - real and perceived
- Limited availability
Traveling exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Infantry Battalion , 442nd Regimental Combat Team , and Military Intelligence Service in 2011. Created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in partnership with National Veterans Network, National Museum of American History, and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the exhibition included photo and text panels about the Japanese Americans who served in World War II along with the medal itself.
Against Their Will: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Evils of racism, Injustice
- Available
Exhibition centering on the experiences of Japanese Americans in Jerome and Rohwer , the two concentration camps located in Arkansas, as well as those of who lived near the camps and/or worked in them. The exhibition was developed by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Public History Program and debuted as part of the Life Interrupted project in 2004. The largest of eight exhibitions mounted in various venues in the Little Rock area, Against Their Will debuted at Arkansas Statehouse Convention Center downstairs foyer on September 24, 2004, running through November 28, 2004. Against Their Will is currently on permanent display at the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum , which opened in McGehee, Arkansas, in 2013.
Beyond the Call of Duty: Honoring the 24 Japanese American Medal of Honor Recipients (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Patriotism - positive side or complications, Heroism - real and perceived
- Limited availability
2004-05 exhibition on Japanese American recipients of the Medal of Honor , the country's highest military decoration organized by the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). Of the twenty-four Japanese American recipients, twenty-one were honored for their service during World War II. Beyond the Call of Duty was one of eight exhibitions in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area that were part of the Life Interrupted project, a collaboration between JANM and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Three of the exhibitions, all on some aspect of the Japanese American military experience , were displayed at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, the other two being Witness: Our Brothers' Keepers and Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II .