Beauty Behind Barbed Wire
The Relocation Camp Experience of Estelle Ishigo
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Creator: Madeline Antilla
Grade Level Recommendation: 9, 10, 11, and 12
Unit Overview: Artist Estelle Ishigo, the European American wife of a Japanese American, was among the American citizens forced out of California during World War II. Ishigo and her husband, Arthur, were first sent to Pomona Assembly Center and later to Heart Mountain Relocation Center, in a remote area of Wyoming. There, Estelle Ishigo continued her work as a painter. Students reflect on Ishigo's personal letters, artwork, and official documents to relate the themes of tolerance and prejudice to the era, understand that media plays a part in propaganda, and learn how artists convey thoughts and emotions through art.
This lesson plan was originally created at the UCLA Institute on Primary Resources.
Primary source materials used in this lesson plan include:
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1. Exclusion Order for San Jose Japanese Internment, 1942 |
2. Estelle Ishigo. Boarding the Truck to Leave Heart Mountain, May 10, 1942 |
3. Estelle Ishigo. Lone Heart Mountain ms., page 5. |
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4. Letter from Edo Mita to Estelle Ishigo, August 13, 1942 |
5. Tom Parker. Photo of Japanese American family in the barracks, 1943 |
6. Estelle Ishigo. At Home at Heart Mountain, December 1942 |
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7. Estelle Ishigo. Lone Heart Mountain ms., page 12 |
8. Tom Parker. Photo of ice skaters. 1943 |
9. Estelle Ishigo Gathering Coal at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp, 1945 |
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10. Estelle Ishigo. Lone Heart Mountain ms., page 22 |
11. Estelle Ishigo. Boys with Kite, September, 1944. |
12. Estelle Ishigo. Japanese American Woman and Child, Internees c. 1942-45 |
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13. Estelle Ishigo. Lone Heart Mountain, September 1942 |
14. Estelle Ishigo. Windstorm in Heart Mountain Cemetery, c. 1942-45 |
15. Estelle Ishigo. Are we Americans Again? February 1945 |