Lyrics Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Lyrics and story behind the popular song that came out in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Port Chicago, CA, Explosion 1944
Article from US Naval Historical Center, connected to Chicago Port Munity
Produce For Victory: Posters for the Homefront
This exhibition was organized by the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
144 years of marriage and divorce in one chart
Not only does this chart explain the baby boom after World War II, but it shows another perspective on how bad the 70s were. It might take a little work to notice it - but look closely at the steep increase of divorces in the 1970s. Another discussion could be prompted by entertaining explanations of the increase of divorces in the 1940s as well
"Negro-Japanese Fifth Column Possible" 1942
Newspaper article warning San Francisco of attempts by Japanese to recruit African-Americans in their war effort against the United States
Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941)
In June of 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, banning discriminatory employment practices by Federal agencies and all unions and companies engaged in war-related work. The order also established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to enforce the new policy.
Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942)
Issued by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, this order authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to relocation centers further inland.
World War II Conscientious Objectors Project
Many issues studies from the University of Illinois at Springfield Oral History Collection
The Political Dr. Seuss
Examines Seuss's political views shaped by World War II and illustrated in his cartoons.
Dr. Seuss Went to War
Examines Seuss's political views shaped by World War II and illustrated in his cartoons.
GI -- World War II images
This collection of photographs from the National Archives provides a pictoral history of a select group of events from World War II
What did you do in the war, Grandma?
An Oral History of Rhode Island Women during World War II . Written by students in the Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School
World War II Poster Collection from Northwestern University Library
The Government and Geographic Information and Data Services Department at Northwestern University Library has a comprehensive collection of over 300 posters issued by U.S. Federal agencies from the onset of war through 1945.
Vogue Picture Records, 1946-1947.
Approximately seventy-four titles were produced by Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, Michigan from May 1946 through August 1947 which are highly prized by collectors for their colorful designs. Images from 12 discs are reproduced here
ALIC - Japanese Relocation and Internment
US National Archives directory of resources
World War I and II War Posters and Postcards
Over 5,000 postcards and posters that are multi-national in scope and cover veterans' benefits, war bonds and loans, military recruitment and morale, civil defense, industrial production, freedom and loyalty campaigns, international welfare organizations, prices and rationing, transportation, health and safety, labor organizations, films and theatre, food production, sports and leisure, recruiting of women in military and non-combatant organizations, special events, anti-war movements, and other topics
Avalon Project - World War II : Documents
Most extensive collection of World War II primary documents from Yale Law School's Avalon Project.
Independent Lens . THE POLITICAL DR. SEUSS | PBS
Dr. Suess also made political cartoons that denounced racism, isolationism and other issues of the day - this companion site for a documentary film about his political work includes articles and a gallery of images.
American Home Front
from commercial site
Fred Korematsu's Headstone
A picture of Fred Korematsu's headstone, read the inscription
WWII: How Detroit Won The War - Photo Gallery - LIFE
VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 on Vimeo
Four minute color home movie clips o VJ filmed in Honolulu; edited together with a soundtrack of Jimmy Durante singing "I'll Be Seeing You," it's pretty hard not to get chills.
Japanese American Internment during World War II - Primary Source Set | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress
Library of Congress collection of images and other materials, including analysis tools and guides for teachers
World War II in Photos - The Atlantic
Why not have students review these photos and tie them to themes you provide or have them generate their own themes? Have them choose just 10 from the 900 and explain why their subset best exemplifies the war.
This series of entries was published weekly on TheAtlantic.com from June 19 through October 30, 2011, running every Sunday morning for 20 weeks. In this collection of 900 photos spread over 20 essays, I tried to explore the events of the war, the lives of the people fighting at the front and working back home, and the effects of the trauma on everyday activity.
Orson Welles' War of the Worlds panic myth: The infamous radio broadcast did not cause a nationwide hysteria.
Great lesson for WWII in US History class - set the context of Munich appeasement and fear of world war, then tell the story of the broadcast and the panic. Students job? - find out if reports of the panic were valid - how would you check? End with the media fight between radio and newspapers. What are implications for the internet?
Related material can also be found at the National Archives collection of letters written to the FCC after the broadcast (https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/fall/war-of-worlds.html). In this National Archive articles it states that "Of the 1,770 people who wrote to the main CBS station about the broadcast, 1,086 were complimentary. In addition, 91 percent of the letters received by the Mercury Theatre staff were positive. And roughly 40 percent of the letters sent to the FCC were supportive of the broadcast."
Legendary photographer Ansel Adams visited a Japanese internment camp in 1943, here’s what he saw - The Washington Post
In 1943, Ansel Adams set out to document life inside the Japanese-American internment camp at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California. It was a departure for Adams, who at the time was known as a landscape photographer and not for social-documentary work. When Adams offered this collection of images to the Library of Congress, he said, “The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment….All in all, I think this Manzanar Collection is an important historical document, and I trust it can be put to good use.”
We're gonna have to slap that dirty litle jap - YouTube
This Carson Robison song demonstrates the extreme of racist propaganda in World War II. This 2:40 song can serve as a intro to a class or in a presentation.
Featured Source Performance Assessment: Civil Rights During WWII - Emerging America
This performance task requires students to compare text, sound files, and images to deepen their understanding of the efforts by African Americans to advance the Double V Campaign (victory over racism at war and at home) during WWII. A timeline helps students sequence and visualize the relative length of time between events.
Treatment of the Japanese-American Internment during World War II
This lengthy article is for teachers who want to find a way to include historiography in their lessons. Every lesson on the Nisei should include reference to the fact that the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II was taught differently in the past. Excerpts from textbooks can be included in DBQs as well
Special Focus: Sojourner Truth Housing Project · Before the Unrest: 1940 - 1967 · 12th Street Detroit
Housing shortages during World War II are commonly ignored in the taught narrative canon, but the issue opens the door to understanding race relations. A federal housing project is the focus of a segregation fight in the midst of World War II