Notes Packet ASE SS 02:
Modern U.S. History
Steve Schmidt
schmidtsj@appstate.edu
abspd@appstate.edu
Today’s Inspiring Quote
“One person can make a difference and every person should try.”
- President John F. Kennedy
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You Can Write on the Packet!
You can find everything from this workshop at: abspd.appstate.edu Look under: Teaching Resources,
Adult Secondary Resources, Social Studies, ASE SS 02: Modern U.S. History.
Workshop Schedule
8:30 - 10:00
Welcome and Introductions
Sharecropping, Jim Crow, Segregation and Voting Rights
10:00 – 10:15
Break
10:15 – 11:45
Suffering for Suffrage
11:45 – 12:45
Lunch
12:45 – 2:00
Japanese Internment
2:00 – 2:15
Break
2:15 – 4:00
History as Story
History is Visual
This course is funded by:
Workshop Goals

Understand how to create units of study using U.S. History content from 1877 to the
present

Learn ways to teach students to integrate information from multiple sources

Use multi-media resources and stories to make history come alive

Understand and apply the College and Career Readiness standards for historical literacy
and the North Carolina Essential Standards
Lesson 1: Sharecropping, Jim Crow, and Voting Rights
This lesson focuses on life in the South from 1865 until the 1960s. It describes what life was like for
many African Americans and poor Whites during this period (the majority of the population). It may take
several class periods to complete.
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Materials Needed:
- Sharecropper Simulation worksheet
- Bags with 50 beans
- 2 cups (or bags) – 1 labeled “Landlord” and the
other “Furnishing Merchant”
- 6 IOU slips
- YouTube Video: Oral Histories from
Segregated Greenwood Mississippi
- 1965 Alabama Literacy Test
- Registering to Vote in Jim Crow Alabama
article
- Extended Response Prompt materials
Directions:
1. Explain the background to this unit. At the close of the Civil War, plantations were given back to their
owners. (Many plantations had been confiscated by Union troops during the war.) Plantation owners
had land but with their slaves freed, no labor force. After four years of war, the plantation owners had
little money to pay for labor. Freed slaves and many Whites had labor but no land and little money.
This provided the setting for the sharecropper system where laborers were provided with housing and
the materials to plant crops with the understanding that the profits from the harvest would be divided
between the landowner and the tenant famer (the sharecropper).
2. Do the Sharecropper Simulation with students. At the close of the simulation, have students
complete the Talk, then Write activity. (Students should see that for many sharecroppers, they were
caught in a cycle of debt always hoping that the next year’s crop would provide enough money to pay
all their debts. For many, it was almost as if they were slaves again.)
3. Talk about the Election of 1876. Rutherford Hayes (Republican) and Samuel Tilden (Democrat) had a
very close election. There were disputed electoral votes in three states. A deal was made to decide
the election where the disputed votes were given to Hayes in exchange for a pledge that once he
became President that he would remove Union troops from the South. (Union troops had been
stationed in the South since the end of the Civil War ensuring the rights of former slaves.) After
Union troops left and over the next 25 years, the Jim Crow South began where Blacks lost their civil
rights and a segregated society was formed by law.
4. Play the video Oral Histories from Segregated Greenwood Mississippi and have students list and
discuss five ways segregation would have affected their lives if they had lived during this time period.
5. Give students the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test but do not tell them what it is at first. Tell them it is
an important test and that they will need to make a passing score (by the instructor’s judgment) in
order to remain in class. After students have taken the test, go over the answers with them. Ask
students if they consider it fair that they had to pass the test in order to remain in class. Explain to
students that this was a Literacy Test given to discourage Blacks from voting (and that they can
remain in class!). Tell students that this test was changed four times between 1964 and 1965 to
confuse potential voters as voting rights advocates came from the North and set up Citizenship
Schools to help people pass the literacy tests.
6. Have students read and discuss the Registering to Vote in Jim Crow Alabama article. Ask them if
they were a Black voter if they would have gone through all they read about in order to vote. Discuss
the various methods used to stop people from voting including the literacy test and poll tax.
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Sharecropping Simulation
Directions:
Hand out the following to students:
• Cups (or plastic bags) labeled “Landlord” and “Furnishing Merchant”
• 50 beans in a plastic bag
• 6 printed IOU slips.
Make sure everyone has a pen/pencil. Have students open their bags and place the two cups on their
desk. Tell the students that they are going to play a simulation game to help understand a
sharecropper’s life. The beans are currency that they will earn or lose according to the situations that
happen in the game.
Explain to students that sharecropping began at the end of the Civil War as plantation owners had land
but little money and no labor after their slaves were freed. Freed slaves and poor whites had labor but
no land and little money. Sharecropping developed as way to help both groups survive.
The dialogue (spoken by teacher):
“Congratulations! You have just signed a contract to be a sharecropper on my land. I will provide you
with living quarters for you and your family and land on which to work. You will pay me 50% of the
money from your crop, plus a small supervisory fee. I will provide you with a mule, but you are
responsible for his upkeep. I am your landlord and what I say goes. There will be no negotiations or
arguments. You should consider yourself lucky to have this opportunity to make a living.
1. You came here with 10 beans in cash. Students take 10 beans from the bag and place them on their
desks.
2. You will need to have some supplies to farm the land. You can purchase them from the furnishing
merchant at the store on my plantation. You will need:
seed – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
plow – 2 beans goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
cart – 2 beans goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
fertilizer – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
3. The planting of cotton is going along fine, but your family needs food to eat. Go to the furnishing
merchant and buy yourself some:
flour – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
meat – 2 beans goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
vegetables – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
sugar – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
lard – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
milk – 1 bean goes into the furnishing merchant’s cup
If you have run out of beans you can make the purchase on credit. Simply write the number of beans
you owe (3 beans) on a small slip of paper and put it in the furnishing merchant’s cup. Don’t worry! You
can pay him back after the crop comes in!
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4. A tree fell on the fence, allowing your mule to roam free. You must purchase supplies from the
furnishing merchant to repair the fence. Three rails cost 5 beans. Fill out a credit slip (5 beans) and
place it in the furnishing merchant’s cup.
5. Your mule is successfully contained but is now in need of food. You need to buy 5 bales of hay at the
furnishing merchant which cost 5 beans. Fill out a credit slip (5 beans) and place it in the furnishing
merchant’s cup.
6. It has been a rough winter and you wife needs medication and your 3 children need clothes and
shoes. I happen to have some shoes and clothes to supply you (for a small fee), but you need to
purchase the medication at the furnishing merchant.
Clothes and shoes – 4 beans
Fill out a credit slip (4 beans) and place it in the landlord’s cup.
Medication – 1 bean
Fill out a credit slip (1 bean) and place it in the furnishing merchant’s cup.
7. Congratulations! After a year of hard work the crop has finally come in and I am selling it!
Unfortunately, the price of cotton has gone down significantly and only got 40 beans at the market.
Have students count out 40 beans and place them on their desks.
8. Today is ‘settlement day’ where you settle your debts to the landlord and the furnishing merchant.
Whatever is left is yours to keep!
a. According to our contract, ½ of the crop money (20 beans) comes to me, the landlord, so put 20
beans in the landlord’s cup.
b. As you remember, I also required 3 beans for a ‘supervisory’ fee, so put 3 more beans in the
landlord’s cup.
c. You have some credit slips in the furnishing merchant’s cup, so count up what you owe (14 beans)
and place those beans in the furnishing merchant’s cup.
d. Oh, and there’s a credit slip in the landlord’s cup, too—4 beans for clothes and shoes—so place 4
beans into the landlord’s cup.
9. Oh, wait…you only had 3 beans left. Well, here’s what we’ll do. Put 3 beans into the landlord’s cup
along with a credit slip of 1 bean. You can work another year and pay off your debt when next year’s
crop comes in!”
Adapted from Upcountry History Museum Sharecrop-Opoly simulation
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Talk, then write
What would your life be like as a sharecropper? Explain
Who had the power in the sharecropping arrangement? Why?
Do you think you will ever earn enough money to buy land and a house of your own? Why or why not?
How is sharecropping the same/different from slavery? Why?
YouTube Video: Oral Histories from Segregated Greenwood, MS in the 1960s
As you watch the video, list at least five ways segregation would have affected your life during this time
period:
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Text Marking
Text marking is a way for students to actively engage reading. Research shows that underlining does
little good. Text marking helps students think about what they are reading while they are reading. If
students cannot write on a text, use a clear overlay or a sticky note. Here are some symbols to use:
? – Not sure what this means
! – This is new to me
 - I knew this before
Registering to Vote in Jim Crow Alabama
In the rural counties where most folk lived, you had to go down to the
courthouse to register. The voting registration office was only open every
other Monday for a couple of hours, usually in the morning or afternoon. You
had to take off work — with or without your employer's permission — to
register. And if a white employer gave such permission, or failed to fire a
black who tried to vote, he could be driven out of business by economic
retaliation from the Citizens Council (groups of whites in the 1950s and 60s
that used economic pressure against blacks including boycotts of black
businesses and denial of credit and loans.)
On the occasional registration day, the county Sheriff and his deputies made
it their business to hang around the courthouse to discourage "undesirables"
from trying to register. This meant that black women and men had to run a
gauntlet of intimidation, insults, threats, and sometimes arrest on phony
charges, just to get to the Registration Office.
The Alabama Application Form and oaths you had to take were four pages
long. It was designed to intimidate and threaten. You had to swear that your
answers to every single question were true under penalty of perjury. You
knew that the information you entered on the form would be passed on to the
Citizens Council and KKK.
Many counties used what they called the "voucher system." This meant that
you had to have someone who was already a registered voter "vouch" for you
— under oath and penalty of perjury — that you met the qualification to vote.
Some counties limited to two or three the number of new applicants a
registered voter could vouch for in a given year. Since no white voter would
dare vouch for a black applicant, in counties where only a handful of blacks
already registered only a few more could be added to the rolls each year
even if they passed the "test." In counties were no blacks were registered,
none ever could be registered because they had no one to vouch for them.
Of course, any of these rules or requirements, including the so-called "literacy
test" itself, could be ignored or altered at any time by whim of the Registrar.
So most whites were not subject to this onerous process, and on occasion a
Registrar might allow one or two blacks to register as a way of feigning
compliance with some Federal court order diverting the attention of reporters.
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In addition to completing the application and swearing the oaths, you had to
pass the actual "Literacy Test" itself. Because the Freedom Movement was
running "Citizenship Schools" to help people learn how to fill out the forms
and pass the test, Alabama changed the test 4 times in less than two years
(1964-1965). At the time of the Selma Voting Rights campaign there were
many different tests in use across the state. In theory, each applicant was
supposed to be given one at random from a big loose-leaf binder. In real life,
some individual tests were easier than others and the registrar made sure
that black applicants got the hardest ones.
A typical Alabama "test" consisted of three-parts. In "Part A" the applicant
was given a selection of the Constitution to read aloud. The registrar could
assign a long complex section filled with legalese and convoluted sentences,
or he could select a simple one or two sentence section. The Registrar
marked each word he thought you mispronounced. In some counties, you
had to orally interpret the section to the registrar's satisfaction. You then had
to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from
dictation as the registrar spoke (or mumbled) it. White applicants usually were
allowed to copy, black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar
then judged whether you "literate" or "illiterate." His judgment was final and
could not be appealed.
In Parts "B" and "C," you had to answer two different sets of four written
questions each. Part "B" was 4 questions based on the excerpt you had
written down. Part "C" consisted of 4 "general knowledge" questions about
state and national government.
Your application was then reviewed by the three-member Board of Registrars
— often in secret at a later date. They voted on whether or not you passed.
It was entirely up to the judgment of the Board whether you passed or failed.
If you were white and missed every single question they could still pass you if
— in their sole judgment — you were "qualified." If you were black and got
every one right, they could still flunk you if they considered you "unqualified."
Your name was published in the local newspaper listing of those who had
applied to register. That was to make sure that all of your employers,
landlords, mortgage-holders, bank loan officers, business-suppliers, and so
on, were kept informed of this important event. And, of course, all of the
information on your application was quietly passed under the table to the
White Citizens Council and KKK for appropriate action. Their job was to
encourage you to withdraw your application — or withdraw yourself out of the
county — by whatever means they deemed necessary.
Today, people ask how anyone — white or black — ever got through this
mess to actually register. White registration in Alabama was very high, while
black registration was minuscule. In some of the counties where AfricanAmericans were the majority of the population, white registration was close
to, or over, 100% (in some cases as high as 115%), while black registration
was zero or close to it.
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White registration could be over 100% because when white voters died or
moved out of the area their names were kept on the voting list. Oddly
enough, many of these voters (even the dead ones), somehow managed to
actually vote (usually for the incumbent) every election day. This was
commonly referred to as the "tombstone vote.”
Source: CRMVet.org
Poll Tax
The poll tax was written into state constitutions to stop the growth of African
American political power. Between 1889 and 1910, eleven states all
concentrated in the South adopted a poll tax. Targeted to disenfranchise
black Americans, at a cost of approximately $1.50 (about $40 in 2015
dollars), many poor white farmers and laborers were unable to pay poll taxes
either. To make it even harder for those unable to pay to vote in the future,
the poll tax was made cumulative. If a person failed to pay the tax in one
year, it would be added to the tax the following year. It is not surprising that
many chose not to vote at all.
Source: The Center for Voting and Democracy
Are You Familiar with the Content Standards?
The content we will examine today comes from The North Carolina Community College System College
and Career Readiness Adult Secondary Education Content Standards. These standards may be found
at: abspd.appstate.edu Teaching Resources, Evidence Based Instructional Resources, Applying
Content Standards: GPS for Success.
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Lesson 2: Women’s Suffrage
This lesson focuses on the fight for women’s suffrage (right to vote) across American history,
especially in the post-Civil War period. It uses a Reader’s Theater script. Reader’s Theater is an
active way for students to read about and experience history.
Materials Needed:




Woman’s Suffrage and the 19th Amendment: Failure is Impossible by Rosemary H. Knower
Script
YouTube video: Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire CBS News
YouTube video: Iron Jawed Angels White House Picketing Clip
Integrating Information from Different Sources worksheet
Directions:
1. Begin with a mystery. Ask students what a shirtwaist has to do with women’s voting rights.
2. Tell students that they will be doing a reader’s theater where they will play certain roles and read a
script. Assign the roles to the students. Have students begin reading the Reader’s Theater.
3. Pause every so often to ask questions and discuss what is happening:
Page 1: What rights are the women claiming? What opposition are they facing?
Page 2: How did women help the country during the Civil War? Describe one argument made
on this page in favor of women’s suffrage.
Page 3: What arguments were made against women’s suffrage? Why were women given the
right to vote in the western United States?
Page 4: Show the video about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Discuss the quote by Mary Ware
Dennett. The fire helped to enlist huge numbers of supporters to women’s suffrage
and there was an outpouring of sympathy for those who lost their lives. (This is what a
shirtwaist had to do with women’s voting rights.)
Page 5: Show the video about the White House picketing. Explain that the “Silent Sentinels”
picketed outside the White House from January 1917 until the suffrage amendment
passed (June 1919).
4. Use the information from the Integrating Information from Different Sources worksheet to
come up with some conclusions about the main idea of the information presented. Students
should see that women’s suffrage was supported more in the West because eastern society was
more traditional where in the West pioneer women were seen more as equals.
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Reader’s Theater
Directions
1. Divide students into small groups. Explain to them that reader’s theater is a way of dramatizing a
story by turning the information of a particular text (novel, short story, poem, newspaper article,
history textbook chapter, speech, whatever) into a script, and then performing it — but without the
need to memorize lines, create props or make or wear costumes.
2. Either assign or allow each group to choose a section of text from a piece the class is studying.
3. Allow time for groups to translate their texts into scripts. Encourage students to think about what
particular people are saying (or, in the case of an internal monologue, thinking) and doing in the piece
they’ve chosen. Have them think about where those characters are while they are speaking, whom
they are speaking to (if anyone) and whether or not the words are being thought or said aloud. In
addition to dialogue, have students write specific stage directions and acting notes. Tell students to
consider what role a narrator would play in their scripts, including, perhaps, controlling stage
directions, transitions, and other parts of their created scripts.
4. Have each group assign various roles. Besides characters, each group should have a narrator, and if
desired, someone who provides a “soundtrack” for the action. (The “soundtrack” person can create
background noises, noises created from character’s actions, and can coordinate noises from the
other group members to create a more impressive effect. For example, reading in unison will create a
louder, more powerful noise than one person reading alone.)
5. Have individual students practice reading their scripts silently. If they are unsure of any words,
encourage students to use a dictionary and practice enunciating each word until it can be spoken
comfortably and clearly.
6. Next, allow time for individual students to practice reading their scripts out loud. Encourage students
to project their voices and experiment, perhaps, with exaggerated facial expressions and hand
gestures to make the emotions of each character clear. For students portraying characters, ask them
to think about how that character would sound. Would he or she have a funny voice? How would the
character feel about what’s happening in the story? Ask students to consider how their respective
characters would stand or move.
7. Have groups perform their selections for the class, in chronological order if they are each doing
sections of the same long piece. Encourage the audience to listen carefully and write down any
questions they may have about the action or dialogue.
8. During the last five minutes of class, ask students to describe the easiest and hardest aspects of
translating a text into a live performance.
9. Though Reader’s Theater is usually without elaborate costumes, props, lighting or music, if there is
additional time in class or for homework, students might be invited to work on simple versions of each
of these.
Source: New York Times Learning Network
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Integrating Information from Different Sources
Women’s Suffrage Before 1920
Women’s Suffrage: East vs. West
East coast women existed in a more
formalized society. Most women did not
work, and most were forced by either social
norms or their own families to exist in a
subservient position to their husbands. The
vast majority of these women were passive
toward the idea of women’s suffrage. They
may have supported the idea internally, but
the actual number who spoke up about it
was fairly small. It was a social no-no.
“The Awakening” Political Cartoon – February 1915
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Things were different out west. Pioneer
women often worked alongside their
husbands on the farm or establishing new
businesses and were often seen as equal
partners in the relationship. They were far
more likely to speak up when wronged, and
it wasn't uncommon for them to own property
in their own names. In that kind of
environment, it was much harder for men to
argue that women were somehow inferior,
and a much larger percentage of men were
open to the idea of giving their "partners" the
same legal rights they had.
What are the main points each piece of information is showing?
Woman Suffrage Before 1920
Women’s Suffrage: East vs. West
“The Awakening” Political Cartoon
Integrating Data Presented in Different Ways
One challenging task for our students is how to take information presented in different forms, decide
what is important, and use that information in answering questions. Here are several techniques we
can use to help students:
Think Alouds
With a think aloud, an instructor models what is going through their mind as they do a certain task.
We can show students the strategies we use as we tackle understanding different types of data.
Jigsaw Learning
Divide the class into small groups. First create expert groups. These groups focus on just one piece
of data (chart, graph, or map) and study it until they become an expert. Then create a mixed group
where experts on each piece of data share their findings.
Interviews
Have students become experts on one piece of data. Have other students interview them about that
piece of data so everyone will understand it
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Lesson 3: Japanese Internment during World War II
This lesson focuses on how to help students compare treatments of the same social studies topic in
various primary and secondary sources, noting discrepancies between and among the sources. We
will show how being a fan of different sports teams’ shapes our reaction to a game. Then we will
transfer the skill to show how people view events differently depending on who they are in history.
Materials Needed:

YouTube video: Japanese Relocation - U.S. Gov't Explanation 1942 (Japanese Internment
Camps)

YouTube video: Michael Jordan the last shot last minute of the 1998 NBA finals

Executive Order 9066, Interview: Japanese American George Takei, Pictures from 1942, and
the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 primary source documents. Understanding the Times secondary
source document. All these documents are available on pages 11 – 16 of the Modern US
History Packet found by Googling: abspd modern us history handout packet

Japanese Internment Graphic Organizer
Directions:
1. Bring the 1998 NBA finals video to the 3:00 mark. If no video is available, use this description:
“With 18.9 seconds left and the Utah Jazz in possession, the Chicago Bull’s Michael Jordan stole
the ball from a Utah player in the low post and dribbled to the frontcourt. Utah’s Bryon Russell
guarded Jordan as time wound down. Jordan drove inside, executed a quick cross-over—possibly
pushing off Russell, but the officials did not call a foul—and hit a 20-footer to give the Bulls an 87–
86 lead with 5.2 seconds left.” (Source: Wikipedia)
2. Divide students into two groups, one who supports the team in red (Chicago Bulls) and one who
supports the team in white (Utah Jazz). Play the video/read the description and ask:
How would a Utah Jazz (white team) fan react to this play?
How would a Chicago Bulls (red team) fan react to this play?
How does being a fan of a certain team affect how they view a certain play?
3. Mention to students: “In the same way, people view historical events differently depending on their
relationship to it. We will look at the US and its treatment of Japanese American citizens on the
West Coast during World War II using a variety of sources. Think how you might feel if you were a
Japanese American living on the West Coast during World War II and also if you were not.”
4. To set the mood of the times, read Understanding the Times and Arguments for Internment on
page 11 of the handout packet. The mood in the US after Pearl Harbor was similar to how people
felt in the US after 9/11 toward the terrorist hijackers. Have students who remember the attacks
talk about their feelings after 9/11 and draw a parallel to Pearl Harbor.
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5. Play the video Japanese Relocation - U.S. Gov't Explanation 1942 (Japanese Internment Camps).
Discuss these questions: Is this propaganda (one-sided information made to defend a particular
point of view)? How would you have felt watching this as a Japanese-American citizen? How
would you have felt watching this if you were a US citizen not of Japanese descent?
6. Give students the Japanese Internment graphic organizer and model how to fill in the section on
the YouTube video they just watched.
7. Have students work in pairs or groups to fill out the organizer on the other documents and pictures.
8. Debrief the activity by having students share their responses from the graphic organizer. Discuss
some current events and have students look at the event from the point of view of different
participants.
Discuss other questions such as:
Was it right or wrong for the US to put Japanese American citizens in Internment camps? Why?
Was the $20,000 payment and US Government apology in 1988 the right thing to do? Why?
Is it fair to judge the past by the standards of the present and with the benefit of hindsight? Why?
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Decoding Older Primary Sources
Reading primary source documents from the 1700s and 1800s is a huge challenge for our students.
Here are a few ways to help them:
Make historic documents easier to read by:

Proving a brief introduction to the document and the time period in which it was written through
a headnote, brief video, or short lecture

Ask focusing questions to give students a reason for reading the document

Shorten the document

Define difficult vocabulary

Simplify challenging sentence construction

Provide wide margins for note taking

As students become more skilled, provide less support over time

To find several examples of how this looks, Google: adapting documents for the classroom
teaching history.org
Scaffolding Instruction
Teach documents using direct instruction:

I do (the instructor models strategies they use to tackle difficult documents and uses
techniques like a think aloud)

We do (the instructor and students work together on the skill

You do (students work independently on the skill while the instructor monitors their progress)
Use an active reading strategy like text marking so students know when they stop understanding
what they read
✔ I knew this before
! This is new for me
? I’m not sure what this means
Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how questions of the document
Use the margins for notes and brief summaries
Adapted from teachinghistory.org
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Documents about Japanese Internment 1942 - 1945
On December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there were more than
120,000 people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast of the United States. Within a few
months, this entire population was gone. Out of fears of espionage and sabotage along the Pacific,
the government removed Japanese American men, women, and children from their homes and
placed them in internment camps in the interior of the country. Two-thirds of the internees were U.S.
citizens. None of them was ever charged with a crime.
Source: Smithsonian Education
Understanding the Times
It is easy to judge the past by the present. We have the huge benefit of hindsight, knowing how
things turned out. Just as we do not know the future, people living in the past did not know how the
events they lived would turn out. People living in World War II would only have had newspapers,
radio, and movie newsreels available and were more susceptible to propaganda that we are today
with so much more information available from TV news and the Internet.
Arguments for Internment
Threat to the US Pacific Coast
A real threat to the US Pacific Coast was widely thought to exist in the first months after the
December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack crippled the US Pacific Fleet and
left the West Coast almost defenseless should the Japanese attack again. There were reports that
Japanese residents in Hawaii had done extensive spying before Pearl Harbor and that Japanese
Americans helped a Japanese pilot shot down during the Pearl Harbor attack.
On February 23 1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of Goleta, California and shelled
the Elwood oil refinery causing widespread panic extending all along the coast to Los Angeles.
Military leaders and California politicians asked the government to create restricted zones around
West Coast military bases and aircraft factories in California.
Protection of Japanese Americans
An early 1942 report from a Los Angeles Navy Officer warned of coming “outbreaks of violence and
civil strife” against Japanese-Americans. The Internment prevented acts of mob violence against
potentially thousands of Japanese-Americans saving lives and injury.
Historical Precedent
During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln arrested and detained without trial thousands of people he
suspected of being disloyal to the US. During World War I President Wilson used emergency war
powers to deport foreign-born “radicals” who were against the war.
The 3 F’s
We can use 3 F’s to describe the feeling of most US citizens during World War II: Fear, Fury, and
Frustration. People lived in fear after Pearl Harbor and early US military losses in 1942. People
were furious at the Japanese for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that killed over 2,400
Americans. People were frustrated because US industry completely supported the war effort and
there were few consumer goods they could buy in stores.
Adapted from Morelock
17
Executive Order 9066 [modified]
Headnote: US President Franklin Roosevelt issued this executive order giving
the Secretary of War authority to move thousands of Japanese
Americans to camps away from the West Coast
Focus Question: What reason does the President give for this executive order?
The President
Executive Order
Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas
Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection
against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, nationaldefense premises, and national-defense utilities . . . .
Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United
States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct
the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time
designate . . . to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or
the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons
may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain
in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the
appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War
is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded
therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be
necessary . . . to accomplish the purpose of this order.
I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military
Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander
may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each
Military area hereinabove authorized to be designated, including the use of Federal
troops . . .
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The White House
February 19, 1942
Vocabulary
Authorize: give permission
Prescribe: make a rule
Espionage: spying
18
Headnote: These instructions were given to Americans of Japanese descent living along the West
Coast of the US about how to report for internment
Focus Question: Under the 14th Amendment, American citizens cannot have their rights taken
away without due process of law. If you were a Japanese American citizen, what
would your reaction be to this document
"To All Persons of Japanese Ancestry" [modified]
Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Wartime Civil Control Administration,
Presidio of San Francisco, California
May 3, 1942
Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry . . . .
Pursuant to the provisions of Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34, this Headquarters, dated
May 3, 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien, will be
evacuated . . . by 12 o'clock noon, P. W. T., Sunday, May 9, 1942.
No Japanese person living in the above area will be permitted to change residence after
12 o'clock noon, P. W. T., Sunday, May 3, 1942, without obtaining special permission . .
. . Such permits will only be granted for the purpose of uniting members of a family, or in
cases of grave emergency.
The Following Instructions Must Be Observed:
1. A responsible member of each family, preferably the head of the family, or the person
in whose name most of the property is held, and each individual living alone, will
report to the Civil Control Station to receive further instructions. This must be done
between 8:00 A. M. and 5:00 P. M. on Monday, May 4, 1942, or between 9:00 A. M.
and 5:00 P. M. on Tuesday, May 5, 1942.
2. Evacuees must carry with them on departure for the Assembly Center, the following
property:
(a) Bedding and linens (no mattress) for each member of the family;
(b) Toilet articles for each member of the family;
(c) Extra clothing for each member of the family;
(d) Sufficient knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls and cups for each member of
the family;
(e) Essential personal effects for each member of the family.
3. No pets of any kind will be permitted.
4. No personal items and no household goods will be shipped to the Assembly Center.
J. L. DeWITT
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Commanding
19
Statement from George Takei
George Takei, a Japanese American actor (Mr. Sulu on Star Trek) describes his experiences:
“I was four years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941 by Japan, and overnight,
the world was plunged into a world war. America suddenly was swept up by hysteria. JapaneseAmericans, American citizens of Japanese ancestry, were looked on with suspicion and fear and with
outright hatred simply because we happened to look like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor. And
the hysteria grew and grew until in February 1942, the president of the United States, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, ordered all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast of America to be summarily rounded
up with no charges, with no trial, with no due process. Due process, this is a core pillar of our justice
system. That all disappeared. We were to be rounded up and imprisoned in 10 barbed-wire prison
camps in some of the most desolate places in America: the blistering hot desert of Arizona, the sultry
swamps of Arkansas, the wastelands of Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and two of the most
desolate places in California.
“On April 20th, I celebrated my fifth birthday, and just a few weeks after my birthday, my parents got
my younger brother, my baby sister and me up very early one morning, and they dressed us
hurriedly. My brother and I were in the living room looking out the front window, and we saw two
soldiers marching up our driveway. They carried bayonets on their rifles. They stomped up the front
porch and banged on the door. My father answered it, and the soldiers ordered us out of our home.
My father gave my brother and me small luggage to carry, and we walked out and stood on the
driveway waiting for our mother to come out, and when my mother finally came out, she had our baby
sister in one arm, a huge duffel bag in the other, and tears were streaming down both her cheeks. I
will never be able to forget that scene. It is burned into my memory.
“We were taken from our home and loaded on to train cars with other Japanese-American families.
There were guards stationed at both ends of each car, as if we were criminals. We were taken two
thirds of the way across the country, rocking on that train for four days and three nights, to the
swamps of Arkansas. I still remember the barbed wire fence that confined me. I remember the tall
sentry tower with the machine guns pointed at us. I remember the searchlight that followed me when I
made the night runs from my barrack to the latrine. But to five-year-old me, I thought it was kind of
nice that they'd lit the way for me . . . I was a child, too young to understand the circumstances of my
being there.
“Children are amazingly adaptable. What would be grotesquely abnormal became my normality in the
prisoner of war camps. It became routine for me to line up three times a day to eat lousy food in a
noisy mess hall. It became normal for me to go with my father to bathe in a mass shower. Being in a
prison, a barbed-wire prison camp, became my normality.
“When the war ended, we were released, and given a one-way ticket to anywhere in the United
States. My parents decided to go back home to Los Angeles, but Los Angeles was not a welcoming
place. We were penniless. Everything had been taken from us, and the hostility was intense. Our first
home was on Skid Row in the lowest part of our city, living with derelicts, drunkards and crazy people,
the stench of urine all over, on the street, in the alley, in the hallway. It was a horrible experience, and
for us kids, it was terrorizing. I remember once a drunkard came staggering down, fell down right in
front of us, and threw up. My baby sister said, "Mama, let's go back home," because behind barbed
wires was for us home. My parents worked hard to get back on their feet. We had lost everything.
They were at the middle of their lives and starting all over.”
Source: TED Talk: George Takei, Why I Love a Country That Once Betrayed Me
20
Pictures from the Japanese Internment in 1942
A Japanese American owned grocery store
Life inside an internment camp
Life inside an internment camp
Boarding trains for an interment camp
21
Headnote: This act was passed by Congress in 1988 to apologize to Japanese Americans for
internment and pay them $20,000 in reparations.
Focus Question: What does this act say is the reason why Japanese Americans were sent to
internment camps during World War II?
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 [modified]
The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) acknowledge the fundamental injustice of the evacuation, relocation, and
internment of United States citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese
ancestry during World War II;
(2) apologize on behalf of the people of the United States for the evacuation,
relocation, and internment of such citizens and permanent resident aliens; . . . . .
(6) discourage the occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil liberties in
the future; and
(7) make more credible and sincere any declaration of concern by the United States
over violations of human rights committed by other nations . . . .
WITH REGARD TO INDIVIDUALS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY —The Congress
recognizes that, as described by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and
Internment of Civilians, a grave injustice was done to both citizens and permanent
resident aliens of Japanese ancestry by the evacuation, relocation, and internment of
civilians during World War II. As the Commission documents, these actions were
carried out without adequate security reasons and without any acts of espionage or
sabotage documented by the Commission, and were motivated largely by racial
prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. The excluded
individuals of Japanese ancestry suffered enormous damages, both material and
intangible, and there were incalculable losses in education and job training, all of
which resulted in significant human suffering for which appropriate compensation has
not been made. For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and
constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, the Congress
apologizes on behalf of the Nation.
22
Lesson 4: Watergate
This lesson focuses on the events of the Watergate scandal from 1972 to 1974 and uses a video and
political cartoon as aids in teaching the lesson.
Materials Needed:

YouTube video Watergate Spelled Out (Revised)

TACO worksheets and political cartoons

Lessons from Watergate worksheet

Speech by Gerald Ford – August 9, 1974
Directions:
1. Use the video Watergate Spelled Out (Revised) to give students an overview of the major events.
Pause the video every so often and ask questions or ask students to summarize what is happening.
2. Model an example of using TACO to understand political cartoons. Do one or more of the cartoons
together as a class and give students tips on how to identify the time period, action, caption, objects,
and summary.
3. Use the Lessons from Watergate worksheet to discuss Watergate’s legacy. First, model for
students how to summarize the first of the lessons in their own words. Then, have students work in
pairs to summarize the other two.
4. Discuss the excerpt of the Gerald Ford Speech on August 9, 1974. Discuss the following questions:
Is the President above the law? Why was what the President did during Watergate so serious? Is it
OK to break the law in the interest of national security? Reinforce the message that our country
follows the rule of law: “Our government is a government of laws, not of men.”
23
TACOS – Political Cartoon
Time (When was this created? What occasion?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Action (What’s happening?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Caption (What textual clues are included?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Objects (What can you identify?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary (What is the message?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Pre-AP: Strategies in Social Studies
24
TACOS – Political Cartoons
Time (When was this created? What occasion?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Action (What’s happening?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Caption (What textual clues are included?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Objects (What can you identify?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary (What is the message?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Pre-AP: Strategies in Social Studies
25
TACOS – Political Cartoon
Time (When was this created? What occasion?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Action (What’s happening?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Caption (What textual clues are included?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Objects (What can you identify?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary (What is the message?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Pre-AP: Strategies in Social Studies
26
TACOS – Political Cartoon
Time (When was this created? What occasion?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Action (What’s happening?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Caption (What textual clues are included?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Objects (What can you identify?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary (What is the message?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Pre-AP: Strategies in Social Studies
27
TACOS – Political Cartoon
Time (When was this created? What occasion?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Action (What’s happening?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Caption (What textual clues are included?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Objects (What can you identify?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary (What is the message?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Pre-AP: Strategies in Social Studies
28
Lessons from Watergate
What are the main lessons that can be drawn from the Watergate
Scandal? First, the role of money in election campaigns of the
day was essentially unregulated. When Deep Throat, the
Watergate informant, told the two investigative reporters, Carl
Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post to “follow
the money,” it led to how much money was used to buy silence,
commit perjury and commit crimes.
Summarize Lesson 1
Second, the importance of good, old fashioned journalism,
including working the pavement, checking information, finding
corroborating sources, and searching for new leads, was the
major reason that the scandal was discovered, and the justice
system ultimately prevailed. In today’s world of multiple news
sources, social media and overreliance on opinion, we would do
well to reexamine what Woodward and Bernstein brought to
journalism and its place within democracy. The free press played
its fundamental role in bringing the scandal to light.
Summarize Lesson 2
Third, how the American system of checks and balances, which
allowed the legislative branch through the Ervin Senate
Committee hearings, and the judiciary (where the Supreme Court
forced the release of the incriminating Watergate tapes on the
executive branch), played its constitutional role. The Senate
hearings exposed the depth of the scandal, and the court system
provided the venue for bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Summarize Lesson 3
While Nixon avoided impeachment by resignation, and possible
prison because of a presidential pardon, it was clear the
American system and the constitution worked. Forty years later,
it remains a lesson in democracy and why it is worth
remembering, and learning from it.
Source: John Parisella
Speech by President Gerald Ford on Becoming President – August 9, 1974
“I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization
itself. That bond, though strained, is unbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as
your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty
is always the best policy in the end.
My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is
a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. As we bind up the internal wounds of
Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to
our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.”
29
Lesson 5: U.S Foreign Policy Since 9/11: The Bush Doctrine
This lesson focuses on U.S. Foreign Policy since 9/11 and uses a primary source document to help
students understand the Bush Doctrine.
Materials Needed:

Video: 9/11 Attacks from the History Channel

Speech by President Bush to Congress 9-20-01

Discussion questions
Directions:
1. Depending on the age of your students, ask them what they remember about the 9/11 attacks. Share
your own memories as well.
2. To gain some background to the attacks, play the 9/11 Attacks video from the History Channel. In
addition to the attacks on the World Trade Center, mention that a plane crashed into the Pentagon
and another potential attack (on the U.S. Capitol or White House) was stopped by passengers on
Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.
3. Describe that in response to the attacks, President Bush delivered a speech to the country on the
night of September 20, 2001. The speech is memorable because it describes what the United States’
response would be to terrorism that has become known as the Bush Doctrine.
4. Read the Speech by President Bush to Congress 9-20-01. Divide students in pairs and use the
focusing question, “How will the United States respond to this attack?” As you debrief, help students
to identify what has become known as the Bush Doctrine: (“And we will pursue nations that provide
aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you
are with us or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor
or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”)
5. Use the Discussion questions located after the speech to help students understand the events of
9/11 and how the Bush Doctrine has shaped U.S. foreign policy since 9/11.
30
Understanding the Bush Doctrine
Speech by President George W. Bush – September 20, 2001
As you read this speech, think about: How will the United States respond to the terrorist attacks?
1
“On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country.
Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have been wars on foreign soil,
except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the
center of a great city on a peaceful morning.
2
Americans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this
was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom
itself is under attack . . . .
3
Americans are asking, "How will we fight and win this war?''
4
We will direct every resource at our command--every means of diplomacy, every tool of
intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary
weapon of war--to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.
5
Now, this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of
territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where
no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.
6
Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not
expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include
dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success.
7
We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place
until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to
terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you
are with the terrorists.
8
From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded
by the United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on notice, we're not immune
from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans . . .
9
This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This
is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and
pluralism, tolerance and freedom.
10
We ask every nation to join us. We will ask and we will need the help of police forces, intelligence
service and banking systems around the world. The United States is grateful that many nations
and many international organizations have already responded with sympathy and with support-nations from Latin America to Asia to Africa to Europe to the Islamic world.
31
11
Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on
all. The civilized world is rallying to America's side.
12
They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be
next. Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of
legitimate governments. And you know what? We're not going to allow it.
13
Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we
have found our mission and our moment.
14
Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time
and the great hope of every time, now depends on us. Our nation, this generation, will lift the
dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our
efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail.”
1. Which paragraph(s) best explains what the goal of the United States is?
2. What will happen to countries that support terrorists?
Discussion Questions:
1. Twenty, fifty, or one hundred years from now how do you think the events of September 11, 2001 will
be understood as part of the larger context of United States history?
2. In your opinion, what other events have had a similar impact on U.S. or world history?
3. How would you explain 9/11 today to someone who was born on September 12, 2001?
4. What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?
5. Is the U.S. justified in taking preemptive action (using the Bush Doctrine) in trying to locate terrorists
in other countries?
6. Do you feel safer or less safe than you did on September 12, 2001? Why?
32