In 2000, I worked with the local high school history teacher to introduce my students to the atrocities committed at the Granada Amache Japanese Internment Camp, featured in a December 5, 2016 Denver Post article (http://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/05/granada-history-japanese-american-internment/). The predominately Hispanic student population read Rudlofo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima. We then took a field trip to the local cemetery where many of their ancestors had been buried, then we went to Amache.
The students were instructed to respond both verbally and visually to their experience. The site sobered even my most rambunctious middle school students. I had hoped these types atrocities were a dark part of America’s history and would never be repeated, but I fear we may be revisiting these types of actions again. This is a wonderful example of why local history matters, and how important cross-curricular activities are to students.
Here is one student’s response. The following poem was written to accompany his colored pencil drawing:
GRANDFATHER IN THE GARDEN
Garden young and ripe,
Stalks of corn grow from the
fertile ground.
Squash is a dark vibrant
brown.
Tomato plants with leaves so
green.
Next to the garden sits a
figure on a tree stump.
Grandfather he his called
a wise old vejito who grows
his garden with love and
care.
He waters the garden and
watches it expand while,
telling us cuentos about
when he had been a young,
mischievous, exuberant
man.
The sun high in the sky has
made his skin dark
brown.
His cane makes him known
with just one tap on the
ground.
And as the sun on the valley
sets he brings his picked vegetables
and watering hoses in.
While the night passes and the
day begins again there is grandfather
in the garden.
Roberta Molyneux 