Website
PBS

Pbs: The War: At Home

For Students 9th - 10th
From the extensive PBS site accompanying Ken Burns' The War, read about America at home during World War II. Read about war mobilization, censorship, how families dealt with the war, and the abrogation of civil rights as Japanese...
Lesson Plan
Other

National Council for the Social Studies: Fear, Panic, and Injustice

For Teachers 4th - 6th
What did it feel like to have to leave your home and possessions to live in a camp during WWII because you were a Japanese-American? Students will understand the climate of fear during this time and develop empathy toward the families...
Handout
US Navy

Nhhc: Oceanic Period (1890 1945)

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the build-up of the U.S. Navy after the Spanish-American War and how it was used to protech the country in World Wars I and II.
Primary
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: The World War Ii Home Front

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] World War II had a deep impact on the United States. The war affected all phases of American life both on the home front and overseas in battle. This text document addresses the many and varied ways...
Primary
Rutgers University

Rutgers Oral History Archive

For Students 9th - 10th
This archive records the personal experiences of the American men and women who served on the homefront and overseas during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. Also offers resources on the men and women who...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: The Presidency and the Cold War

For Students 9th - 10th
View videos, photograph, and renderings of American presidents and their foreign counterparts in this image-rich examination of the post-World War II environment and the cold war that followed it. Includes a review of key foreign-policy...
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Japanese Internment

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, an action that resulted from Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. The constitutionality of the order was challenged all the way to the Supreme Court by Fred...
Article
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Every Citizen a Soldier: World War Ii Posters on the Home Front

For Students 9th - 10th
An article from the quarterly journal, History Now, discusses the importance of posters in World War II in encouraging support in the United States for the war. See examples of posters and read about how they emphasized the role of every...
Unknown Type
Scholastic

Scholastic: Hiroshima: A Survivor's Story

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read an account of the experiences of Francis Mitsuo Tomosawa, a fifteen-year-old American of Japanese descent who was in Hiroshima on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on the city.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: World War Ii Memorial

For Students 9th - 10th
Description of the National World War II Memorial, located on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Contains information on all facilities and park map and brochures in PDF form etc.
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: 1939 45: Everyday Life During World War Ii

For Students 9th - 10th
Primary source photographs and documents showing what daily life was like during World War II.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Rosie the Riveter

For Students 9th - 10th
Features a summary and interesting facts about Rosie the Riveter, a famous fictional character representing the women workers who made their contribution to the US war effort during WW2.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Fdr and World War Ii

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses how Franklin D. Roosevelt guided the United States through World War II and laid the groundwork for Harry Truman to assume the role after his death.
Graphic
PBS

The War: Save Waste Fats for Explosives

For Students 9th - 10th
At the online companion site of the PBS documentary series "THE WAR," view a poster from WWII aiming at recycling fat for ammunition.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: Independent Lens: Conscience and the Constitution

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Would you accept being drafted into military service if your family was being held in an internment camp? That was the question on many a Japanese American's mind during World War 2. Explore the stories of those who resisted service and...
Primary
Other

Tanks for the Memories: Oral History of the Tankers

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides detailed excerpts from a book containing written oral histories of those American soldiers who served in tanks during World War 2.
Article
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Tween Tribune: The True Story of "Hidden Figures"

For Students 5th - 6th
"Hidden Figures" was a blockbuster movie and book about African-American women working for NASA beginning after WWII. These women not only made great strides for the space program but also advanced the civil rights movement. Learn more...
Unit Plan
The Best Notes

The Best Notes: Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an online study guide/notes for the novel Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis. In this novel, a...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: George Marshall

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a brief but informative piece on George C. Marshall - creator of the Marshall Plan. Includes pictures of most of the world players at the time. Describes his role in formulating the Marshall Plan.
Interactive
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Classroom: War Powers

For Students 9th - 10th
Check out this interactive timeline on War powers in the United States.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: The Gi Bill

For Students 9th - 10th
The GI Bill is explained. It provided benefits to American veterans of World War II in the form of education, loans, unemployment income, etc.
Website
US Department of State

Biographies of the Secretaries of State: George Catlett Marshall (1880 1959)

For Students 9th - 10th
Biography of George C. Marshall provides details of his life as he rose to prominence in the U.S. military and wielded enormous influence on American diplomacy.
Primary
Other

An Afternoon With Saburo Sakai: Japanese Fighter Ace

For Students 9th - 10th
An interview by Scott Hards with Saburo Sakai, the great Japanese fighter ace who described the war in the air against the Americans. (1998)
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: World War Ii: The Home Front

For Teachers 6th - 8th
World War II opened a new chapter in the lives of Americans. It was a time of social change and a marked increase in patriotism. In this lesson, middle schoolers will explore how World War II affected civilians at home.

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