Pearl Harbor and the Internment of Japanese

By David Kwan

Last updated over 6 years ago

24 Questions

Note from the author:

This Formative is by: Ashly Winkle

This is an engaging lesson that allows students to demonstrate reading abilities, explore and analyze primary documents, and learn about the Japanese Internment.

Read the article about Pearl Harbor. Answer questions that follow.

Review timeline and answer questions that follow.

What year was Japanese immigration ended?

What year did Japan bomb the U.S.?

What year did Roosevelt authorize military authorities to exclude civilians from any area without a trial or hearing?

What year was an apology and reparations finally made to the Japanese Americans?

If you have headphones or earbuds, go ahead and watch this clip on your own. Otherwise, wait til we watch it as a class. Answer questions 14-16 as you watch the newsreal from 1943.

What reasons did the newsreel give for the internment? Can you identify evidence that supported their reasons?

Why do YOU think the Japanese Americans were interned during World War II?

Who do you think the audience was for this newsreel? In other words, who did the government want to see this newsreel?

Read Document B: The Munson Report, and answer the question(s) that follow.

Based on the Document B reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Read Document C: The Crisis and answer the question(s) that follow.

Based on the Document C reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Read Document D: The Korematus Supreme Court Ruling. Answer question(s) that follow.

Based on the Document D reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Read Document E: Personal Justice Denied and answer question(s) that follow.

Pearl Harbor and the Internment of Japanese

What year was Japanese immigration ended?

What year did Japan bomb the U.S.?

What year did Roosevelt authorize military authorities to exclude civilians from any area without a trial or hearing?

What year was an apology and reparations finally made to the Japanese Americans?

What reasons did the newsreel give for the internment? Can you identify evidence that supported their reasons?

Why do YOU think the Japanese Americans were interned during World War II?

Who do you think the audience was for this newsreel? In other words, who did the government want to see this newsreel?

Based on the Document B reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Based on the Document C reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Based on the Document D reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Based on Document E reading, what reasons are suggested for the Japanese internment? What evidence supports their reasons?

Now that you have reviewed all of the documents and their evidence, why do you think the United States decided to intern the Japanese?

If you were alive and an American citizen when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, what would your reaction be?

Would you want the USA to declare war on Japan?

Would you feel any different about Japanese Americans?