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.)

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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″

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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

Rhae Lynn Barnes

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).

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