A More Perfect Union: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/experience/

This exhibit explores this period when racial prejudice and fear upset the delicate balance between the rights of the citizen and the power of the state. It tells the story of Japanese Americans who suffered a great injustice at the hands of the government, and who have struggled ever since to insure the rights of all citizens guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Poston Restoration Project

http://www.postonproject.org/default.htm

“Poston Restoration Project is actively working to preserve the physical artifacts as well as the stories and memories of life in the Poston camps and on the Colorado River Indian Reservation during World War II. We want to emphasize the significant links and relationships between the Japanese American detainees and the Colorado River Indian Tribes.”

War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona, 1942-1946

http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/wracamps/

“This Web exhibit features images from approximately forty photographs taken for the War Relocation Authority and vividly depicts life in Arizona's two camps.”


Photo Collection: Japanese-Americans Internment Camps During World War II

http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm


From the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, and Private Collections. “The photographs in this exhibit represent a sampling of the available resources in the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, and other private collections, which were generously lent for this exhibit.”

Children of the Camps: PBS Documentary Website

http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/

“More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned behind barbed wire during World War II...over half were children.”

Japanese-American Internment Camps: Wikipedia Entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_Internment


University of Washington: The Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project

http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/

The Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project is a multifaceted project to create a permanent Web site which provides enhanced access to the UW Libraries holdings on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Included in the project is a virtual exhibit focusing on the Puyallup assembly center, Camp Harmony, and enhanced access to archival guides and inventories of UW Libraries Special Collections.


Japanese-American Internment Teacher Resources

http://www.teacheroz.com/Japanese_Internment.htm

An extensive list of resources including lesson plans.

Japanese American Internment Curriculum

http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/lessonplans.html

Extensive lesson plans
Developed by Rosalyn Tonai, Chizu Iiyama, and Bess Ricketts

Internment Camp Class Kit ($30 rental required)

http://www.njahs.org/Education/camp_kit.htm

Check your public or school library for these books.

Note about grade levels: While many of the books listed are for reading levels above 4th grade, they can be used to enrich the curriculum for advanced readers or are appropriate for read-aloud. Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, states that a child’s “listening level” is often higher than his or her reading comprehension level.

 

Davis, Daniel S. Behind Barbed Wire: The Imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. New York: Dutton, 1982. Grades 6-12.

The story of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II told in an objective, clear narrative.
Garrigue, Sheila. The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito. New York: Bradbury Press, 1994 (1985). Grades 6-9.
After the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong, Japanese-Canadians are persecuted and interned, but Sara manages to maintain her relationship with the Itos, a family gardener. (tandemlibrarybooks.com)

Hamanaka, Sheila. The Journey: Japanese Americans, Racism, and Renewal. New York: Orchard, 1990. Grades 6-12.

With brief text, this book is a series of paintings from a large mural that describes the Japanese American experience, including the internment during World War II.

Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki. Farewell to Manzanar. New York: Bantam Books, 1986 (1973). Grades 6-12.

A Japanese American woman looks back on life at an internment camp during World War II and tells of how the fear, confusion, and ultimate dignity of the people there shaped her life.

Kitano, Harry. The Japanese Americans. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Grades 8-12.

The story of Japanese Americans and their history, traditions, and contributions to American life and culture.

Levine, Ellen. A Fence Away from Freedom: Japanese Americans and World War II. New York: Putnam Publishing Group, 1995. Grades 7-12.

Many voices tell of their bitter experiences as Japanese Americans forced into internment.

Mochizuki, Ken. Baseball Saved Us. Illus. by Dom Lee. New York: Lee and Low, 1993. (Also published in Spanish.) Grades 2-4.

A Japanese American boy learns to play baseball when he and his family are forced to live in an internment camp during World War II, and his ability to play helps him after the war is over.

Savin, Marcia. The Moon Bridge. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1992. Grades 5-7.

Fifth-grade Ruthie befriends fourth-grade Mitzi in San Francisco just as America enters World War II. Anti-Japanese feeling runs high, and both girls must struggle against blind prejudice (Mitzi is Japanese-American). Though loving detail of both time and place firmly anchor this novel in history, it is basically the story of a friendship that grows through adversity. (amazon.com)

Stanley, Jerry. I am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment. Illus. New York: Crown Publishers, 1996. Grades 5-10.

Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Young Shi Nomura was among the 120,000 American citizens who lost
everything when he was sent by the U.S. government to Manzanar, an interment camp in the California desert, simply because he was of Japanese ancestry.

Takaki, Ronald. Issei and Nisei: The Settling of Japanese America. New York: Chelsea House, 1994. Grades 6-10.

This volume in a series covers the prejudice encountered by the Issei (first-generation immigrants to the U.S.), the conditions they found, the jobs they got, and the separate Japanese economy that developed. Concluding portions discuss the Nisei (second-generation born here) and their adjustment to American life. Covers up to the eve of World War II.

Uchida, Yoshiko. The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography. Illus. New York: Morrow, 1995. Grades 6-9.

Growing up in California, Yoshi knew her family looked different from their neighbors. Still, she felt like an American. But everything changed when America went to war against Japan. Along with all the other Japanese-Americans on the West Coast, Yoshi's family were rounded up and imprisoned in a crowded. badly built camp in the desert because they"looked like the enemy." Yoshiko Uchida grew up to be an award-winning author. This memoir of her childhood gives a personal account of a shameful episode in American history.

Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey Home. (Various eds. have different illustrators.) New York: Aladdin Books, 1992, 1978). Grades 3-7.

A Japanese American family return to their ordinary life after being relocated during World War II.

Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey to Topaz. Illus. by Donald Carrick. Revised ed. New York: Creative Arts Books, 1985 (1971). Grades 4-12.

After the Pearl Harbor attack an eleven-year-old Japanese-American girl and her family are forced to go to an aliens camp in Utah. Based on Yushiko Uchida's personal experiences, this is the moving story of one girl's struggle to remain brave during the Japanese internment of World War II.

Uchida, Yoshiko. The Bracelet. Illus. by Joanna Yardley. New York: Putnam/Philomel Books, 1993. Grades K-4.

Uchida's poignant story about a young Japanese-American girl preparing to go to an internment camp with her family for the duration of the war who loses a cherished token of friendship.

Media Resources

Children of the Camps PBS Video. http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/

This documentary captures the experiences of six Americans of Japanese ancestry who were confined as innocent children to internment camps by the U.S. government during World War II. The film vividly portrays their personal journey to heal the deep wounds they suffered from this experience.

Unfinished business : the Japanese-American internment cases / Mouchette Films presents ; produced, directed and photographed by Steven Okazaki ; written by Steven Okazaki ... [et al.]. Docurama : Distributed by New Video, [2005]

In the spring of 1942, more than 110,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry were uprooted from their lives and incarcerated in relocation camps. Their stories, along with those who refused to go, are told in this Oscar nominated film.

Poston film : World War II relocation camps.

Tempe, AZ : Arizona Historical Foundation, c2006.
Original 16mm film possibly produced in 1942; untitled; may have originally been filmed with sound. The construction of barracks for the Poston internment camp is shown, along with the arrival of Japanese Americans. Contact Ann Ewbank for information on access.

After silence
Oley, PA : Bullfrog Films, c2003.

 Frank Kitamoto of Bainbridge Island, Washington was among the first of 110,000 west coast Japanese Americans forced to leave their homes during World War II. As Frank relates his three years of internment, students from Bainbridge High School develop archival photographs of his internment experiences. Together, Frank and the students discuss the need to safeguard  civil rights.

(Bibliography adapted from Rosalyn Tonai, Chizu Iiyama, and Bess Ricketts

( http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/bib.html ) Annotations from Books in Print database unless otherwise noted.

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