United We Win

In your answer, make sure you address all of the questions below:

What message do you think the poster above is trying to get across? (In your answer be sure to address the fact that there is both a white man and a black man in the poster). Why do you think this message is important during war? What might have been happening in America that might have made a poster like the one above necessary? How might a black person feel viewing this poster during WWII? How might a white person feel viewing this poster during WWII?

Aaron Elster

What do you think about his experiences so far? Please talk about specific examples from the book.

What if?

NOTE: Please read everything before you post. You can skip the link below, but I thought it was cool how the museum let me film a little message to share.

This last weekend I had the chance to go to the National World War II Museum. It was really an incredible experience. I learned a lot, but two pieces of information really stood out for me. There was one exhibit that focused on how Jews who lived in America contributed to WWII. To see me share what I learned from that exhibit, click below:

http://www.apsoluta.com/ictv/player/nww2.php?file=http://cms-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ICTV_video_33_2011_2_6_13_58_56379_2011.8489892161451.flv

The second piece of information that I never knew was that by the year 1939, the United States Army was ranked number 19 (just behind Bulgaria) in terms of strength. The United States was definitely not ready to fight (much less lead) in World War II. It had a peacetime military that still relied on old technology. The picture to the left from the museum contains little soldiers, aircraft figures, and ships to show powerful each country was by 1939. See how small the American military might is compared with Japan and Germany by 1939.

Assignment:

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, most Americans finally realized that the United States could no longer remain neutral in World War II. Before this point, many Americans were split over tbe idea of the United States going to war. Imagine it is 1939. You are an average American. Would you be for or against America getting involved in WWII?

Here is the information you have to help makeup your mind:

• You are a young adult male/female with little money and no job (thanks to the lingering effects of the Great Depression)



• You lost an uncle in WWI. He was poisoned to death in a foxhole by mustard gas.



• You've read about how the Americans are extremely unprepared for war.

Write one paragraph telling me what you would do and why. Take into account all of the information that you have to make up your mind and explain it it factored in your decision-making.

Skimming

I want you to skim the following article and share some of the insights that you have after reading through it. Why do you think survivors share their stories?

http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=survivors&ke=7

This blog entry is due Friday, March 4 at 4:00. Anything past that time will lose substantial credit.

An American Perspective

What do you think about his experiences? Please reflect on what you just witnessed and provide examples from the video for support.

An American Perspective

What do you think about his experiences? Please reflect with examples from the video.

Bystander Effect

Last week we read a student poem in which the poet wrote as if she was a witness to the events of the Holocaust.The person in the poem choose to just "walk away," even though the person knew that Jews were being mistreated. When someone sees wrong occuring but makes the choice not to act, that is called being a bystander.

The Holocaust is not the only time in which people were bystanders. It is a common thing that all of us have been guilty of at some points in our lives. Here is another example of someone being a bystander.

Assignment
How is the scenario below an example of someone/a group of people being bystanders? Why do you think the assistant principal responded the way he did?

The Richmond High School Incident
It happened the night of October 27, 2009. The girl’s name has not been released, as she was 15 years old at the time, but the accounts of the crime all agree, and it is beyond belief. For 2 and a half hours, while the High School Homecoming Dance was taking place inside the gymnasium, approximately 10 men gang-raped the 15-year-old student, beating her savagely the whole time, all the while 10 others stood around laughing and taking pictures with their cell phones.

The crowd eventually numbered more than 20, and no one called the police. No one went inside to tell a security guard or a policeman, several of which were on campus at the time. A little earlier, the assistant principal looked out his office window and saw 12 to 15 grown men sitting around near the scene of the crime, none of whom had identification badges, as is required, and none of whom appeared to be a teenager, and the assistant principal did not call the police, or alert any teachers or students. He returned to his job and ignored them.

The girl was severly hurt and was left for dead. She was found later by someone leaving the dance.