In 1941, the United
States was home to 127,000 Japanese
Americans. Within hours of the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941, these U.S.
citizens found themselves under
investigation for treasonous
connections with Japan. Hundreds
of Japanese American community
leaders were initially arrested
and some were even relocated
to Department of Justice detention
camps. Over the course of the
succeeding weeks, the average
Japanese American saw his or
her American freedoms curtailed
as the government instituted
a mandatory curfew for all people
of Japanese descent. The climax
of these repressive activities
occurred on February 19, 1942,
when Japanese Americans watched
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
sign Executive Order 9066, which
authorized the exclusion of
all people of Japanese descent
from Washington, Oregon, California,
and Arizona. This act initiated
the internment of Japanese Americans,
which uprooted families and
placed them in detention centers
in the American interior throughout
the duration of World War II
(the last camp closed in March
1946). Although many Japanese
Americans accepted the government's
actions, some did not.
Fred Korematsu,
a twenty-three-year-old welder
born in Oakland, was one of
the individuals who challenged
the internment order. Unlike
other resisters such as Gordon
Hirabayashi and Min Yasui, Korematsu
had no legal training and was
not a social activist. He was
an individual who, in standing
up for his own rights, represented
the interests of a large number
of interned Japanese Americans.
Korematsu, then, is important
because he allows students to
understand how ordinary individuals
make decisions that impact history.
This issue is particularly important
because we believe that, while
students are generally familiar
with internment, they do not
clearly understand the difficult
maze individuals faced in challenging
Executive Order 9066. In a world
of quick-fix solutions, we felt
it was important for students
to understand the process and
patience necessary to challenge
the law and affect history.
Since Korematsu
spent the majority of his life
outside the public eye, we determined
that it was best if our lesson
study focused on the Supreme
Court trial which ruled on whether
Korematsu was breaking the law
by resisting interment. We felt
that the best way to explore
the trial was to hold a mock
trial which addressed the issues
presented in the actual trial.
Students would be presented
with documents from the time
that illuminated a particular
individual's experience during
the war. Our trial, then, would
focus less on exploring the
mechanics of a legal case and
more on hearing different voices
of the time. To this end, we
envisioned putting people on
the stand who would not have
been at the original trail (survivors
of Pearl Harbor, white neighbors
of Japanese families, etc.)
By crafting our mock trail in
such a way, we believed students
would see not only Korematsu's
perspective, but those of the
judges, lawyers, and community
members who were forced to make
compromises and uncomfortable
decisions with regard to internment.
In conducting
this activity, we believed students
would begin to understand how
certain historical events have
various consequences for different
individuals. In addition, we
believed that students would
be forced to consider how a
certain place can have a powerful
impact upon shaping people's
lives and historical events.
The mock trail was also a useful
tool in helping us devise ways
for helping students develop
empathy for historical figures.
In the end, we
hoped that the mock trail would
help students understand internment
from both the citizen and government
perspective, taking into the
account the context of the times.
Students, hopefully, would be
less dismissive of individuals
who did not resist internment
while understanding why it was
important for individuals to
stand up for their rights.
