Pre- and Post Visit Lessons

Pre- and post visit lessons for Ours to Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War focus on the life histories of Americans, including ethnic and racial minorities, during WWII. The tours and pre-and post-visits and educator trainings have been aligned with New York State Standards for U.S. and Global History.

The Museum's new multimedia classrooms are the recommended locale for pre- and post-visit lessons, however, each program can take place in your school. The programs are scheduled to last forty-five minutes. A presentation, in which students analyze primary documents, is an important feature of these pre-visit lessons, and is designed to deepen students' understanding of pertinent issues. The Museum can also arrange for your class to hear a WWII veteran speak about his or her experiences, as part of a pre-or post-visit.

The following tours are currently available to school and youth groups in grades 6-12:

Whose to Fight For? The U.S. public debate about intervention before WWII

An in-depth examination of events in Europe and America in the late 1930's and early 1940's, leading up to the U.S. involvement in WWII. Should the U.S. get involved in foreign wars? Students explore the debates that raged through the American public. This program identifies the points of view that animated American society in the years before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

All of Ours to Fight For: Ethnic and Racial Minorities during WWII

A history of groups who were discriminated against in the U.S. before, during, and after WWII. Students explore communities' debates about participation in the war, learn about the military and home fronts, discovering how minorities fought against prejudice, distinguished themselves in battle, and continued the struggle after the war for full civil rights.

On the Home Front

An examination of how the American public pulled together to support the war effort. Students discuss changes to the labor force, new roles for minorities and women, the Arsenal of Democracy and victory gardens. In this program, students also analyze the wartime media, examining how battles and the discovery of Holocaust genocide were reported.

Continuity and Change: American Jewish life before, during, and after WWII

Major changes took place in American Jewish life from the late 1930's through the early 1950's. Children of immigrants joined the fighting and working forces, encountering Americans of all backgrounds, often for the first time. After the war, many Jews moved to the suburbs, remaking American Jewish life. Students track the great transformation that took place in these few years, including Jewish communal life, the experience of Jews in the military, and especially the confrontation with the Holocaust and birth of the new State of Israel.

Seeking Justice after WWII

The discovery of the Holocaust had huge political and ethical implications for the world. At war's end, the international community dealt with some of the implications. In 1946 the Allies brought the leaders of the Nazi regime to trial in Nuremberg. Judges created a new term -"crimes against humanity"- to describe the actions of Nazi brutality. The United Nations was founded and continues to be central to international peace. Through primary documents and oral histories, students discuss and debate the record of these vital events and organizations.

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