Imagine being forcibly relocated from your home, your school or your family to a bleak prison surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. This was not a nightmare from Nazi Germany but an American injustice endured by nearly 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Thousands of innocent Japanese Americans were forced into isolated internment camps because of racial prejudice and wartime hysteria. Remarkably, they created courageous communities where patriotism prospered, loyalty to the U.S. did not falter, and they played baseball to sustain their pride and morale.
Join the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the National Park Service for a sobering visit to the Manzanar War Relocation Center. This National Historic Site provides a compelling classroom to relive the experience of Japanese Americans held captive during World War II, as well as the plight of countless nationalities who face discrimination and intolerance still today. This is a tale of the indomitable Issei and Nisei generations. Learn through the emotional memories of survivors, and the invincible cheers of detainees’ baseball games that still echo across the desert valley.
More Info about EFTs
Electronic Field Trips have a complete curriculum website for teachers with lots more lesson plans, and fun, educational content for your students. Registration is required, but it's free with a Best Buy Children's Foundation Scholarship. If you haven't signed up, you can register here.
If you have the login and password for the Eruption! web site, you can check it out at bsu.edu/eft/manzanar/.
First published on Jan 17, 2007.
