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One Book
Website for the RVCC One Book Community-wide Read.
RVCC One Book 2017
A book discussion of Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor was Divine was held on Thursday, April 13, 2017 from 1-2:20PM in the Robeson Resource Center (Library 1st floor).
The Library's book discussion is one in a series of events centered around the RVCC One Book.
For more information on internment of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II, explore the resources linked from this page.
Historical and Literary Context
Timeline of the historical events in the novel's plot and of the book's publishing, as well as audio interviews about World War II and the Japanese internment.
https://www.arts.gov/national-initiatives/nea-big-read/when-the-emperor-was-divine
Educational Materials
Resources for educators: lesson plans, activities, primary sources, exhibits.
- Lesson Plan: Views and Voices from Within The Art and Writing of Estelle Ishigo, Heart Mountain Relocation Center, 1942-1945This unit focuses on Ishigo's artwork, which provides a rare inside look at life in an internment camp. Students use primary sources to learn how internees lived and made a home under incredibly constrained circumstances.
- Lesson Plan: Are We Americans Again? A Portrait of Japanese American InternmentStudents reflect on Ishigo's artwork and personal writing to develop a sense of historical understanding of the internees' experiences during and after incarceration in an internment camp for Japanese Americans. The unit also defines and describes basic human rights and the role of an American citizen.
- Lesson Plan: Beauty Behind Barbed Wire The Relocation Camp Experience of Estelle IshigoIshigo's personal letters, artwork, and official documents to relate the themes of tolerance and prejudice to the era of Japanese internment, understand that media plays a part in propaganda, and learn how artists convey thoughts and emotions through art.
- Teaching the Japanese American Experience: An Educator’s Tool KitThe Educator’s Toolkit contains a sampling of lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students in Visual Arts, English/Language Arts, U.S. History, and U.S. Government. These materials are available in four parts for download: Instruction Book, Elementary, Middle, and High School Units.
Elementary Toolkit: http://media.janm.org/education/resources/JAtoolkit/JANM-EducatorToolkit-ElementarySchool.pdf
Middle School Toolkit: http://media.janm.org/education/resources/JAtoolkit/JANM-EducatorToolkit-MiddleSchool.pdf
High School Toolkit: http://media.janm.org/education/resources/JAtoolkit/JANM-EducatorToolkit-HighSchool.pdf - Japanese Relocation During World War II - National ArchivesContains background information and other sources, as well as educator resources: documents, standards correlations, teaching activities, a worksheet, and links.
- Teachers Guide for Harada HouseThe Harada family was evacuated from their home and business during the relocation effort of 1942. Their home is now part of the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, which uses the space to preserve collections, perform community outreach, and to provide education about Japanese internment. Their Reading the Walls lesson resources tell the struggles of the Harada family. Find the lesson resource links here: http://www.riversideca.gov/museum/haradahouse/
- Life Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in World War II ArkansasThe Life Interrupted educational curriculum was produced by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and JANM to educate the citizens of Arkansas and the nation about Jerome and Rohwer, the two Japanese American concentration camps placed in Arkansas during World War II. Master teachers created standards-based units available for elementary school (Reading, Social Studies, Visual Arts), middle school (Arkansas History), middle school (Geography), and high school (Civics, U.S. History).