Lesson 7-A Day of Infamy

Lesson 7-A Day of Infamy

Submitted by:

Julia Bodenhamer

Lesson Plan Information:

Grade Level: Elementary (Grade 5)

______

Introduction/Overview: How did President Roosevelt react to the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor? What was the typical reaction of the average American? Did it make a difference if you were a Japanese American?

______

Learning Objectives: Students understand important issues, events, and individuals (Franklin D. Roosevelt) of the World War II time period. Student understands the fundamental rights of American citizens and the contributions of various ethnic groups in the United States.

Additional Resources/References:

Research for information:

• From given sites
• Library

Text

Supplementary Materials:

Film Clip—Tora, Tora, Tora

______

Suggested Activities/Procedures:

1. Provide students with copies of Franklin Roosevelt’s working draft and final form of his speech know as a Day of Infamy.

As a class, evaluate the final document using the following questions as a guideline: see student materials.

1. Students compare the two documents looking specifically at the changes Roosevelt made and discussing why he might have made them.

3. When news of the attack reached the American public, what was the public’s reaction? Think about our guest speaker and the comments made. Also check the textbook and previous class historical research of the time period.

See also the following links:

What do you think your reaction might have been? Has there been a recent

occurrence that mirrors this event in some way? Why?

1. Students view the film clip of the movie Tora, Tora, Tora. and related pictures.

How might these pictures and newsreels of the time have influenced public opinion about the attack and more specifically, the attackers? Were Americans fearful of the Japanese? Was their fear justified?

1. With the use of a transparency, share the contents of executive order 9066

and its implications. Was this an appropriate reaction?

1. Use current newspapers to search for articles about possible displacement of citizenry in countries now experiencing internal conflict or terrorism from both internal and external forces. For example, in the United States what was the response to 9/11? Were certain groups discriminated against in the aftermath of this act of terror? What about other countries around the world?

______

Extending the Lesson:

The attack on Pear Harbor is often referred to as a surprise event. Was it truly a surprise attack or were their warning signs or missed signals? List them in the form of a telegram on a sheet of yellow paper.

Time Required:

One 45-minute class periods

______

Preparation:

______

Curriculum Fit:

National Standards: 1a, 1d, 2b, 2d, 3b, 3d. 3h, 3I, 5d, 5e, 5f

TEKS: 113.7 Social Studies 5.5A, B; 5.21B, C; 5.23A, B, C

______

Evaluation/Assessment:

You and your family have been told that you must leave your home and all your possessions. You may sell them, but all issues must be handled within 14 days. You are being relocated to an Internment Camp in another state located in the northern United States. Each family member will be permitted to take 1 bag filled with his or her favorite possessions and/or things he or she might need for an extended stay in the camp. The bag is the size of your school backpack. List the items that you would choose for your bag. Bring your packed bag with you to the next class.

______

Tips for Teacher:

______

Student Materials:

Written Document Analysis Worksheet

1. / TYPE OF DOCUMENT (Check one):
___ Newspaper
___ Letter
___ Patent
___ Memorandum
___ Map
___ Telegram
___ Press release
___ Report
___ Advertisement
___ Congressional record
___ Census report
___ Other
2. / UNIQUE PHYSICAL QUALITIES OF THE DOCUMENT (Check one or more):
___ Interesting letterhead
___ Handwritten
___ Typed
___ Seals
___ Notations
___ "RECEIVED" stamp
___ Other
3. / DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT:
______
4. / AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT:
______
POSITION (TITLE):
______
5. / FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN?
______
6. / DOCUMENT INFORMATION (There are many possible ways to answer A-E.)
A. List three things the author said that you think are important:
______
______
______
B. Why do you think this document was written?
______
______
C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document.
______
______
D. List two things the document tells you about life in the United States at the time it was written:
______
______
E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document:
______
______

Designed and developed by the
Education Staff, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408.

Roosevelt’s annotated Day of Infamy Speech:

Actual Speech:

Executive order 9066:

Executive Order 9066: Japanese Relocation Order (1942)

Between 1861 and 1940, approximately 275,000 Japanese immigrated to Hawaii and the mainland United States, the majority arriving between 1898 and 1924, when quotas were adopted that ended Asian immigration. Many worked in Hawaiian sugarcane fields as contract laborers. After their contracts expired, a small number remained and opened up shops. Other Japanese immigrants settled on the West Coast of mainland United States, cultivating marginal farmlands and fruit orchards, fishing, and operating small businesses. Their efforts yielded impressive results. Japanese Americans controlled less than 4 percent of California’s farmland in 1940, but they produced more than 10 percent of the total value of the state’s farm resources.

As was the case with other immigrant groups, Japanese Americans settled in ethnic neighborhoods and established their own schools, houses of worship, and economic and cultural institutions. Ethnic concentration was further increased by real estate agents who would not sell properties to Japanese Americans outside of existing Japanese enclaves and by a 1913 act passed by the California Assembly restricting land ownership to those eligible to be citizens. In 1922 the U.S. Supreme Court, in Ozawa v. United States, upheld the government’s right to deny U.S. citizenship to Japanese immigrants.

Envy over economic success combined with distrust over cultural separateness and long-standing anti-Asian racism turned into disaster when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Lobbyists from western states, many representing competing economic interests or nativist groups, pressured Congress and the President to remove persons of Japanese descent from the west coast, both foreign born (issei – meaning “first generation” of Japanese in the U.S.) and American citizens (nisei – the second generation of Japanese in America, U.S. citizens by birthright.) During Congressional committee hearings, Department of Justice representatives raised constitutional and ethical objections to the proposal, so the U.S. Army carried out the task instead. The West Coast was divided into military zones, and on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing exclusion. Congress then implemented the order on March 21, 1942, by passing Public Law 503.

After encouraging voluntary evacuation of the areas, the Western Defense Command began involuntary removal and detention of West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry. In the next 6 months, approximately 122,000 men, women, and children were moved to assembly centers. They were then evacuated to and confined in isolated, fenced, and guarded relocation centers, known as internment camps. The 10 relocation sites were in remote areas in six western states and Arkansas: Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Tule Lake and Manzanar in California, Topaz in Utah, Poston and Gila River in Arizona, Granada in Colorado, Minidoka in Idaho, and Jerome and Rowher in Arkansas.

Nearly 70,000 of the evacuees were American citizens. The government made no charges against them, nor could they appeal their incarceration. All lost personal liberties; most lost homes and property as well. Although several Japanese Americans challenged the government’s actions in court cases, the Supreme Court upheld their legality. Nisei were nevertheless encouraged to serve in the armed forces, and some were also drafted. Altogether, more than 30,000 Japanese Americans served with distinction during World War II in segregated units.

For many years after the war, various individuals and groups sought compensation for the internees. The speed of the evacuation forced many homeowners and businessmen to sell out quickly; total property loss is estimated at $1.3 billion, and net income loss at $2.7 billion (calculated in 1983 dollars based on the Commission investigation below). The Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act of 1948, with amendments in 1951 and 1965, provided token payments for some property losses. More serious efforts to make amends took place in the early 1980s, when the congressionally established Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians held investigations and made recommendations. As a result, several bills were introduced in Congress from 1984 until 1988, when Public Law 100-383, which acknowledged the injustice of the internment, apologized for it, and provided for restitution, was passed.

For more information and other documents regarding the War Relocation Authority and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, visit the National Archives’ Truman Presidential Museum and Library.

(Information excerpted from Documents from the National Archives: Internment of Japanese Americans [Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1989] pp. 9–10.)

For more information and education lesson plans visit the National Park Service site "The War Relocation Camps of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger Than Justice."

______

Lesson Plan Source:

World War II by Sean Price