Question:

Discuss the value of oral histories in understanding historical events such as the  Bracero Program and Japanese American internment. What are the pros and cons of using oral histories in research?

Week 10: Post-War America

Themes:

Oral History Interviews  

 The Roots of the Civil Rights Movement 

Reading Assignment:

This week we are exploring the value of oral histories at the same time as we study the Bracero Program and Japanese American internment.

Please go to this page, read all of the introductory material on the Bracero Program and explore the archives at:

https://www.labor.ucla.edu/what-we-do/research-tools/the-bracero-program/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

For a brief overview of Japanese American internment and primary sources related to it, please explore this page from the National Archives.

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Listen to the "The Creative Art of Coping in Japanese Internment"

NPR (6 minutes) at:

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126557553 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Additional Reading:

Kim Lacy Rogers, “History and the History of the Civil Rights Movement,” The Journal of American History 75:2 (1988): 567-576

Mae M. Ngai, "The Liberal Brief for Immigration Reform

Primary Documents:

Civil Rights Oral History Collection, Washington State University.

http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/index.php/cdm/landingpage/collection/cvoralhist