Lesson Plan - Behind Barbed Wire

Build Background Knowledge

Before reading the article, have students take the five-question Prereading Quiz at junior.scholastic.com. The interactive quiz is self-scoring and will provide an explanation as students answer each question. Then prepare students to learn more about the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II by providing this 3-2-1 task for them to complete as they watch the video “Prisoners in Their Own Country”: Record 3 facts, 2 surprising details, and 1 question you have. Use Think-Pair-Share to discuss responses.

Preview Vocabulary

Use the online Skill Builder Words to Know to preteach the domain-specific terms allegiance, citizen, Congress, desolate, detention, empire, executive order, incarceration, infamy, legacy, reparation, and World War II. Have students refer to the Skill Builder as they read.

Read the Article

Read the article aloud or have students read it independently or in pairs. As students read, direct them to circle or highlight any words whose meanings they’re unsure of.

Answer Close-Reading Questions

Have students write their responses, or use the Close-Reading Questions to guide a discussion.

• Describe the Manzanar War Relocation Center. What was life there like? (Key Details)
Archie Miyatake recalled noticing “what a desolate place” it was when he arrived at the center. The author mentions that it was a “dry, isolated valley somewhere in Central California” where “wind blew dust everywhere.” In its 1 square mile, the camp was “a makeshift city” of 504 barracks surround by barbed wire with armed soldiers stationed in guard towers. Up to eight people lived in each small room that had only cots, a stove, and one light bulb. Families tried “to make life feel somewhat normal.” Kids attended school. Archie and his friends had parties where they played records.

• Why were more than 120,000 people of Japanese origin incarcerated at relocation centers during World War II? (Analyzing Events)
On December 7, 1941, Japan killed more than 2,500 people in a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The bombing caused the United States to become involved in World War II and stirred up unjustified fears based on many years of anti-Asian prejudice. Some Americans worried that people of Japanese origin could be spies. In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which said the government could relocate people who might be a threat from an exclusion zone on the West Coast.

• What did Toyo Miyatake mean when he told Archie, “As a photographer, I have a responsibility”? (Central Ideas)
Toyo meant that he considered it his duty to take pictures in Manzanar with his camera, which he had made from smuggled parts. He hoped that documenting the conditions and injustices the detainees faced would help prevent a similar situation from ever happening again.

• Why might the “loyalty questionnaire” have caused deep divisions among imprisoned Japanese Americans? (Making Inferences)
The “loyalty questionnaire” might have caused deep divisions because the imprisoned Japanese Americans disagreed about how to answer the questions. Some of them might have wanted to swear unqualified allegiance to the United States, while others might have felt offended that they were being asked to do so after being unjustly imprisoned. Additionally, about two-thirds of them were American citizens who already had particular rights and responsibilities. The other controversial question, about being willing to serve in the military, might have caused divisions because some young men might have wanted to prove their loyalty by doing so or just have an opportunity to live with more freedoms than they had at the camps.

• How does the map “The Exclusion Zone” support the article? (Text Features)
The map supports the article by showing the location of the 10 incarceration camps in the United States. Readers can see that California, Arizona, and Arkansas had two camps each, while Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado had one each. The map also shows the military areas on the West Coast where Executive Order 9066 allowed the government to exclude people who might be a threat. The “exclusion zone” included all of California and parts of Washington, Oregon, and Arizona.

• Summarize the section “The Legacy of Manzanar.” (Summarizing)
The government started allowing some people to leave the incarceration camps in 1944 and suspended Executive Order 9066 in December of that year. The government said all the camps would close by the end of 1945. Archie moved back to Los Angeles in spring 1945, but his family had to wait for their home to become available again. Japan officially surrendered on September 2. While many Americans in the coming years believed the detentions were shameful, the government didn’t formally apologize for more than 40 years. In 1988, a law gave each survivor $20,000 in reparations. Archie eventually took over his father’s photography studio and died in 2016. His son Alan now runs the business and says he is proud of his family’s legacy.

Analyze Primary Sources

Guide students to complete the Your Turn activity at the end of the article. Discuss responses to the question, What can you learn from Archie’s account? Then provide these questions for students to consider as they watch the video “America’s Concentration Camps”: How do the survivors’ firsthand accounts add to your understanding of the incarceration of Japanese Americans? What details stand out most to you? What does it mean that “the government painted a rosy picture of these detention centers”? Have students write responses or discuss them with a partner, then share ideas as a class.

Summarize

Use the Skill Builder Organize a Summary to have students determine which statements belong in an objective summary and put them in order. You might make the activity more tactile by having students cut out the sentences so they can rearrange them. You can also extend the activity by having students use the summary as a model for writing an objective summary of another article, such as one from our World War II text set.

Assess Comprehension

Assign the 10-question Know the News quiz, available in PDF and interactive forms. You can also use Quiz Wizard to assess comprehension of this article and three others from the issue.