Free Workshop for Social Studies & Humanities Middle & Secondary Teachers
Join us for a three-day workshop in which we look at Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i and on the mainland during World War II and examine what does it mean to be an American. We look at this in three sections:
In the first section we will look at the Untold Stories: Department of Justice Internment Camps–arrests and incarcerations that began December 7, 1941. In the 1930s and 1940s numerous people living in the United States and Hawai‘i were identified as “enemy aliens” and placed on a secret government list called the Custodial Detention List. We will take a close look at the Custodial Detention List and the political policies and climate that led to the incarceration of both citizens and aliens of Japanese ancestry within hours of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Through dialogue, primary materials, personal stories, we will piece together a more complex narrative and analysis about the earliest government actions, public response, and the trauma, resilience, and resistance of the individuals and communities of people of Japanese ancestry.
In the second section we will engage in an open-ended inquiry on the question of loyalty, its personal and public meaning. At no time was there a deeper moral dilemma than when Japanese Americans faced with the decision to serve in the US military while many were confined in concentration camps without due process. Through inquiry we will delve into the nuances of this dilemma – how the motives, actions, and consequences played out for individuals, families, and communities. We will ask for your input to create a curriculum that will dig deeply into this moral dilemma to ask why did individuals make the choices they made? What does it take to be accepted as American and what does it mean to be American?
Section three will be the field trip to Honouliuli National Historic Site. Through place-learning and historical accounts about those interned in Honouliuli, we will explore the human story of surveillance and unjust incarceration and examine
For more information email: grace@njahs.org
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