ERIC Number: EJ1315179
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Sep
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7724
EISSN: N/A
Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange at Manzanar: Photojournalistic Activism and the Japanese American Incarceration
Social Education, v85 n4 p211-215 Sep 2021
Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange's photojournalist activism during World War II was a direct response to President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 (EO 9066), which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in 10 camps across seven mostly western states. Approximately two-thirds of those imprisoned were U.S. citizens. Japanese and Japanese Americans living in many other parts of the country were not imprisoned; and only one percent of those living in Hawai'i were incarcerated, despite the islands' location in the actual Pacific theater of war. This article describes an inquiry-based lesson exploring Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams's World War II photographs of incarcerated Japanese Americans can launch important classroom discussions on nativism, scapegoating, and the history of anti-Asian racism in the United States. Jay M. Shuttleworth and Timothy Patterson chose to highlight their work for two reasons. First, we used their work as an example of what it looks like when photojournalists do not remain neutral and risk their reputation to highlight injustice and promote social change. Lange and Adams's work serves as a reminder that responses to injustice are the responsibility of all. Second, they are an important, if not overlooked teaching resource, as the vast majority of their images are in the public domain, freely available via the National Archives or Library of Congress online catalogs. Together with the film negatives and text, the photos comprise an unparalleled collection offering unique opportunities for the social studies classroom. In concluding this article, they offer some implications for expanding this lesson to also include the voices of Japanese Americans.
Descriptors: Photojournalism, Activism, War, Institutionalized Persons, Japanese Americans, Correctional Institutions, Geographic Regions, Racial Bias, United States History, Asian Americans, Social Problems, Social Change, Teaching Methods
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; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A