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The 2007 NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop, “Pearl Harbor: History, Memory, Memorial,” is a collaborative initiative led by the East-West Center, a non-profit research and education institution established to promote understanding and improve relations between the United States and the Asia Pacific region; with additional support provided by the National Park Service, which preserves and interprets the tangible and intangible historical resources and the memories associated with the attack on Pearl Harbor; and the Arizona Memorial Museum Association, a non-profit organization that supports the educational activities at the USS Arizona Memorial.

This initiative provided educators with the larger historical and cultural context for understanding the Pearl Harbor attack by illuminating one of most important bilateral relationships in the 20th century—that between the United States and Japan—and the impact of that relationship on both nations’ international affairs. This workshop explored the multiple histories that converged at Pearl Harbor—American, Japanese, and Hawaiian—reminding participants that despite the mythic status of the Pearl Harbor story in American culture, there are in fact a number of “Pearl Harbors,” with different impacts and memories for diverse Americans and for people throughout the world.

The program was offered at two different times during the summer of 2007: July 22-27 and July 29-August 3. Workshop sessions were held at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Each workshop accommodated 40 American teachers per session, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks in American History grant, and 5 Japanese teachers, sponsored by the Arizona Memorial Museum Association. The workshop content was designed principally for middle and high school humanities educators. Other K-12 school personnel were eligible to participate, subject to available space.

The workshop engaged teachers through intensive study and discussion of the events surrounding the 1941 Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. During the workshop, educators visited the USS Arizona Memorial and related attack sites in order to gain a sense of the time and place represented by these historic resources. Since the history of Pearl Harbor is still a living history, participants also had the unique opportunity to meet with Pearl Harbor survivors, WW II generation residents of Hawaii, and Japanese-Americans who spent the wartime years in internment camps, and experience history “come alive” through their oral histories.

The workshop also modeled ways to teach collaboratively. Participants engaged in rigorous conversations with leading U.S. and Japanese scholars about the historical significance and meanings of the events surrounding the attacks and important cultural and historical issues that continue to shape national perceptions of Pearl Harbor. Through hands-on sessions, participants worked closely with the experts and fellow educators as they explored issues of content and pedagogy in teaching Pearl Harbor, including ways to integrate technology as they developed plans for collaborative projects and lesson plans.

Highlights of the workshop, consisting of photos, videos, and teacher evaluations are contained on the pages below. See the workshop agenda (view as PDF) for details on session descriptions.

Day One (Sunday, July 22 / July 29)
Day Two (Monday, July 23 / July 30)
Day Three (Tuesday, July 24 / July 31)
Day Four (Wednesday, July 25 / August 1)
Day Five (Thursday, July 26 / August 2)
Day Six (Friday, July 27 / August 3)