“…experiences of racial, social and economic injustice are shared by many races and ethnicities, and in understanding these common experiences, we become more human, more humane, and more caring.”
Enduring Communities is a five-state collaborative project designed to educate K-12 students about the Japanese American experience during World War II. During the war, about 65,000 Japanese Americans—close to one half of the mainland Japanese American population—lived in concentration camps created by the U.S. government as well as in “resettlement” communities in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.
Today, 60 years later, in these five states, educational materials seldom refer to the Japanese American camps or military experience.
This undertaking is a partnership between the Japanese American National Museum with Arizona State University’s Asian Pacific American Studies Program; University of Colorado, Boulder; University of New Mexico; UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures; and Davis School District, Utah.
The Japanese American experience during WWII in Arizona is of particular interest because the “dividing line” split the Japanese American community into those who were removed to Poston and those who were not interned.
The Arizona camps, Poston and Gila River, additionally were the only internment camps located on American Indian reservations. The inter-ethnic relations between Japanese Americans and Native Americans during World War II offers a unique point-of-view into diversity in democracy.
The Arizona aspect of the Enduring Communities project was anchored by the Asian Pacific American Studies (APAS) program at Arizona State University.
This site is organized into two major sections: oral histories and resources for instructors/researchers. The oral histories from WWII internees are organized by topic. However, once an oral history clip from a particular interviewee is opened, other video and audio clips are listed at the bottom of the interviewees’ page.
The educational resources section contains lesson plans and video documentaries. The lesson plans are organized in three topics: A Friend to All, Sports Shape Society, and Investigating the Japanese American Internment Experience.
Some of the files in the Educational Resources are in PDF format. Acrobat Reader may be downloaded for free from: http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/
The goal of the project is to create curriculum that addresses the role of
diversity in a democracy and engages students in learning more about inter-ethnic relations through the specific experience of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Curriculum materials will include lesson plans, video documentaries and oral history interviews. The curriculum was pilot tested in Spring 2008 by Arizona K-12 teachers.
The curriculum materials are organized so that educators may download and/or print the complete unit as a single file, or may access items separately.
Each UNIT link contains a presentation cover; a unit map; the complete unit (with cover, unit map, all lessons, worksheets and keys) in a single PDF file that may be printed all at once; and separate folders for each lesson. Please note: keys are password protected. Educators may contact APAS to receive access to key via a password.
Each LESSON link varies by unit. However, this LESSON may contain a lesson guide; a “Student Items” link with handouts and worksheets; and/or a “Teacher Items” link with keys and overheads.
Please be sure to look in each link contained in the LESSON page if you cannot find certain items.
The materials on the website are for educational uses only. Please do not reproduce any videos posted on the Enduring Communities website. Materials were produced through a grant from the Japanese American National Museum. Copyright JANM 2009