In Their Own Words
Date: Early September in 1944
Location: Songshan, Yunnan, China
Photographer: Pvt. Charles Hatfield
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administrations (NARA). Record Group 111, Box 356
Location: Songshan, Yunnan, China
Photographer: Pvt. Charles Hatfield
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administrations (NARA). Record Group 111, Box 356
Lesson Plan 1 of 2
Purpose: This activity humanizes “comfort women” and reminds students that behind the facts and numbers were real women who suffered. This allows “comfort women” who had been silenced to speak about their own experiences. It allows students to learn how to use primary sources to deepen their understanding of historical events.
Objective: Students will read about the experiences of “comfort women” in their own words to gain a deeper understanding of the ordeal the women went through.
California Social Studies Content Standard: 10.4 New Imperialism - Students learn how colonization worked. Students also learn about Imperialism & its connection to race and religion 10.8 Causes and Consequences of WWII - Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II. (Part of addressing that standard in the New HSS Curriculum Framework includes, “‘Comfort women’ is a euphemism that describes women who were forced into sexual service by the Japanese Army…”) 10.11 Economic Integration and Contemporary Revolutions in Information, Technology, and Communications - Students think about the following questions: Has the world become more peaceful? Is the nature of conflict changing? How do ideas about universal human rights relate to other value and identity systems in the contemporary world?
Suggested Time: 1 class day (approximately one hour)
Procedure:
Objective: Students will read about the experiences of “comfort women” in their own words to gain a deeper understanding of the ordeal the women went through.
California Social Studies Content Standard: 10.4 New Imperialism - Students learn how colonization worked. Students also learn about Imperialism & its connection to race and religion 10.8 Causes and Consequences of WWII - Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II. (Part of addressing that standard in the New HSS Curriculum Framework includes, “‘Comfort women’ is a euphemism that describes women who were forced into sexual service by the Japanese Army…”) 10.11 Economic Integration and Contemporary Revolutions in Information, Technology, and Communications - Students think about the following questions: Has the world become more peaceful? Is the nature of conflict changing? How do ideas about universal human rights relate to other value and identity systems in the contemporary world?
Suggested Time: 1 class day (approximately one hour)
Procedure:
- Teachers should prepare the class prior to this activity. Warn the class ahead of time that they will read testimonies that mention graphic sexual violence. If students are triggered, bothered, or simply uncomfortable, appropriate accommodations should be made. Let students know they can step away from the readings if it becomes too much. Teachers should use their own discretion about which testimonies to use and how much of the testimony should be included.
- Teachers assign the testimony/autobiography to students.
- Teachers can assign the same testimony to the entire class or put students into smaller groups and have each of the groups read different testimonies.
- Teachers assign formal questions that students complete as they read the profiles. Some sample questions can include:
- How did these women become military sex slaves?
- What was their experience like?
- How many men did they “service” a day?
- How much did they get paid?
- How much did they get fed?
- What medical care did they receive?
- What punishments did they face?
- What feelings did they have about their experience?
- Did they, or any other “comfort woman,” resist? What happened in response to that resistance?
- What happened to the women at the end of WWII?
- How did they survive? Why did others not survive?
- Teachers lead a whole class discussion about the testimonies. This is extremely important as the content can be intense and disturbing. Talking about the testimonies, why it is important to read them, and discussing students’ reactions to it help students grapple with a difficult topic.
- Education for Social Justice Foundation. “Comfort women” History and Issues, 102–121 or http://www.e4sjf.org/survivors-testimonies--legacies.html.
- More testimonies can be found below:
- Other books:
- Comfort Women Speak: Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military. Edited by Sangmie Choi Schellstede, Holmes & Meier Publishers, 2000.
- Qui, Peipei. Chinese Comfort Women: Testimonies from Imperial Japan’s Sex Slaves, Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Henson, Maria Rosa. Comfort Woman: A Filipina’s Story of Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999.
- Ruff-O’Herne, Jan. Fifty Years of Silence, Mehta Publishing House, 2011.
- excerpts from Chong Ok Sun, Hwang So Gyn, Kum Ju Hwang from a UN Commission Report: http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/commission/country52/53-add1.htm
- Other books:
Copyright Ⓒ 2018 by Education for Social Justice Foundation. All rights reserved.
For other lesson plans, primary source documents, and additional content, visit e4sjf.org
Lesson Plan 2 of 2
EVERYBODY HAS A NAME
CHRISTINA TANG
Purpose: This activity humanizes “comfort women” and reminds students that behind the facts and numbers were real women who suffered. It personalizes the facts and numbers and reveals more about the “comfort woman” ordeal. This activity should also show the diversity of “comfort women” as they were taken from all over Asia. It should help students see what these women had in common and reinforce the systematic nature of military sexual slavery during WWII.
Objective: Students will read about the experiences of different “comfort women.” They should be able to identify some similarities and gain a deeper understanding of the ordeal that comfort women went through.
California Social Studies Content Standard: 10.4 New Imperialism - Students learn how colonization worked. Students also learn about Imperialism & its connection to race and religion 10.8 Causes and Consequences of WWII - Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II. (Part of addressing that standard in the New HSS Curriculum Framework includes, “‘Comfort women’ is a euphemism that describes women who were forced into sexual service by the Japanese Army…”) 10.11 Economic Integration and Contemporary Revolutions in Information, Technology, and Communications - Students think about the following questions: Has the world become more peaceful? Is the nature of conflict changing? How do ideas about universal human rights relate to other value and identity systems in the contemporary world?
Suggested Time: 1 class day (approximately one hour)
Procedure:
CHRISTINA TANG
Purpose: This activity humanizes “comfort women” and reminds students that behind the facts and numbers were real women who suffered. It personalizes the facts and numbers and reveals more about the “comfort woman” ordeal. This activity should also show the diversity of “comfort women” as they were taken from all over Asia. It should help students see what these women had in common and reinforce the systematic nature of military sexual slavery during WWII.
Objective: Students will read about the experiences of different “comfort women.” They should be able to identify some similarities and gain a deeper understanding of the ordeal that comfort women went through.
California Social Studies Content Standard: 10.4 New Imperialism - Students learn how colonization worked. Students also learn about Imperialism & its connection to race and religion 10.8 Causes and Consequences of WWII - Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II. (Part of addressing that standard in the New HSS Curriculum Framework includes, “‘Comfort women’ is a euphemism that describes women who were forced into sexual service by the Japanese Army…”) 10.11 Economic Integration and Contemporary Revolutions in Information, Technology, and Communications - Students think about the following questions: Has the world become more peaceful? Is the nature of conflict changing? How do ideas about universal human rights relate to other value and identity systems in the contemporary world?
Suggested Time: 1 class day (approximately one hour)
Procedure:
- Teachers should prepare the class prior to this activity. Warn the class ahead of time that they will read biographies that mention graphic sexual violence. If students are triggered, bothered, or simply uncomfortable, appropriate accommodations should be made. Let students know they can step away from the readings if it becomes too much.
- Teachers should prepare short profiles/biographies of the “comfort women” (a sample is included). The profiles should include a picture of the “comfort woman” (if possible) and quotes from the women (to try to let the women speak in their own words as much as possible).
- Teachers set up the profiles/biographies like a “gallery walk.”
- Having students read them silently to themselves can make the experience more powerful. It makes students focus solely on the readings. Let students know they can share their thoughts with others after the gallery walk (have them write it down if they’re afraid they’re going to forget).
- An alternative to a gallery walk is preparing individual sets of profiles and have students read them in small groups.
- Teachers should have a discussion about the profiles.
- They can prepare formal questions to have students complete as they read the profiles and then share their answer in small groups or with the class.
- The teacher can lead a whole class discussion about the biographies by posing questions to the class.
- Some sample questions to use for both suggestions are:
- How did these women become military sex slaves?
- How old were these girls/women when they were forced to become “comfort women”?
- What was their experience like?
- What happened to the women at the end of WWII?
- How did being “comfort women” affect the rest of the women’s lives?
- How did these women resist- both during and after their ordeal?
- What are some things that the women still want (from the Japanese government, from the public, etc.)?
- What are some feelings/reactions you had while reading these biographies?
- What were some aspects of the “comfort women” experience that two or more women had in common?
- What was the thing that most shocked/surprised you?
- What role did gender, socio-economic class and/or race/ethnicity play in these women’s experiences?
- Materials/Handouts (Teachers should use their own discretion about which testimonies to use):
- Education for Social Justice Foundation. “Comfort women” History and Issues, 102–121 or http://www.e4sjf.org/survivors-testimonies--legacies.html.
- More testimonies can be found below:
- Other books:
- Comfort Women Speak: Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military. Edited by Sangmie Choi Schellstede, Holmes & Meier Publishers, 2000.
- Qui, Peipei. Chinese Comfort Women: Testimonies from Imperial Japan’s Sex Slaves, Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Henson, Maria Rosa. Comfort Woman: A Filipina’s Story of Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999.
- Ruff-O’Herne, Jan. Fifty Years of Silence, Mehta Publishing House, 2011.
- excerpts from Chong Ok Sun, Hwang So Gyn, Kum Ju Hwang from a UN Commission Report: http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/commission/country52/53-add1.htm
- Other books:
Copyright Ⓒ 2018 Education for Social Justice Foundation. All rights reserved.
