Bookmark Collection

This is provides a solid collection of primary sources relating to the Japanese American internment, primarily government orders and documents. Some of these documents can be annotated together in class together analyze motives, propaganda, cause/effect, etc. These primary sources can also be used for document based question essay assignments, in which students would synthesize the information with other documents to write a thesis. Guiding questions may include: what are these orders saying? What is the government's justification? How does relate to civil rights? Relates to EDI by focuses in how inequity was written into government policy and acts.

While the other Japanese American primary source collection focuses most on government archives, the Densho project is centered around community history. I would choose to show some oral histories by former internees and activists from Densho's collection in class. For the oral histories, I would choose one of either an internment resister or a "No-No" boy. I would also choose another oral history of a Japanese American who volunteered for the military, preferably someone from the 442nd Regional Comabt team. An exit ticket would include a reflection on the two different perspectives. Connects to EDI by highlighting the inequity of Japanese American internment, as well as the diversity of perspectives within a single community.

This leads to a short video tour of the “Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in WWII” exhibit at the National World War II Museum. It does a good job of showing a few primary source excerpts, including letters. But most importantly, it highlights how Jim Crow laws and violent racial discrimination continued in World War II. I would ask students to draw connections from Black servicemen's experience with Japanese American internment and the Tuskegee Airmen to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The source also guiding questions, the most important asking what the Double V campaign was and what James Thompson’s quote means. Relates to EDI by questioning the idea of inclusion and equity during war time.

Included here is an extensive collection of texts, resources, and lesson plans that center around the Double V campaign. This resource additionally contains worksheets, guiding questions, links to other NYPL free materials, political cartoons, and videos. In addition to providing very good background on the Double V campaign, this collection takes care to highlight Black women's essential role in the movement. The resource also connects to Common Core standards, which are listed at the end. The lesson plans are well organized and designed to center WWII marginalized histories. Highlights diverse histories and the fight for equality and inclusion.

This article discusses Latino Americans significant contributions in the war and the continued experience of racial discrimination after the war. The source does an interesting job of examining the shifting definition of who is granted the label "American". This source also continues with the rest of the collection's themes, and highlights the pattern of minority groups using militarism to prove their patriotism in the hopes of expanding their civil rights. I would provide this reading in class to annotate together and break into discussion groups. Guiding questions: what did Latino American veterans experience after returning from the war? How does this relate to the Double V campaign and the experiences of the 442nd/the Loyalty Questionnaire. A final essay might be assigned to synthesize these different histories to make an argument.