Student Assignment on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights – WWII Internment Camps

In this assignment, students will watch a documentary from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (less than 30 minutes in length). The documentary will introduce students to President Roosevelt’s executive order issued during World War II and the landmark case of Korematsu v. United States (1944). The assignment includes questions to check for understanding and ultimately asks students to decide for themselves if they think history could repeat itself or not.

This can be given to students as a brief writing assignment outside of class. It also works well as an assignment in a completely online class. I’ve also given the video and questions to a substitute if I have to miss a day of class. It’s best if it’s assigned after a review of federal courts, civil liberties, and civil rights.

The Word document contains the entire assignment to give to students. Word’s accessibility checker doesn’t show any issues, so it should be accessible for all of your students.