WebQuest: Japanese Internment 
	
   "How could such a tragedy have occurred in a democratic society that prides itself on 
    individual rights and freedoms?... I have brooded about this whole episode on and off 
    for the past three decades..."
               	- Milton S. Eisenhower, in The President Is Calling


On to part 2
During World War II, approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans were evacuated from their homes and businesses to internment camps scattered throughout the interior of the United States. Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in February of 1942, ordered that all Japanese Americans be evacuated from the West Coast. This order was carried out quickly, as Japanese Americans from all of California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington, told what they could not carry and boarded trains to 16 assembly centers. There they would live in temporary housing for much of the spring and summer of 1942 until permanent camps were built. These permanent internment camps were constructed in rural areas where life was made more difficult by the harsh temperatures and desert and swamp-like environments. The barracks where the Japanese Americans would have to live were hastily built without consideration for the brutal climate or the need for privacy. In these conditions, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, the Japanese Americans would live until the end of the war approximately 3 years later.

    -The Task

  1. Discover why the Japanese were placed into internment camps.
  2. Look up the primary areas Japanese Americans were evacuated from.
  3. Finally, put yourself in the place of a Japanese American family living in an internment camp, work with your partner on this portion of the assignment, making sure to utilize the links provided. After reading about life on an internment camp, put yourself in the shoes of Japanese American living in one, and write a one page journal about your day at the camp.

    -The Process

  1. The reasoning

    1. Use the resources provided to find a timeline, from that timeline draw conclusions as to our governments motivation to place American citizens into concentration camps.
    2. Again, using the resources provided, uncover the logic involved in our government's decision. Provide your opinions as to why Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps during WWII, and why German Americans were excluded from this fate.

  2. The place

    1. Write down the primary areas Japanese Americans were evacuated from for placement in internment camps.
    2. Once you have found where Japanese Americans were evacuated from, do some investigation and find out where these people were taken, write down a minimum of six particular camps.

  3. A day in the life

    1. This will be the most time consuming aspect of your task, you will be putting yourself into the shoes of one of Japanese Americans who were forced to live in an internment camp.
    2. Look through the resources on this page, and read about life in an internment camp, pay attention to specific people and what they went through. Based on your findings, put yourself in their place, and write a one page journal entry about your day.

  4. Once you're done with all of that...

    1. Move on to the second part of your assignment here



    -Evaluation

  1. You will be graded on your ability to name at least six internment camps, this portion of the assignment will be worth 20%. Feel free to find more than six, however extra credit will not be granted for any extra camps named.
  2. The majority of the assignment (80%), will come from your one page journal describing your day as a member of an internment camp. The journal entry will mainly be graded on your ability to make me believe you were a part of an internment camp, to make me see what life was like for those Japanese Americans who lived in these camps.


Written by Erik Cierniak
Last updated March 4th, 1998
Background image courtesy of Over the Rainbow