Thinking About the Future in a World War II Barrack

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Material culture is at the heart of the work of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). Using material culture, we fulfill our mission of promoting the understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. JANM has a permanent collection of over 60,000 photographs, documents, crafts, artwork, and moving images. These artifacts make up the material culture that illustrates and substantiates the history of one ethnic group in the United States.

One of the largest artifacts in our collection is a barrack from a World War II-era American concentration camp. During World War II this barrack was located in Heart Mountain, WY, and housed Japanese American families forcibly removed from the West Coast. It is now on display as part of Common Ground: The Heart of Community, JANM's ongoing exhibition covering the history and culture of Japanese Americans from the 1880s to the present.

Within the exhibition the barrack confronts people with the reality of the experience of over 110,000 people of Japanese descent who were confined in one of 10 camps run by the United States government. For Japanese Americans who were once confined in similar barracks, seeing this artifact often serves as an emotional reminder of a difficult past.

. . . the barrack confronts people with the reality of the experience of over 110,000 people of Japanese descent who were confined in one of 10 camps run by the United States government.

Each year, over 20,000 students in Los Angeles visit JANM and are able to stand inside this barrack. They listen to the volunteer docents' first-person stories about life during World War II. Material culture brings history to life so when students see the gaps between the barrack floorboards and hear the volunteers recount the mass removal and confinement without due process, they often respond by saying, "That's not fair."

An opportunity for dialogue opens when students ask how this could have happened to the Japanese Americans. This allows us to share not only the World War II experience, but also the pre-war discrimination, the community's post-war struggles to get back onto its feet, and the coalition that fought for and in 1988 achieved redress from the United States government. A tour that began in a 70-year-old barrack can become a discussion about race-based discrimination and the struggle to redress a constitutional wrong.

A tour that began in a 70-year-old barrack can become a discussion about race-based discrimination and the struggle to redress a constitutional wrong.

The barrack from Heart Mountain is one example of an object's ability to teach and invite thoughtful conversation. Like many other museums, we are beginning to experiment with ways to increase the accessibility of more of our artifacts. This school year we have introduced two new school programs. Digital Speakers Bureau is designed to allow real-time, Web-based dialogue between docents and students who cannot visit the museum. Object Analysis with the Education Collection is for students who live in the Los Angeles area and are interested in hands-on analysis of a subset of JANM's collections. Additionally we have begun to upload 30- to 60-second video clips of volunteers sharing stories that relate to artifacts from our collection and have a handful of online collections.

Material culture encourages students to think critically about the real-life lessons that this experience holds for us all. While the Heart Mountain barrack evokes deeply personal memories for many Japanese Americans, it also stands as a general warning against the discrimination, mass removal, and incarceration of any one ethnic group. The barrack from World War II reminds us that—now and in the future—it is our individual and collective responsibility to uphold constitutional rights for all.

Teaser

Material culture brings history to life so when students see the gaps between the barrack floorboards and hear the volunteers recount the mass removal and confinement without due process, they often respond by saying, "That's not fair."

The Role of the Artifact in Teaching about the Holocaust

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While the Holocaust bears the distinction of being the most documented genocide, it also bears the weight of incomprehension. Oftentimes, this leads to pedagogical approaches that, though well-intentioned, distort or trivialize history. To better understand the factors that led to the persecution and murder of European Jews and millions of non-Jews, how do intentional encounters with seemingly ordinary artifacts—in the exhibition space of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and through its online resources—promote historical thinking for understanding the Holocaust's profundity?

First, artifacts facilitate translating the statistical millions into individuals.

First, artifacts facilitate translating the statistical millions into individuals. (1) This in turn demonstrates how chronology, geography, and circumstance led to persecution, murder, or survival for the mosaic of victims. When used as a sustained classroom teaching tool, the identity cards visitors receive when entering the Permanent Exhibition illustrate these factors. (Over 500 are now available on the Museum's website.)

For example, the identity card of Gad Beck reveals that as a Mischlinge—the child of a German Gentile mother and Jewish father—Beck was spared deportation to the killing centers in Eastern Europe. While many homosexuals lived in fear, and thousands were persecuted and murdered, being part of the homosexual community aided Beck’s survival. He turned to trusted non-Jewish homosexual friends to provide food and hiding places.

Beck's card also calls for inquiry into the 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws. Under these laws, anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents was considered to be Jewish, regardless of whether that individual identified himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to the Jewish religious community. The card details his betrayal by a Jewish spy for the Gestapo near the end of the war in 1945. The year bears examination, for if his betrayal had occurred prior to 1945, this would have severely limited his chance to survive.

Second, artifact contemplation helps to contextualize the Holocaust beyond the brutality of mass murder.

Second, artifact contemplation helps to contextualize the Holocaust beyond the brutality of mass murder. On the Museum's third floor, visitors encounter a mass assortment of victims' shoes from the Majdanek killing center near Lublin, Poland. The shoes signify the systematic plunder of victims' belongings in the dehumanization process of the Holocaust. Students visiting the shoe exhibit notice the deterioration of the shoes, but they may also notice the variety of styles and realize that for many victims, the shoes may be the only personal items that survive them. The shoes remind students of the personal stories behind the artifact.

Next to the shoes, the Tower of Faces displays photographs of shtetl life in Eishyshok, now in Lithuania. These photos, available on the Museum's online archive, portray a vibrant Jewish community that existed for 900 years. In 1941, an SS mobile killing squad entered the village and in two days murdered the Jewish population. The photos speak not to the killing, but to the culture and inhabitants of Eastern European shtetl life before the war while ensuring that the victims not remain faceless or forgotten.

Third, analyzing artifacts of Holocaust history helps avoid giving simple answers to complex questions

Third, analyzing artifacts of Holocaust history helps avoid giving simple answers to complex questions. The voyage of the St. Louis, displayed on the Museum's fourth floor and in an online exhibition, frames the often-asked question, "Why didn't they just leave?" as a conduit to understanding how U.S. immigration quotas established in the 1920s prevented significant Jewish immigration in the 1930s and 1940s.

Examining the photo album of a St. Louis passenger increases students' understanding of the individuals who were impacted by the "push-pull-push back" factors of emigration and immigration. The album's photos depict passengers dancing and dining, roller-skating and sunning themselves on the ship's deck, blissfully unaware that they will soon be denied entry to Cuba and the U.S. Realizing that their lives were in peril if they remained in Europe, their fates were determined by factors beyond their control. The photo album prompts students to look at the social, diplomatic, political, and often anti-Semitic tone in the U.S. before and during the war. The St. Louis photo album provokes scrutiny of U.S. foreign policy then and now, and perhaps more importantly, the photo album conveys that history is not inevitable but is shaped by decision-making at all levels.

Analysis of the Museum's rich trove of artifacts can move the Holocaust from the abstract to the tangible. As the witness generation passes away, Holocaust education will rely increasingly on evidence from the era. Through contemplation of artifacts and other documents, studying the Holocaust will remain dynamic well into the 21st century.

Note: The views expressed are the author's alone and do not necessarily represent those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum or any other organization.

Footnotes
1 The three methodologies the author outlines are based on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust.
Teaser

Artifacts help translate the statistical millions into individuals and avoid giving simple answers to complex questions.

Preparing for the Days of Remembrance

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Photo, prisoners numbers at the Holocaust Memorial, Boston, Highsmith, LoC
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Established through an Executive Order signed by President Jimmy Carter, the annual Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust ask U.S. citizens to remember the tragedy of the Holocaust—the murder of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II. This year, the Days of Remembrance stretch from April 15 to April 22, with April 19 identified as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

How can you teach the Days of Remembrance in secondary classrooms? Some students may feel that the Holocaust happened long ago on another continent, a distant event that has little to do with their lives today. Teaching the Days of Remembrance and the Holocaust offers the chance to think about global connections, individual and group responsibility, the fragile nature of democracies, and the importance of individual vigilance and action.

How do people talk about and understand the Holocaust today in the U.S. and around the world?

What impact did the Holocaust have on the U.S.? When did the U.S. learn about it? How did the government respond? How did individuals respond? Who were the people who carried out the Holocaust? As a group? As individuals? Why did they carry out the Holocaust? Who were the individuals, institutions, and nations who helped the victims, often at the risk of their own lives?

How do people talk about and understand the Holocaust today in the U.S. and around the world? There are hundreds of difficult but rewarding questions you can explore with your students, sharpening their historical thinking skills and challenging them to consider the place of ethics and personal decisions in the past and the present.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum can help introduce students to these questions. Every year, the museum chooses a theme for the Days of Remembrance. This year, the theme is "Choosing to Act: Stories of Rescue," focusing on the stories of those who risked their lives to help protect Jews from persecution, imprisonment, and death. Learn more about the theme (and request CDs and DVDs of free resources) at the museum's website.

Explore the website further to uncover:

The museum also maintains online exhibits, including:

More Resources

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is one of many institutions offering materials on the Holocaust. For more resources, visit our Days of Remembrance spotlight page. The page also features materials on Jewish American history.

The Indian War of 1812

Description

Professor David Henkin examines the ongoing war between Native American nations and the United States in 1812 and prior to and following 1812. He also considers popular memory of Native American history and failure to integrate it into U.S. history as a whole.

A Spiteful Souvenir

Description

This short video from the Library of Congress takes a look at a rather unimposing document from 1814. The document—a printed summary of the federal government's expenses from that year—was a symbol of retribution to Admiral Cockburn, commander of the British forces during the War of 1812.

U.S. Coast Guard

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The United States Coast Guard, one of the five U.S. military branches, protects the environment and U.S. citizens, economic interests, and security in the world's oceans and bodies of inland water. Specific duties include rescue operations and maritime law.

The Coast Guard's home on the web is certainly not the easiest to navigate of the Armed Forces sites. However, it does contain a noteworthy amount of content which could be put to use in the classroom, particularly background information for teachers or for student reports.

Items worth your attention include a Coast Guard blog with posts on the organization's history; a list of Coast Guard historical events, organized by day of the year; overall and regional history overviews, most in the form of PowerPoint presentations or articles; and histories of Coast Guard assets, missions, and personnel, including women and minorities.

Primary sources are also available in abundance. These include oral histories divided by theme and military engagement, back issues of official magazines, a selection of documents dating from 1791 through the late 20th century, and galleries of historic photographs. The photographs can be compared to recent images and artworks located within the Coast Guard multimedia gallery. Of the magazines, the majority offer back issues from the 2000s. However, The Reservist offers issues dating as far back as the 1950s.

If you are looking specifically for children's activities, check out "Just for Kids (and Teachers!)", which offers coloring books, information on animal mascots adopted by various Coast Guard units, teacher's guides for lighthouse and Coast Guard history, and images of lighthouses. You may also want to peruse the suggested reading list for even more in depth preparation.

Another item worth your attention is a page devoted to U.S. revenue cutters during the War of 1812. On this page, you can find paintings, ship's plans, and illustrations of the cutters and their personnel; histories of individual cutters, Captain Frederick Lee, and prisoners of war; brief overviews of the role played by the cutters; and a bibliography to assist further research.

Finally, if you want to get the kids out of the classroom and you are in the Connecticut area, you could try the U.S. Coast Guard Museum. Not in New England? Try the artifact finder to pinpoint museums in your state with Coastie artifacts.

U.S. Naval Power, 1775-1815

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Print, Commandant and warrant. . . , 1893, Hugh Witter Ditzler, NYPL
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Why did the United States develop naval power from 1775-1815?

Answer
The Revolution

As today's foremost maritime power, it is misunderstood that Americans have always wanted or needed a powerful navy. Meeting in a waterfront Philadelphia tavern in 1775, the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress, (which included John Adams) formed the Continental Navy, authorizing construction of 13 frigates. Since the British jealously guarded their own shipbuilding industry, the colonists took time developing one that could produce sound and seaworthy vessels.

In the interim, some of the first war ships were simply converted merchant vessels and commissioned privateers. As the Revolutionary War progressed, these makeshift war vessels proved more successful than the Continental Navy's commissioned ships, most of which were either captured or destroyed by the Royal Navy. Even John Paul Jones' illustrious Bonhomme Richard, though victorious over HMS Serapis, sank off the coast of England. By the end of the war, only a handful of the estimated 65 ships that served in the Continental Navy survived, and in 1785 Congress auctioned the last vessel of the Continental Navy to a private owner.

As today's foremost maritime power, it is misunderstood that Americans have always wanted or needed a powerful navy.

The early development of the U.S. Navy must also be considered within the context of the interaction between domestic politics and public diplomacy. Navies, much like standing armies, were, and still are, enormously expensive to build, man, equip, and even more costly to maintain. Following the Revolution, purposeful legislative discussions tended to hit a dead end over funding and taxes—along with concerns over the increased power and authority a Navy might allow a new central government and the nature of the global maritime threat. Though the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans differed on just about everything, one thing they agreed upon was the importance of frugality. As Ian Toll noted in Six Frigates, "even proponents tended to accept the judgment that the federal government, still groaning under the weight of its Revolutionary War debts, could not afford [a Navy]." Possibly informed by the observation of Thucydides, who remarked that "the growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable," early Republic leaders warily measured the risks of inciting the world's most powerful maritime power of the time, the British Royal Navy, by building a naval presence.

The Pirates

Nevertheless, by the 1790s, post-Revolutionary War America found itself drawn again into European affairs. North African pirates closed off access to lucrative Mediterranean markets by seizing her ships and cargo and enslaving and ransoming the crew. This drove up maritime insurance rates and bankrupted merchant houses, some of which operated out of Philadelphia, which was the seat of government at the time. After some political wrangling, some of it sectional, and some along Federalist-Republican partisan lines, Congress authorized funds to build six frigates in March 1794.

One huge challenge for the construction project was the procurement, cutting, and transport of the hundreds of enormous live oak trees from remote places. . .

Progress was embarrassingly slow. In one of the earliest instances of "pork barrel politics," President Washington planned to distribute the building of the six frigates at six separate seaports running up and down the eastern seaboard. Washington wanted to make sure that the nation's shipbuilding industry was less concentrated; at the time, it was dominated by a handful of Quakers in Philadelphia. One huge challenge for the construction project was the procurement, cutting, and transport of the hundreds of enormous live oak trees from remote places like St. Simon Island, GA that were needed to accommodate shipwright Joshua Humphrey's design. Many of the contracted New England woodsmen got malaria, and the oxen died from sickness and heat. Secretary of War Henry Knox was tasked with the unfortunate act of repeatedly explaining the delays and cost overruns to Congress.

In the original "Act to Provide a Naval Armament of 1794," Republicans included a provision that construction would cease if negotiations with Algiers over access to the Mediterranean bore fruit. In 1796 the Senate ratified a treaty with Algiers that included the payment of ransoms, tributes, and the construction of a frigate for the Dey of Algiers. President Washington wanted construction of the six frigates to continue despite the Republican provision. Congress compromised by agreeing to the construction of three ships: Constitution, United States, and Constellation.

The French Revolution

The French Revolution also effected the development of the U.S. Navy. Americans were deeply divided over the implications of the French Revolution. Some felt that events in France confirmed the strong mutual affinity for revolutionary ideals, while others, social conservatives and Federalists, cast a more wary eye, believing that the Grand Terror proved that too much equality was not necessarily a good thing. Federalists believed that negotiations with Great Britain might serve to stem the wave of pro-French sentiment in Americans. This resulted in the negotiation of the Jay Treaty of 1794 that reestablished commercial ties between the United States and Great Britain. This incensed Republicans at home and France abroad.

In 1795 French privateers captured over 300 merchantmen, and in 1797 French agents demanded a bribe from the American peace commissioners in order to continue peace negotiations. In 1798, President Adams scored political points for the Federalists as he informed Congress of the "XYZ Affair." By July 1798, Congress rescinded treaties with France marking the beginning of the Quasi-War which spurred a need for naval presence along U.S. trade routes, and to provide protection of U.S. ports.

By July 1798, Congress rescinded treaties with France marking the beginning of the Quasi-War which spurred a need for naval presence along U.S. trade routes, and to provide protection of U.S. ports.

Meanwhile, the frigates United States, Constellation, and Constitution had been launched, and Benjamin Stoddert assumed duty as the first Secretary of the Navy in June 1798. In February 1799, the frigate Constellation, under the command of Captain Thomas Truxtun, captured the French 36-gun frigate L'Insurgente off Nevis Island in the Caribbean. The Quasi-War ended in the fall of 1800 thanks in large measure to President John Adams's willingness to send a peace delegation to confer with France. Benjamin Stoddert was extremely adept as Secretary of the Navy, and Thomas Truxtun, having trounced the French twice, proved a decidedly capable commander at sea. To the surprise of many, America had begun to establish a fairly respectable naval tradition.

Navy Under Jefferson

President Jefferson pledged to keep the size and cost of government to a minimum. Through Jefferson's talented and penny-pinching Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin, the goal was to severely reduce ship and manpower strength. But when in October 1801 the Dey of Algiers humiliated the Americans by forcing Captain Bainbridge to convey the Algerian ambassador and his entourage to Constantinople, Jefferson realized that he needed a strong navy to combat Algiers aggression. The Barbary Wars dragged on ineffectually for a number of years, punctuated by the legendary exploits of Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, William Eaton, and Marine Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon ("to the shores of Tripoli").

With small casualty lists and consistent victories at sea, this was a "good war" in today's political lexicon, and it captivated and sustained America's popular imagination and nationalist sentiments over a number of years.

Historian William M. Fowler, Jr. suggests that simply paying tribute would have been more cost effective for the frugal Jeffersonians. But of course, wars and national defense rarely operate on such rational terms. With small casualty lists and consistent victories at sea, this was a "good war" in today's political lexicon, and it captivated and sustained America's popular imagination and nationalist sentiments over a number of years.

Most military historians would agree that America went to war with Great Britain in part over the principle of "freedom of the seas." Although the U.S. Army performed poorly in the War of 1812, the performance of the Navy was a notable bright spot. Indeed, some of America's most renowned naval heroes appeared in popular folklore during this time, including William Bainbridge and Oliver Hazard Perry. By the end of the War of 1812, the United States Navy had established a level of respectability abroad and credibility at home that served to justify its existence and fiscal support in the public's mind. In his final report before stepping down as Secretary of the Navy, William Jones recommended the establishment of a Naval Academy along the lines of West Point, and expansion of the Navy instead of major cutbacks and mothballing. With this support the U.S. Navy turned an institutional corner in its history. After 40 years of fits and starts, Americans came to recognize the importance of a strong maritime tradition as both an embodiment of national pride and unity and as an instrument for attaining global prestige and power.

For more information

Maryland Historical Society Collections Online

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Painted tin hat shield, Maryland Historical Society, 1940.23.1
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The Maryland Historical Society owns millions of objects which could be key to bringing history to life for your class. A growing number of these items can be found in their digital collections.

The collections can be searched by title, creator, individual collection, or subject. At the time of writing, there are nine collections—the American Civil War; War of 1812; Paintings; African American History; Women's History; Mining the Museum (items on exhibit); Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an architect known for design the U.S. Capitol and the Baltimore Basilica; and works on paper. Artifacts include photographic images, engravings, broadsides, handwritten documents, a flag, a shadowbox, a knife, sketches, clothing, paintings, swords, a shield, a canteen, and more.

The original handwritten version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" may be of particular interest.