Lesson Plan: Legacy of the Korematsu Decision

Subjects:

U.S. History or Civics/Government

• This lesson fits in either a U.S. History course covering domestic issues during World War II or a Civics/Government course examining the Supreme Court, civil liberties or the separation of powers.

Grade Level:

8-12

Lesson Duration:

• 1-2 class periods
• Timing is dependent upon the number of primary sources the teacher asks students to examine. Additional links have been provided that offer opportunities for students to delve deeper into the issue of Japanese American incarceration.

Essential Questions:

• How did the United States government legitimize its efforts to relocate and incarcerate Japanese Americans?
• How did the efforts of Japanese Americans lead to the creation of the redress movement and the repudiation of a Supreme Court decision?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Analyze an Executive Order to determine the power of the executive branch
• Evaluate Supreme Court opinions to determine the main idea and supporting details from both majority and dissenting opinions
• Examine the methods used by Japanese Americans to advocate for greater civil rights and liberties

Materials:

• Retro Report video “How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning”
• Activity: Legacy of the Korematsu Decision
• Text of Executive Order 9066 |  National Archives.
• Text of the Korematsu v. United States Supreme Court opinion:
  • Justice Black’s majority opinion
  • Justice Jackson’s dissenting opinion
  • Justice Murphy’s dissenting opinion
• Background information about the Coram Nobis cases | Densho (a nonprofit organization that documents oral histories of Japanese-Americans incarcerated during World War II)
• Excerpt from an F.B.I. memo by J. Edgar Hoover | Densho
• Excerpts from a Justice Department memo by Edward J. Ennis

Procedure:

1. Students will begin by reading Executive Order No. 9066, issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.
   1. The text of the order is provided within the student activity itself. The teacher may also send students to an image of the actual document, available from the National Archives.
2. Next, students will view the film “How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning” and answer the provided questions.
   1. There are several areas within the film that can be expanded for extension activities. Some of these include:
   2. Analysis of anti-Japanese imagery and comparison to other World War II era posters and artwork. See the “Anti-Japanese Propaganda” link below.
   3. Examination of the redress movement and the broader Asian American civil rights movement. Links provided below.
3. Students will analyze excerpts from both majority and dissenting opinions in the Korematsu case. The questions ask students to summarize both points of view and examine the balance between liberty and security inherent in this case. The full opinions can be found below:
   1. Justice Black’s majority opinion
   2. Justice Jackson’s dissenting opinion
   3. Justice Murphy’s dissenting opinion
4. Students will then examine another primary source document. “The Aftermath” section provides a short written summary of Fred Korematsu’s fight with the U.S. government in the 1980s, known as the Coram Nobis cases. At the heart of Korematsu’s claim was that the U.S. government lied about evidence it had concerning the threat of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast. A Justice Department memo provided this analysis.
   1. Students can read more about the Coram Nobis cases using a site from Densho.
   2. If students wish to view the original F.B.I. memo by J. Edgar Hoover or read the full report authored by Justice Department attorney Edward J. Ennis, they can do so using the links provided.
   3. The reflection question asks students to synthesize the information they learned throughout this lesson regarding Japanese American incarceration and the work of those advocating for Asian American civil rights and describe the legacy of Korematsu and this period in history.

Additional Resources:

• Fred T. Korematsu Institute
• Drawings, Maps, and Artifacts of Japanese American Confinement Sites | National Japanese American Historical Society
• Behind Barbed Wire: Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers | Library of Congress
• Anti-Japanese Propaganda | Hampton Roads Naval Museum
• Yellow Power: The Origins of Asian America | Densho
• Redress Movement | Japanese American Citizens League
• The Long Road to Redress | United States House of Representatives
• Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration | National WWII Museum

About the Author:

David Olson is the Director of Education for Retro Report. Prior to joining Retro Report, he was an award-winning teacher of U.S. History, A.P. U.S. Government and Politics and Criminal Justice at a public high school in Madison, Wisc.

Standards

Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1:Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2:Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3: Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.6:Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.8:Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claims.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1:Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

C-3 Framework Standards for Social Studies:

• D1.5.9-12.Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
• D2.Civ.1.9-12.Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.
• D2.Civ.3.9-12.Analyze the impact of constitutions, laws, treaties, and interna-tional agreements on the maintenance of national and international order.
• D2.Civ.4.9-12.Explain how the U.S. Constitution establishes a system of government that has powers, responsibilities, and limits that have changed over time and that are still contested.
• D2.Civ.5.9-12.Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
• D2.Civ.10.9-12.Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
• D2.Civ.12.9-12.Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.

AP Government and Politics

• Unit 3: Civil Liberties & Rights