Go directly to the collection, "Suffering
Under a Great Injustice": Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American
Internment at Manzanar, in American Memory, or view a Summary
of Resources related to the collection. A study of Ansel Adams's Manzanar
photographs can be enhanced
by critical
thinking projects rooted
in the collection. Practice chronological thinking by tracing U.S.-Japanese
relations, or use analysis and interpretation to examine Born Free and
Equal.
Explore the controversial nature of the evacuation of Japanese Americans
through issue-analysis and research, and demonstrate your understanding
of this complex subject in a creative writing project. Critical thinking
topics include:
Chronological Thinking |
Historical Comprehension | Historical
Analysis and Interpretation | Historical
Issue-Analysis and Decision-Making | Historical
Research Capabilities
Chronological Thinking:
Timeline of U.S.-Japanese Relations
Understanding U.S.-Japanese relations in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries is essential to understanding and evaluating the government's
decision to evacuate Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast during
World War II. Use basic history textbooks to trace the development of
diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Japan. Begin your timeline with
the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907-8 and end it with the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
- What was the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907-8 intended to do? What was its actual impact?
- On what grounds did the U.S. Supreme Court decide in its 1922 cases, Ozawa
v. United States and Yamashita v. Hinkle, that Issei, or people born in Japan, were not eligible for naturalization in the U.S.?
- How did the Immigration Act of 1924 affect U.S.-Japanese relations?
- To what extent did Japanese immigration affect U.S.-Japanese relations?
What other factors affected U.S.-Japanese relations?
- What was the relationship between popular opinion in the U.S. and the country's
official policy with Japan?
Chronological Thinking |
Historical Comprehension | Historical
Analysis and Interpretation | Historical
Issue-Analysis and Decision-Making | Historical
Research Capabilities |
