Week 10: Spring Break 

Week 11: March 21, 2017. The West at War: Homefront and the Pacific

March 23, 2017. Life in the Camps: Japanese America Incarcerated

whitehouseletter

Primary Sources 

Evacuation-Notice-for-Japanese-Internment

evacuation-notice-back-side

Evacuation instructions for Japanese Americans “relocated” or imprisoned in Tanforan.

Map of Japanese American Relocation and Evacuation Centers
Map of Japanese American Relocation and Evacuation Centers

General_douglas_macarthur_meets_american_indian_troops_wwii_military_pacific_navajo_pima_island_hopping

Eleanor Roosevelt at Gila River War Relocation Center, Arizona

World War II in the West & Pacific Gallery

Three children playing behind houses in Boyle Heights
Three children playing behind houses in Boyle Heights
Chavez Ravine residents confer with Councilman Roybal after eviction.
Chavez Ravine residents confer with Councilman Roybal after eviction.
Street scene of the Mexican American community Chavez Ravine, located near present day Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium.
Street scene of the Mexican American community Chavez Ravine, located near present day Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium.
Photo taken of Beatrice & George Valdez who was a medic in the army standing next to a building at Camp Beale in 1945; Camp Beale was activated on October 15, 1942; in 1945 Camp Beale was used to house German prisoners during World War II; Camp Beale is now called Beale Air Force Base (Calif.)
Photo taken of Beatrice & George Valdez who was a medic in the army standing next to a building at Camp Beale in 1945; Camp Beale was activated on October 15, 1942; in 1945 Camp Beale was used to house German prisoners during World War II; Camp Beale is now called Beale Air Force Base (Calif.)

7ce3ebdd5290d75600c302162786dd3b 29fc709d573748fc798b8d1f0f0b166b 323349b74b205f95e282bc5836303a28 b68bf033678f18a5e33be5de7ee905d3

Mexican workers await legal employment in the United States, Mexicali (Mexico)
Mexican workers await legal employment in the United States, Mexicali (Mexico)
Lapel buttons for Chinese Americans
Lapel buttons for Chinese Americans
High school boys look over Buchanan Street scene, prior to evacuation of residents of Japanese ancestry. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.--Photographer: Lange, Dorothea--San Francisco, California. 4/4/42
High school boys look over Buchanan Street scene, prior to evacuation of residents of Japanese ancestry. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration.–Photographer: Lange, Dorothea–San Francisco, California. 4/4/42
Signed in medium, bottom right corner: H. Sugimoto. Written on back, top left corner: "Goodbye My Son"; top left: 32 1/2" x 26"
Signed in medium, bottom right corner: H. Sugimoto. Written on back, top left corner: “Goodbye My Son”; top left: 32 1/2″ x 26″

d9c72d1892b225eac86eb2c44dff5a17 4_2_2_c 4_3_1_c-jpg 4_3_3_c-jpg 4_4_1_c-jpg 4_4_main_c-jpg 4_8_1_c-jpg 4_8_2_c-jpg 4_8_main_c-jpg 4_10_main_c-jpg 4_11_main_c-jpg 8eb1132834f53c3b34343e3eb1b119b9 370c6b45260f5d4a2ef5b95569d8ee6b 2000-35-3 2000-35-5 2004-1-18_edit 2006-20-1d_edit_0 a66-95-505_edit_0 a67-137-42015-1_edit_2 a67-137-42073-8 a67-137-42094-4 a67-137-94822_edit_0 d9c72d1892b225eac86eb2c44dff5a17 d920caf0eb47aaa4ef7cd02160ed49b1

Alice McGrath and Sleepy Lagoon defendants in Chino. 1944.
Alice McGrath and Sleepy Lagoon defendants in Chino. 1944.
Zoot suiter: drawing Delgado, Manuel, 1924-1999, Artist Date: 1943 or 1944
Zoot suiter: drawing
Delgado, Manuel, 1924-1999, Artist
Date: 1943 or 1944
Manuel and Peggy Delgado
Manuel and Peggy Delgado

 

 

Weekly Assignment 

The protagonist in Nisei Daughter continually grapples with her national identity versus her racial identity. Identify three of these moments in the text. What literary techniques does Sone use in her autobiography to convey this conflict to the reader? How does she situate this struggle in larger historical contexts?

 

Multimedia [Note some of these oral histories use the same opening frame sequence in their playlist, but when you click on them individually they are different].

Impact of the Alien Land Laws in California – Eiichi Edward Sakauye Oral History

Cherry Kinoshita – Oral History

Oral History – Fumiko Hayashida

Oral History – Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda

Oral History – Kara Kondo

President Roosevelt Declares War

Rosie the Riveter Homefront Oral History Project

BBC History of WWII Hiroshima


BBC History of World War II Hiroshima [Higher quality available on Netflix] 

Want to learn more? Check out the following: 

  • Eduardo Obregon Pagan, Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A. (2003)
  • Brian Hayashi, Democratizing the Enemy: The Japanese American Internment (2008)
  • May Sky: There is Always Tomorrow: An Anthology of Japanese American Concentration Camp Kaiko Haiku (Sun & Moon Classics)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rhae Lynn Barnes is an Assistant Professor of American Cultural History at Princeton University (2018-) and President of the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography. She is the co-founder and C.E.O. of U.S. History Scene and an Executive Advisor to the documentary series "Reconstruction: America After the Civil War" (now streaming PBS, 2019).

Leave a Reply