ERIC Number: EJ1225458
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-0300
EISSN: N/A
"But They Didn't Do Nothin' Wrong!" Teaching about Japanese-American Incarceration
RodrÃguez, Noreen Naseem
Social Studies and the Young Learner, v30 n2 p17-23 Nov-Dec 2017
February 2017 marked the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 (EO 9066), issued on February 19, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While this domestic aspect of World War II is often taught in secondary history classes, it is rarely studied in elementary schools. However, children's literature told through the eyes of Japanese American youth is ideal for teaching about this topic, and about racial discrimination generally, to young learners. A year before this historical anniversary, in February 2016, I facilitated a workshop on teaching Asian American history in a large Texas public school district. For the remainder of the spring semester, I observed and interviewed two teachers (workshop attendees) as they taught lessons about Japanese American incarceration to their second and fifth grade students using a combination of children's literature and primary sources. In this article, I provide an overview of EO 9066 and explain my use of the term "incarceration" (instead of "internment") when discussing this historical event, then describe the teachers' lessons and reflections and suggest additional teaching resources.
Descriptors: Japanese Americans, Institutionalized Persons, Correctional Institutions, War, United States History, Grade 2, Grade 5, Elementary School Teachers, Teaching Methods, Controversial Issues (Course Content), Childrens Literature, Primary Sources, Racial Discrimination, Learning Activities, Social Studies, Immigration, Racial Differences, Racial Bias, Social Justice
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Grade 2; Primary Education; Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas (Houston)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A