Japanese American Baseball in the Camps

Introduce young students to Japanese-American internment during World War II through baseball-related discussions, readings and activities. Invite students to compare and contrast the internees' experiences with personal team sport-related challenges they've encountered.

Learning Standards

U.S. History (from the National Center for History in the Schools)

Topic 1: Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago.
Topic 3: The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and Values and the People from Many Cultures who Contributed to its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage.

U.S. History (from the National Center for History in the Schools)

Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945) 3C: The student evaluates the internment of Japanese Americans during the war and assesses the implications for civil liberties.

OBJECTIVE

To become aware of the Japanese American internment during World War II.
To understand how hardships can often lead to personal growth and strengthening of communities.
To understand how need can lead to creativity and resourcefulness.
To see a historical event from multiple perspectives.

MATERIALS

Our Guard in the Watchtower Became a Spring Baseball Fan at Santa Fe by Kago Takamura (PDF)
Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee. Book not included.
"Compare and Contrast" graphic organizer (PDF)

DIRECTIONS
Key Terms/Concepts
internment, resiliency

Background Information

On December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there were more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast of the United States. Within a few months, they were all gone from their homes. Because of fears of espionage and sabotage along the Pacific, the government placed Japanese American men, women, and children in internment camps in the interior of the country. Two-thirds of the internees were U.S. citizens. None of them was ever charged with a crime.

Though anger and resentment were inevitable among the detainees, many quickly realized that they needed to create a sense of normalcy and accomplishment in order to survive. As Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston puts in her memoir, Farewell to Manzanar, each camp became, in time, "a totally equipped American small town, complete with schools, churches, Boy Scouts, beauty parlors, neighborhood gossip, fire and police departments, and glee clubs."

Despite relocation, the men in the camps continued their pre-war pursuit of baseball by building diamonds and bleachers and setting up leagues for all ages. Baseball became a powerful symbol of resilience and an important part of community life in the camps.

Part One: Accessing Prior Knowledge

Lead a discussion with the class about team sports. Ask if any of the children participate on any athletic teams. If so, ask:

where they play (baseball diamond, hockey rink, soccer field)
what equipment they need to play
when they play
what people are needed to make a team or a game complete (number of players, coaches, spectators, etc.)
and most importantly, why they play (for fun, fitness, companionship, skill building, etc.).

At the higher grades, discuss internment in terms of civil rights.

Part Two: Examining the Images

Present the image Our Guard in the Watchtower Became a Spring Baseball Fan at Santa Fe. As students to name what they see (colors, objects, actions, emotions). Write the responses in the appropriate place in the "Compare and Contrast" graphic organizer.

Repeat the exercise using the illustration on the cover of Baseball Saved Us. This time, pass out copies of the "Compare and Contrast" graphic organizer and divide the class into small groups to complete the worksheet. Have one student from each group report to the class about their conclusions and questions.

Part Three: Read Aloud

Read Baseball Saved Us. Before you get started, explain to the students that the characters in the story were taken from their homes and sent to live in a camp in the desert. They had not done anything wrong. They, their parents, or their grandparents had been born in Japan, and the United States was at war with Japan. You might also talk for a moment about name-calling and how that makes one feel.

Questions for a post-reading discussion:

What were some things that made the boy in the story unhappy? (Name-calling, leaving home, the guard who was always staring, loneliness in the cafeteria)
What made him happy? (Got the winning hit and a thumbs-up from the guard, his baseball skills improved in camp, got the support of teammates)

Return to the "Compare and Contrast" graphic organizer and discuss the students' observations of the differences between these images, and why two versions of the same scene might look so different.

Part Four: Concluding Activity

Have the students write a story (true or imagined) about participating in a team sport. The story should include a challenge, a success, and the reasons that the success was achieved.

Alternately, if you are using the lesson in the context of a unit on discrimination, social injustice, or World War II, students might write about the internment itself and consider whether such a situation can ever be fair.

Additional Resources

National Museum of American History exhibition A More Perfect Union

For additional teaching resources visit www.SmithsonianEducation.org