Time of Fear

Name: Jeneva Crum
Grade: 5th
grade
Subject: All
School: Buffalo Elementary but will be moving in 2020-2021 to Hometown Elementary
A Time to Fear is a documentary about Japanese Americans that were moved to remote areas
after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The focus is on the people that were put in Arkansas camps.
During this time in America most of the Japanese that lived in America had been here for years.
Their children were born in America, making them U.S. citizens. They lived mainly in coastal
areas. The United States government panicked when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened and
they began arresting prominent leaders of Japanese descent. All others were sent to camps
monitored by War Relocation Authorities. Families were separated some of the fathers were
arrested and detained. The Japanese had to leave everything they owned. Life in these camps
were different. The children had lots of children to play with. They no longer had to sit at the
dinner table with their family, as they sat with the other children. They all worked very hard.
The governor of Arkansas had strict rules for the camp. The Japanese could not work in his state
amongst others. When they were finally allowed to go out and work, they had to work in other
states. Some of them could join the Japanese American Firing Unit. The Japanese were finally
released in 1944. Some were excited to get out and start their lives over again while some of the
elderly stayed in Arkansas and tried to make it there instead of starting over again. In 1988
Regan introduced the Civil Liberties Act and awarded those held in camps 20,000. The story
was told by Japanese Americans that were in the camps and Americans that lived in Arkansas at
the time.
I found this DVD interesting however, I am not sure that I would use it in my class. It was a
story about their lives and how they changed because of this attack. They talked about how they
felt and how different things were now. I only accounted one word that was not school
appropriate. I feel that older students would be okay with watching this. This video didn’t not
show anything graphic as far as being mistreated or the war goes. I do think it would make a
good video to use when talking about bullying and how we treat others. The Japanese talk about
how this all made them feel and how they were treated differently and didn’t know where they fit
in. They talk about being allowed to go into town and when they went into town, the white
people wouldn’t move out of the way on the sidewalks. Letting them know really fast they
weren’t welcome there. They also talk about the bus being separated into the white and colored
sections. The driver told them not to sit in the back because that was for colored only. It is a
great lesson on what really happened to the Japanese, living in America, during World War II. It
does not directly hit any of my Social Studies Standards. You could show the DVD and have
students complete an essay. Students could write comparison essay on their lives before and after
the war.