• 11.7 Students analyze America’s participation in World War II.
  • 11.1.Examine the origins of American involvement in the war, with an emphasis on the events that precipitated the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • 11.3.Identify the roles and sacrifices of individual American soldiers, as well as the unique contributions of the special fighting forces (e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd Regimental Combat team, the Navajo Code Talkers).
  • 11.4.Analyze Roosevelt’s foreign policy during World War II (e.g., Four Freedoms speech).
  • 11.5.Discuss the constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home front, including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v. United States of America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the response of the administration to Hitler’s atrocities against Jews and other groups; the roles of women in military production; and the roles and growing political demands of African Americans.
  • 11.6.Describe major developments in aviation, weaponry, communication, and medicine and the war’s impact on the location of American industry and use of resources.

This project was conducted largely in class. In groups, students formed presentations to teach the class about one section of the World War II chapter. Our group was assigned to the section on The Home Front. We delegated work and hammered out the necessary documents and presentations. Included were short quizzes, a review guide, and some examples of propaganda that were used to further explain various topics. During class, on presentation day, we awarded house points for volunteers who answered quiz questions as part of review following the presentation.

I was somewhat suprised by what I learned from this section and presentation. While I expected that there would be friends who would turn against their home, I did not fully understand how much the nissei turned. By their regiment's record, they performed admirably in the theatre of war. Also, learning about the various names of food being manipulated to lose references or linguistic roots was quite hilarious. Turning a hamburger into a "liberty burger" will entertain me often and at random times for a while to come. It was so unusual, that it became one of those topics that seems "stuck" in one's head.