Asian American Resources

 

Utah: Secondary Resources

Books Lesson Plans Educator Resources

Books


Citizen 13660
by Mine Okubo
Age Target: Middle & High School

Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family
by Yoshiko Uchida
Age Target: Middle & High School

Journey to Topaz
by Yoshiko Uchida (Author), Donald Carrick (Illustrator)
Age Target: Middle & High School

Journey Home
by Yoshiko Uchida (Author), Charles Robinson (Illustrator)
Age Target: Middle & High School

West: A Translation
by Paisley Rekdal, Utah's Poet Laureate 2017-2022
A poetry collection with videos that explores the transcontinental railroad workers’ stories and the cultural meaning of the railroad in America.

When the Akimotos went to War
by Matthew Elms
Age Target: Middle & High School

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Lesson Plans

Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project Lessons
SPICE has created four lessons for high school audiences that draw upon research and findings from the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project. Teachers may deliver all four modules in the order listed below, or may deliver any one lesson as a stand-alone unit.

Chinese Workers on the Transcontinental Railroad 7th grade lesson
Chinese workers made a significant contribution to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad during the 1860s. Historians estimate 12,000 Chinese immigrants worked for the Central Pacific Railroad, blasting tunnels and laying track from Sacramento, through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and into Utah. This lesson draws on the science of archaeology, focusing on Chinese material culture to explore the lives of these workers.

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Educator Resources

Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Oral Histories
SPICE conducted oral history interviews with 40+ descendants of Chinese who participated in building the CPRR as well as several other significant individuals. These interviews range from 5 to 80 minutes and have been fully transcribed for further study and analysis.

Japanese Internment in Utah
Browse primary source sets for important pieces of history regarding Japanese internment.

Minidoka Education
Minidoka National Historic Site shares the stories of the 13,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated here during World War II. The site also holds lessons on civil and constitutional rights, racism, and the fragility of democracy in times of crisis. We are endeavoring to help teachers educate their students about this complex and difficult story.

Topaz Museum
The mission of the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah is to preserve the nearby Topaz incarceration site and its World War II history; to interpret the impact of Topaz on the Japanese Americans who were confined there, and the people living in Millard County; and to educate people to help prevent what happened during World War II at Topaz from ever happening again.

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