The Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s

Rachel Endo

Description

In the latest volume in the NCTE High School Literature Series, Rachel Endo offers new ways to talk and teach about the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II. 

Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s uses the selected works of three critically acclaimed Japanese American authors: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir Farewell to Manzanar, along with its film version; a sampling of Lawson Fusao Inada’s poetry; and a selection of Hisaye Yamamoto’s short stories. All three authors were children or young adults during World War II, and their texts powerfully speak to how being racially profiled, forcibly removed from their homes, and then detained in racially segregated concentration camps for nearly three years forever changed their lives. 

This volume features author biographies, guiding questions, resources for teachers, and student-centered activities that incorporate digital literacy. Assignments and discussion questions that appeal to multiple learning styles are included. With several student work samples as models, each chapter includes practical ideas for the classroom, including connecting common themes in Japanese American literature about World War II to contemporary social issues such as civil rights, identity, immigration reform, and race relations.

Sujets

• Historical Events
• Literary Criticism
• Themes
• Subjects
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Hisaye Yamamoto
• Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
• Farewell to Manzanar
• World War II
• United States
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• Date de parution: 05 juillet 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780814100530
• Langue: English

Extrait

The NCTE High School Literature Series
The NCTE High School Literature Series offers classroom teachers in-depth studies of individual writers. Grounded in theory, each volume focuses on a single author, work, or historical moment and features excerpts from writers’ works, biographical information, and examples of student writing. The books provide rich opportunities for classroom discussion and writing assignments that teachers can adapt to their own literature curriculum.
Volumes in the Series
The Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s: Literature for the High School Classroom (2018), Rachel Endo
To Kill a Mockingbird in the Classroom: Walking in Someone Else's Shoes (2009), Louel C. Gibbons
Zora Neale Hurston in the Classroom: “With a harp and a sword in my hands” (2009), Renée H. Shea and Deborah L. Wilchek
Sherman Alexie in the Classroom: “This is not a silent movie. Our voices will save our lives.” (2008), Heather E. Bruce, Anna E. Baldwin, and Christabel Umphrey
Tim O'Brien in the Classroom: “This too is true: Stories can save us” (2007), Barry Gilmore and Alexander Kaplan
The Great Gatsby in the Classroom: Searching for the American Dream (2006), David Dowling
Judith Ortiz Cofer in the Classroom: A Woman in Front of the Sun (2006), Carol Jago
Langston Hughes in the Classroom: “Do Nothin’ till You Hear from Me” (2006), Carmaletta M. Williams
Amy Tan in the Classroom: “The art of invisible strength” (2005), Renée H. Shea and Deborah L. Wilchek
Raymond Carver in the Classroom: “A Small, Good Thing” (2005), Susanne Rubenstein
Sandra Cisneros in the Classroom: “Do not forget to reach” (2002), Carol Jago
Alice Walker in the Classroom: “Living by the Word” (2000), Carol Jago
Nikki Giovanni in the Classroom: “The same ol danger but a brand new pleasure” (1999), Carol Jago

Editorial Board: Steven Bickmore, Catherine Compton-Lilly, Deborah Dean, Bruce McComiskey, Jennifer Ochoa, Duane Roen, Anne Elrod Whitney, Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, Kurt Austin, Chair, ex officio, Emily Kirkpatrick, ex officio
Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf
Cover Design: Lynn Weckhorst
Cover Image: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,
FSA/OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa-8a31193
NCTE Stock Number: 22983; eStock Number: 23003
ISBN 978-0-8141-2298-3; eISBN 978-0-8141-2300-3
ISSN 1525-5786
©2018 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
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Every effort has been made to provide current URLs and email addresses, but because of the rapidly changing nature of the Web, some sites and addresses may no longer be accessible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Endo, Rachel, author.
Title: The incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s : literature for the high school classroom / Rachel Endo, University of Washington Tacoma.
Description: Urbana, Illinois : National Council of Teachers of English, [2018] | Series: The NCTE high school literature series | Includes bibliographical references. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017054987 (print) | LCCN 2018012073 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814123003 () | ISBN 9780814122983 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Japanese Americans—Evacuation and relocation, 1942–1945—Study and teaching (Secondary) | Japanese American literature—Study and teaching (Secondary) | Japanese Americans in literature. | World War, 1939–1945—United States—Literature and the war.
Classification: LCC D769.8.A6 (ebook) | LCC D769.8.A6 E65 2018 (print) | DDC 940.53/1773089956—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054987
In loving memory of Ojiisan (Endo Takashi) and Peter T. Suzuki
Permission Acknowledgments
Pseudonyms have been used in place of students’ real names. Identifying information has been removed from student work samples.
Inada, Lawson Fusao. “The Real Inada,” “Healing Gila,” and “Children of Camp” from Drawing the Line . Copyright © 1997 by Lawson Fusao Inada. “Legends from Camp” and “At the Stronghold” from Legends from Camp . Copyright © 1993 by Lawson Fusao Inada. All reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.coffeehousepress.org .
Iwatsuki, Shizue “Untitled” and Yamauchi, Wakako “Fifty Years” (p. 388) from All That We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience . Copyright © 2000 by Lawson Fusao Inada (Editor). All reprinted with the permission of Heyday Books, Berkeley, California.
Yamamoto, Hisaye. “The Legend of Miss Sasagawara” and “Death Rides the Rails to Poston.” Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories . Copyright © 2001 by Hisaye Yamamoto. Reprinted by permission of Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Why Japanese American Literature?
2. Essential Background Information and Context
3. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's Farewell to Manzanar
4. Teaching Farewell to Manzanar on Screen
5. Lawson Fusao Inada's Poetry
6. Hisaye Yamamoto's Short Stories
7. Connecting Japanese American Literature to Current Events
Annotated Bibliography
Works Cited
Author
Acknowledgments
I am honored to have this book published by the National Council of Teachers of English. I thank Bonny Graham and the NCTE Editorial Board, as well as the anonymous reviewers, for all of their helpful feedback on the manuscript. I am especially grateful to the hundreds of aspiring and current teachers, teacher educators, and young people who helped me test out the various activities and ideas mentioned in this book. Everyone's critical and thoughtful feedback helped me create a guidebook that I believe will be of great use to teachers of English.
I have many people to thank for their ongoing support of my scholarly endeavors. From the University of Nebraska at Omaha: Shereen Bingham, John Christenson, Joong-Gun Chung, Julia Garrett, the late John Langan, Sue Maher, Gary Marshall, Jody Neathery-Castro, Saundra Shillingstad, and Phil Smith, among many others, are the core people who helped me launch several lifelong dreams. From the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, I thank my friends and mentors for helping me develop my identity as an ethnic studies scholar: Diem-My Bui, Mary Ellerbe, Violet J. Harris, Sharon S. Lee, Shelley S. Lee, Kent Ono, and Yoon Pak. From Hamline University: Colleen Bell, Veena Deo, Frank Hernandez, the late Subira Kifano, Fayneese Miller, John Pyle, Mike Reynolds, Naomi Taylor (Julia and Willie), and Sheila Wright all helped me more critically articulate what it means to be an ethnic studies scholar in education. Special thanks to Bill Lindquist for stepping in during my sabbatical to allow me to finish the bulk of this project.
Vichet Chhuon helped me locate several rare sources for this project. Special thanks to Bette-B Bauer, Karla Bergen, Sr. Judy Eby, Kevin Kumashiro, J. B. Mayo, Sue Schlichtemeier-Nutzman, Stanley I. Thangaraj, and Annette Wannamaker for their kindness and support of me over the years. Finally, I thank my parents, Endo Tsutomu and Endo G., as well as the rest of my extended and immediate families, for tolerating my crazy ideas and wild dreams.
1 Why Japanese American Literature?
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, some American journalists and political leaders commented that “another Pearl Harbor” had occurred. In the name of national security, the US government began increasing its surveillance efforts at all levels from local mosques to international airports. Then-President George W. Bush and other political leaders de-fended their action as a necessary means to prevent future acts of terrorism. In response to this grand plan, national organizations such as the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), founded in 1929 and the oldest Asian American civil rights organization in the United States, began to release public statements that strongly condemned what they saw as racist counterterrorism political projects. The JACL joined an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that challenged the premise of the USA Patriot Act (the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of Congress, signed into law October 2001) by stating that its scope of surveillance activities violated all Americans’ civil liberties and constitutional rights. The JACL also began to compare the events leading to the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s and the racialization of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and South Asian Americans as extremists and terrorists in the post-2001 era. While receiving initial backlash for promoting what was seen by some political leaders as unpatriotic vi