School Board Member Research

Japanese American Internment

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible explores how discrimination caused hysteria during the Salem witch trials in September of 1692. The result of such discrimination was that hundreds of people were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned for months. An additional nineteen people were convicted and executed for the same accusation. Japanese Americans confronted similar discrimination and hysteria during World War II, when they were relocated to internment camps because Americans unjustly accused them of espionage.

Your task is do research with the links listed below in order to advise the principal on a course of action for responding to school violence hysteria. Your topic of research is the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. During your research:

• Document any important information that you encounter during your research.
• Analyze the reasons for hysteria against Japanese Americans and how leaders in the United States government responded to it.
• Answer the questions listed below to help you explain this hysteria to your group members.
• Prepare to meet with your fellow school board members in order to propose an appropriate course of actions for the principal.

Questions to consider:

Why were Japanese Americans discriminated during World War II?

What evidence do you see of hysteria based upon discrimination?

What was former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's response to hysteria against Japanese Americans? 

Was the response to hysteria against Japanese Americans appropriate?

Student Questions Handout (PDF)

Research Links:

Timeline of Japanese Internment

http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/timeline.html

Explore the first eight dates of this timeline as an introduction to your research. Pay close attention to the cause and effect relationship between the dates. Proceed to the next link after documenting information from the first eight dates.

Reasons for Japanese Internment

http://www.jainternment.org/ww2/pearl.html

Read this web page about Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s subsequent participation in World War II. Keep in mind how the attack affected the treatment and attitudes toward Japanese Americans. Proceed to the next link after documenting any important information.

A More Perfect Union

http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/removal_crisis.html

Read the passages and examine the images on this virtual gallery. Look for evidence of discrimination and hysteria against Japanese Americans. Proceed to the next link after documenting any important information.

Executive Order 9066

http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/eo9066.html

Read for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s executive order about the powers of the military in defending America. Remember to relate Executive Order 9066 to hysteria against Japanese Americans. Proceed to the next link after documenting any important information.

Letter of Apology

http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/clinton.html

Read this copy of former President Bill Clinton’s apology to Japanese Americans who were relocated to internment camps during World War II. Look for information within this apology about the appropriateness of Executive Order 9066 in responding to hysteria against Japanese Americans.