The Other Side of the Story:

Japanese Internment Camps

Title: Liberty and Justice for All?
Grade Level: (4th-6th) 5th grade
Objective: Examine events and determine the factors which led
to the Japanese American internment during World War II.
 Become aware of what took place during the Japanese
American internment experience 
 Discuss the impact of the internment experience on
Japanese American families and individuals. 
 Develop a sense of empathy by simulating the situations
which Japanese American children faced.
Materials:
 Paper
 Pencils
 A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai and Felicia
Hoshino
 Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
 Long Butcher paper
 Colored Pencils / Markers

Steps of Lesson: This lesson is divided into four parts. Prior to

each section, give no explanation of why or what students are
doing. The lesson will be most effective if no background
information is given.

Part I: Writing Exercise

Students will write a list of things we often take for granted -

things which the Japanese Americans were deprived of during
internment. Give students a few minutes to answer each
question.

1. Write a list of all your possessions (including things like

toothbrushes, underwear, etc.)

2. Write a list, by name, of all the people you enjoy spending time
with, or people you see regularly (family members and other
relatives, friends, classmates, etc.)

3. Describe your daily routine - things you do regularly on a

weekly or daily basis. (What, where, when, with whom do you do
these things?)

4. Describe your bedroom. How big is it? Do you share it with

anyone? What is in it?

5. How far is it (minutes/seconds, feet/yards or number of steps)

from your bedroom to a) the bathroom; b) the kitchen; c) the
dining room or place you eat?

6. How long does it take you to get something to eat in your

house? Name some of your favorite foods.

7. What do you hear/see/smell outside the front door of your

house?

8. Describe your pets, if you have any. Write something funny or

interesting about your pet.

Part II: Discussion

Ask students to respond to situations similar to what Japanese

Americans faced.
1. Imagine you were going away - you don't know where, how
long, or under what conditions. Out of the list you have made (in
Question 1 of Part 1) take anything you want and need, as long as
you can carry them.
 What would you take? 
 How would you feel? 
 Was it difficult/easy to decide what to take? 
 How would you feel about the things you had to leave
behind? 
2. Imagine that you will not be able to see any of those special
people again (Question 2)? 
 What would you do? 
 How would you feel? 
 Who will you miss the most and why? 
3. You cannot take your pet with you where you are going. 
 What do you do with it? 
 How do you feel? 
4. In your new "home," you smell horses and manure. You notice
a barbed wire fence surrounds the buildings you and other people
like you live in. And you see that you cannot get out. 
 What do you do or say? 
 How do you feel? 
5. Your new "home" is one room, where all of your family must
live. There are only some cots to sleep on, nothing else. 
 How do you feel? 
 How does your room feel/smell? 
 How do you feel about living in this room? 
6. In your new "home," you cannot do any of the things you do
regularly. 
 What things would you miss the most? 
7. Imagine getting up in the morning. You have to go to the
bathroom, but you have to walk about a half a block to get there. 
 Describe the bathroom (100 people in your block of houses
must use the same bathroom as you) 
 How do you feel? Is it cold? 
8. It's breakfast time, served exactly at 7 a.m. If you miss
breakfast, you must wait until noon for any food. (You have no
refrigerator, nor is there a store nearby.) You must walk outside of
your "house" again to the Mess Hall to eat. You have to wait in
line, along with about half of the hundred people who live in your
block of buildings. You have to eat what is served in the Mess
Hall. This morning, it is the usual powdered eggs and powdered
milk, or oatmeal mush. 
 What do you choose? 
 How does it taste? 
Part III: Simulation

Students will imagine returning to the original neighborhood from

which they were forced to move. They experience hostility or
sympathy and friendship.

Situation: Three years after their internment, Japanese

Americans were allowed to return to the West Coast, where they
often faced signs that told them to "go back where they came
from" or graffiti telling them they were not welcome. Someone
else often occupied their former house and was reluctant to
leave. But many times, kind and generous people offered their
homes or helped them to find one and to find jobs. 
Procedure: Two volunteers will enact the following drama. The
first student is occupying the second student's desk, while the
second student had gone to another room on the teacher's
orders. He/she has returned.

Student #1: I have come back. This is my seat. Please give it back
to me. 
 Student #2: No, this is my seat now. If you liked it so much,
why did you leave? 
 Student #1: I had to. The teacher told me to. 
 Student #2: What for? 
 Student #1: I don't know. 
 Student #2: Didn't you ask? 
 Student #1: No. I just did what she told me to do. So please
give it back to me. 
 Student #2: Well, I'll have to think about it. 
Ask the students the following questions:

1. Do you think Student #1 should have his/her seat back? Why?

2. Do you think Student #2 will give up his/her seat? Why?
3. Do you think there is a way to work this out?
4. What would you do if you were Student #1?
5. What would you do if you were Student #2?

Part IV: Reading and Discussion

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai and
Felicia Hoshino
Under the harsh summer sun, Mari’s art class has begun. But it’s
hard to think of anything to draw in a place where nothing
beautiful grows — especially a place like Topaz, the internment
camp where Mari’s family and thousands of other Japanese
Americans have been sent to live during World War II. Somehow,
glimmers of hope begin to surface — in the eyes of a kindly art
teacher, in the tender words of Mari’s parents, and in the smile of
a new friend. Amy Lee-Tai’s sensitive prose and Felicia Hoshino’s
stunning mixed-media images show that hope can survive
alongside even the harshest injustice.

Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Shorty and his family,
along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, have been
forced to relocate from their home to Camp. One day Shorty's dad
looks out across the desert and decides they should build a
baseball field. Fighting the heat, dust, and freezing cold nights,
the prisoners need something to look forward to, even if only for
nine innings. So in this unlikely place, surrounded by barbed-wire
fences and guards in towers, a baseball league is born. And
Shorty soon finds that he is playing not only to win, but to gain
dignity and self-respect.

Post-Reading Discussion
Students will now likely identify with the fact that Japanese
Americans were stripped of their homes, possessions, friends and
sometimes, families. They didn't know they where they were
going, or how long they would stay. They had to adopt to a new
routine and a new, restricted way of life. When they returned
"home," three years later, they were often met with acts of
discrimination and violence. But some people who understood
what they had gone through, treated them with kindness and
sympathy.

Evaluation of the Lesson: Mapping Mural

Have students discuss the effects of internment on Japanese
Americans by mapping (or listing) the following on the board:
community effects, effects on family, on mental health, physical
health, economic/financial status, emotional effects. Then have
students make an informative mural representing these effect to
spread awareness and their knowledge about Japanese
Internment Camps during World War II.

Works Cited

 http://online.sfsu.edu/jaintern/lessonplanaskasia.html

 https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/student-
tasks/do-something/community-mural-poster-campaign

 https://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_civil_rights_japanese_am
erican.htm

 https://www.leeandlow.com/books/baseball-saved-
us/teachers_guide

 https://www.leeandlow.com/books/a-place-where-sunflowers-
grow/teachers_guide
 https://amhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/resources/activity1.html

 https://china.usc.edu/sites/default/files/HistoryLessonPlan.pdf