1. The US Homefront During WWII

2. 1. Japanese Internment Camps
Executive Order 9066
FDR signs on February 19, 1942
Gives army authority to forcibly evacuate Japanese Americans along Pacific Coast
Japanese Americans
Could only bring what they could carry
Less than a week to sell everything else

3. Santa Anita Assembly Camp
Eating, School, Work, & Guards
Santa Anita Assembly Camp
Mess halls and bathroom
6 Mess halls: Overcrowded
Sanitary facilities: inadequate
School
No formal education system (concerns)
Taught by volunteer inmate teachers
City/county schools send textbooks
Classes held in large hall, teachers shout
Work
Employed in tasks to run camp
Only citizen: War-related materials
Inmate-Keeper Relations- More tense
Searching for contraband (Japanese language books); Confiscated hot plates
Turns violent
Military police called in, martial law declared (straight to barracks, no food)

4. Partner Activity
April: Harry Ferguson was able to visit Manzanar, a concentration center in California, in April and write an article for the San Francisco News 
It is a settlement that grew of the sagebrush of the Mojave Desert. This is one of the places where the 118,000 Japanese who are being moved out of the strategic area of the Pacific Coast are being resettled.
Many of the loyal ones came here with fear and doubt in their hearts, expecting a Nazi-type concentration camp. Instead they found comfortable wooden buildings covered with tar paper, bathhouses and showers and plenty of wholesome food.
Democracy is at work among them. An election has been held to choose block leaders. Eventually from these block leaders will be chosen an advisory committee of five to work with the camp management in preserving order and arranging for the planting of crops.
Another reporter, Kimi Tambara, wrote this at the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho:
“This life behind a fence is not a pleasant one, but nothing can be pleasant in these times, could it? I can now understand how an eagle feels when his wings are clipped and caged. Beyond the bars of his prison lies the wide expanse of the boundless skies, flocked with soft clouds, the wide, wide, fields of brush and woods—limitless space for the pursuit of Life itself.”
1. Compare the tones (positive vs. negative)- Why might this be?
2. When analyzing Japanese Internment- which source would you trust more?
3. Write a statement (one sentence) about a conclusion you can draw from these sources

5. How did Americans Ration?
What is Rationing?
Letting people only have a certain amount of things
Why did Americans have to ration during WWII?
Great Depression
Items in short supply
Government wanted all to get fair share
How did Americans Ration?
Ration books and tokens issued for different items, like gasoline, tires, sugar, meat, silk, shoes, nylon
8000 rationing boards created

6. Rationing Item Example: Rubber
First non-food item
Japanese seize Dutch East Indies (90% of US raw rubber)
Citizens:
donate scrap rubber (tires, raincoats, hoses, shoes);
“Victory Speed” (35 mph)
Carpools
Rationed Items
Rationing Duration
Tires  Cars  Bicycles  Gasoline  Fuel Oil & Kerosene  Solid Fuels  Stoves
January 1942 to December 1945  February 1942 to October 1945  July 1942 to September 1945  May 1942 to August 1945  October 1942 to August 1945  September 1943 to August 1945  December 1942 to August 1945
Rubber Footwear  Shoes
October 1942 to September 1945  February 1943 to October 1945
Sugar  Coffee  Processed Foods  Meats, canned fish  Cheese, canned milk
May 1942 to 1947  November 1942 to July 1943  March 1943 to August 1945  March 1943 to November 1945  March 1943 to November 1945
Typewriters
March 1942 to April 1944

7. Rationing Types Meaning
Uniform Coupon Rationing
equal shares to everyone 
Point Rationing
Coupons give points, points can be spent freely
Differential
Coupon
Rationing
shares given based on need
Certificate
need to prove it was necessary

8. Partner Discussion
Imagine US citizens today were forced to ration: What items would be difficult for you to ration? Why? How might rationing affect your life?
Me:
My Partner:

9. Analyzing Propaganda Words/Phrasing: (Obvious tell), emphasis, wording
Character: Connotations, facial Expression, details
Topic: Purpose and Importance

10. American Portrayal of Japan and Germany
Japanese much more hated than any other enemy
Seen as “a race apart, even a species apart”
Multiple big media outlets exuded racism
New York Times: Japanese were “unlike any other people on earth” with their “savage tradition”
Time Magazine: Japanese were “yellow bastards!” 
Life, Newsweek, and Reader’s Digest: routinely used “nip” and “jap”
German derogatory monikers (Huns, Jerrys, and Krauts), used sparingly  
Japanese often compared to animals, while Germans depicted in more humane manner

11. Propaganda Against Japan
Words/Phrasing:
Character:
Topic:
Propaganda Against Germany

12. Propaganda Against Japan
Words/Phrasing:
Character:
Topic:
Propaganda Against Germany

13. Propaganda Against Japan
Words/Phrasing:
Character:
Topic:
Propaganda Against Germany

14. Propaganda Against Japan
Words/Phrasing:
Character:
Topic:
Propaganda Against Germany

15. Big Takeaways
Japanese Americans experience unfair treatment both in media and law
America at war helps create jobs / end Great Depression
American lifestyle adjusts to support war effort (rationing, blackouts, air raid drills)
Similar effects felt all over world by citizens of countries at war