D-Day: The Turning Point of the War in Europe 

Students receive background on Operation Overlord through maps and audio-visual presentations, explore a “Bigot” map of Omaha Beach to learn about the challenges of planning and executing Operation Overlord, make decisions about where and when D-Day should be launched, “read” a D-Day artifact to learn about using objects to tell stories, and finally, working in groups, compare and contrast four archival descriptions of the Allied invasion of Normandy.  D-Day: what a difference a day makes! 

Iwo Jima and the War in the Pacific 

Students learn about the vastness of the Pacific Theater by exploring its geography.  They “read” a Navy “Shellback” certificate and participate in an Equator-crossing initiation.  Next they survey the Island Hopping campaign using maps and viewing video of oral histories.  This leads up to the invasion of Iwo Jima.  Here they explore the campaign and analyze the photograph of the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi.  Students learn to personalize history by exploring a set of artifacts from one Marine who fought there. 

America Goes to War: The Home Front during WWII 

The Home Front program begins with a brief background describing how the U.S. entered the war.  Students then tackle four challenges of the Home Front: making all the materials we need to win, dealing with food shortages, protecting the country from attacks (real and imagined), and keeping America optimistic and “war-minded.”  Through photos, posters, editorial cartoons, songs, and speeches, students learn about the triumphs and mistakes that were made at home during the war.

Double Victory: African Americans in WWII

Students learn about the triumphs and tribulations experienced by African Americans on the battle fronts and on the Home Front.  They meet Pearl Harbor hero Dorie Miller, the Montford Point Marines, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the seven African American Medal of Honor recipients.  They learn about A. Philip Randolph’s push for racial equality in war factories and in the barracks and trace the historic path from Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 (establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee in 1940) to President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 (desegregating the military in 1948).  An analysis of contemporary African American poetry will get students thinking about issues of race, equality, and how we remember and teach history.