Oral Histories of World War II

Unit Overview and Rationale

In order to understand the present and therefore the future, students must have a more complete understanding of history.  Today’s students have grown up in a world, where for the most part, peace between world powers exists.  They also struggle, as all generations do, to understand their place in the world.  Recording an oral history of the past is one way to understand and learn about the past.  By learning from relatives, townspeople, and leaders who lived during World War II, students will gain an understanding of a generation whose actions enabled them to live in an era of unprecedented freedom and peace.

Unit Objectives

Through class lecture, discussion, small group activities, research and Selected readings, students will be able to:

• Gather information through interviews and incorporate direct and indirect quotes.
• Demonstrate the use of appropriate English
• Use journalistic style
• Write a feature
• Describe characteristics of front, news, editorial, feature and sports pages and distinguish among them.

• Essential Questions
  • What is history?
  • What criteria are used to determine events as recorded history?
  • What is news?
  • What is the point of the feature?
• Critical Engagement Questions
  • What is a feature?
  • What criteria are used to determine the subject of a feature?
  • Where does the line blur between news and feature?
  • How does this affect the interviewee?
  • How does this affect the reader?

Within the context of the interview, students may encounter a conflict between the recorded events of history and the interviewee’s perception of the events they experienced or remember.  To differentiate between the two, students will have to ask themselves another set of questions.  Among these variables are:  When things change, when things will never be the same, when things begin to fall apart, when things are learned, and when the outcome to events is uncertain.  These items will be different depending on the subject and context of the interview.  This type of critical thinking and analysis will also need to be practiced prior to the interviews.

Activities

• Activity 1
  • To prepare for the oral history project, students will practice and demonstrate their interviewing skills.  After the basic instruction takes place, students will practice by interviewing fellow staff members.  Numbers will be drawn at random from a hat to determine who interviews whom.  The adviser will evaluate and grade these as part of a journalism portfolio.
• Activity 2
  • As students become skilled interviewers, they will complete five to seven personality profiles of faculty, coaches, and staff.  A criterion sheet for gathering information will be composed by the editors and adviser.  Two of these profiles will become part of the journalism portfolio.  The journalist will chose one and the other by the editors and adviser will choose one.
•     Activity 3
  • Students will read excerpts from feature style writing.  Examples will be taken from daily papers, as they are available and personal narratives.  Two excellent examples are found in Eyewitness to World War II:  The Best of American Heritage.  They are “Rosie The Riveter Remembers” by and “At War with The Stars and Stripes” by Herbert Mitgang.

Assessment

• For the oral histories, students will be evaluated and assessed by the oral history interview.
• Students will be evaluated by the transcription and feature story that they turn in.

The Oral History Interview

As the interview begins, students will get a sense of the context of history the interviewee has lived and experienced.  Some sample general questions (from lead to scope) are: What is the central theme?  What is the point (lesson) of the story?  How did the conflict develop?  How widespread was the conflict?  Was it resolved?  How would you tell the story to a friend?

Before writing the feature, students will get a sense of the theme of the history of the individual they are recording.  From this, students will be able to get the angle to the story.  Critical engagement questions to answer at this point will be:  What do you think is the most important idea?  What struck you as most interesting about the story?  What do you think the reader wants to know?  What do you think might hook the reader?  In addition, students will have to test the quality of quotes.  One question to consider is:  Are there any quotes good enough to be used as pull quotes?

Recommended Readings and Sources

•  Allen, Thomas B.  “Untold Stories of D-Day” National Geographic June 2002, pages 2-38.
• Brokaw, Tom.  The Greatest Generation.  New York:  Random House, 1998.
• Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections. New York: Delta Publishing, 1999.
• Reporting World War II, Part One:  American Journalism, 1938-1944.  New York:  Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1995.
• Schumacher, Michael.  The Writer’s Complete Guide to Conducting Interviews.  Cincinnati, Ohio:  Writer’s Digest Books, 1993.
• Sears, Stephen W.  Eyewitness to World War II: The Best of American Heritage.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.
• Siegel, Robert, Ed.  The NPR Interviews 1996.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.

• Allen, Thomas B.  “Untold Stories of D-Day” National Geographic June 2002, pages 2-38.
• Associated Press Stylebook.  Eds.  Christopher W. French and Norm Goldstein.  New York:  The Associated Press.
• Brokaw, Tom.  The Greatest Generation.  New York:  Random House, 1998.
• Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections. New York: Delta Publishing, 1999.
• Cappon, Rene J.  The Associated Press Guide to News Writing.  3^rd Ed. Lawrenceville, NJ:  Peterson’s, 2000.
• Ferguson, Donald, Jim Patten and Bradley Wilson.  Journalism Today!, 5^th Ed. Lincolnwood, IL:  National Textbook Company, 1997.
• Hohenberg, John, Ed.  The Pulitzer Prize Story II, 1959-1980.  New York:  Columbia University Press, 1980.
• Lamont, Anne.  Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life.  New York:  Pantheon Books, 1994.
• Mencher, Melvin.  News Reporting and Writing.  4^th Ed.  Dubuque, IA:  Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1984.
• Rich, Carole.  Writing and Reporting, A Coaching Method.  3^rd.Ed.  Belmont, CA:  Wadsworth Publishing, 2000.
• Schumacher, Michael.  The Writer’s Complete Guide to Conducting Interviews.  Cincinnati, Ohio:  Writer’s Digest Books, 1993.
• Sears, Stephen W.  Eyewitness to World War II: The Best of American Heritage.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.
• Siegel, Robert, Ed.  The NPR Interviews 1996.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.
• Teaching With Primary Sources:  Educational Materials for Teachers.  Booklet prepared by Marsha L. Sharp, Education Specialist at Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, published by LBJ Library and Museum, 2000.
• Voss, Frederick S.  Reporting the War:  The Journalistic Coverage of World War II.  Washington, D.C.:  Smithsonian Institution for the National Portrait Gallery, 1994.
• Zinsser, William.  On Writing Well.  5^th Ed. New York:  Harper Collins, 1994.