Beauty Behind Barbed
Wire: The Relocation Camp Experience of Estelle Ishigo
Plan Outline:
Click on links below
to go directly to lesson plan for indicated day.
Time Required:
Four days (lessons may
be done individually).
Materials Needed:
- Color transparencies
of the paintings, drawings and photographs
- Handouts as indicated
Objectives and Assessment Criteria:
- Students will learn to
analyze and interpret information from a variety of primary sources.
- Students will develop
a sense of historical empathy with the internees' experiences during and after
the internment.
- Students will describe
the conditions of the Japanese American internment during World War II, through
discussion and writing.
- Students will relate
the themes of tolerance and prejudice to the era.
- Students will understand
that media plays a part in propaganda.
- Students will learn that
the artist conveys thoughts and emotions through art.
Standards Correlation:
The teaching activities
in this lesson plan correlate to the National Standards for History.
- Era 8- The Great Depression
and World War II (1929-1945)
- Standard 3c - Evaluate
the internment of Japanese Americans during the war and assess the implication
for civil liberties.
California History-Social
Science Standards 11.7 "Students analyze the American participation in World
War II, in terms of: 5. the constitutional issues and impact of events on the
U.S. home front, including the internment of Japanese Americans. . ."
The National Standards
for the United States and World History encourages students to develop a
sense of historical thinking. Middle school students should engage in activities
in the following five areas:
- Chronological Thinking
- Historical Comprehension
- Historical Analysis and
Interpretation
- Historical Research Capabilities
- Historical Issues-Analysis
and Decision-Making
Conceptual Links to Prior Understanding
and Knowledge:
These lessons are designed
for use in a high school U.S. History class as part of the study of World War
II. Students should be aware of the history of Japanese immigration to the United
States and the general antipathy toward Asian immigrants on the West Coast as
exemplified by numerous laws that targeted Asians. Students should have studied
the causes and beginning of World War II including the Japanese invasion of China
and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Students should know that shortly after Pearl
Harbor many Japanese Americans were arrested by FBI agents because of their jobs
or membership in various organizations with ties to Japan. After Executive Order
9066 was signed, the internment of anyone of Japanese ancestry began on the West
Coast.
Cross-curricular Connections:
Teachers may use these lessons
with an art history class and to accompany the study of literature about Japanese-American
Internment in an English class. Three suggested novels are Farewell to Manzanar,
Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family and Journey to Topaz.