Lesson II: Baseball Saved Us
Objective: To better understand the Japanese American incarceration and the prejudice faced by detainees before and after World War II.
Materials:
1. The book, Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
Chart paper for small groups and magic markers for writing
Procedure: This lesson can be taught in one session of about 60 minutes or most effectively in two sessions with the pre-activity question and the reading of the book, then the post-activity taking place in a subsequent period.
Pre-Activity: Write the word CAMP on the board or project it. Tell the students to brainstorm their thoughts and ideas about what this word means or makes them think about. Give them one minute to write as much as they can.
When the time is up, tell them to keep these thoughts in mind when the book, Baseball Saved Us is read. Then think about how their thoughts are the same or different from the camp in the story.
Activity: Read the book, Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki.
Post-Activity and Discussion: Ask the students to share their responses from the pre-activity telling only what thoughts were similar to the camp in the story. Write these responses on the chalkboard.
Explain that the camp in the story was different from our idea of summer camp, although we can find some similarities. In 1942 approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast were sent to remote desert “internment” camps because the United States was at war with Japan. Two-thirds of the Japanese Americans were citizens. But their rights as citizens were denied because the U.S. government said they could not determine who was loyal or disloyal. However, no case of espionage was ever proven against any of these detainees. In 1988 after a presidential commission studied the Japanese American incarceration, it was found that a grave injustice had been done to these citizens, that the causes of the incarceration were race prejudice, war hysteria, and failure of political leadership. The U.S. government formally apologized to those interned.
Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Tell them to work together to answer these questions. Each group should have a recorder and a reporter who will share their answers with the class later.
Questions:
Set A: What were the differences between your ideas of summer camp from the “internment” camp in the story? List the differences.
Also tell what you think people in camp might do to make life interesting or bearable.
The family in the story had to throw "away a lot of stuff." They were ordered to report to an detention center with only two suitcases per person or to bring only what they could carry. What would you pack in your two suitcases? Remember that each family had to bring their own linen (towels, sheet, etc.), their eating utensils, and their clothes. Make a list of the things you would pack.
List also those items that you had to throw or give away that you would miss the most.
Set B: The boy in this story faced racism and prejudice. (Racism is the practice of discriminating or judging an individual or a group based on the belief that some races are by nature superior to others. Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without reason, knowl-edge, or thought.) What were some examples of racism and prejudice he encountered?
What racism or prejudice do you or your classmates experience today? Give examples, if possible.
Set C: Baseball Saved Us is the title of the book. In what ways did baseball save the people in camp? How did it help the:
community?
family?
individual?
What about the game of baseball itself helped the people survive?
What sport or real-life sports figures are considered "models" or "heroes" to their race?
Set D: If you were sent away to a desert camp, what would you miss from your house? neighbor-hood? community? What people or animals would you miss?
Set E:
When the boy and his family returned home to his community how were things the same and how were they different from when he had left?
If this boy were on your team, how could you make him feel more comfortable and confident?
Give some examples of how you or your friends have been helped to do your best.
Give the student 15-20 minutes to work on these questions in groups. Have each group share their answers and ask the class to add any more thoughts that they might have.
Homework: Select one of these questions to do as a homework assignment.
Find out ten facts about the causes and the justification or reasons for the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Also summarize the conclusions of the Presidential Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians 1983.
Find out about the “internment” camps. How many were there? Where were they? What was the size in population of these camps? How were they organized? What types of recreation did they have? What were the conditions in the family dwellings? What did they do about education, health, food, sanitation, etc.? What were some of the controversies in camp?
Make a diagram or a map of an “internment” camp and how it was organized.
Find out from three original newspaper sources what was said about the Japanese American incarceration during 1941 and 1942.
Make a diorama of a typical family living quarter in the camp barracks.
Write a diary entry as the boy in this book. Tell your feelings about camp, about your family especially how your parents and brother are reacting to this imprisonment, and about baseball in camp. Be sure to include your reaction to your role in the crucial game. You might also mention what your hopes and dreams are.
Interview a person who was in an “internment” camp during World War II about their experiences before the war, when war was declared, their time in the detention center, the incarceration camp, and their return.
