During World War II, everyone played a part.
Everyone…including Dr. Seuss.
Before Theodore Giesel gained worldwide prominence as a childrens’ book author, he was the chief editorial cartoonist for the New York magazine PM. Between 1941 and 1943, Geisel drew over 400 cartoons for the magazine, and also for other publications.
It is a rare moment when an iconic figure shows his political colors–and a unique website allows us access to this part of his career.
The Dr. Seuss collection at the Mandeville Special Collections Library at the University of California, San Diego houses all the original drawings and cartoons by the famous author. About 200 of these cartoons were reproduced in the 1999 book Dr. Seuss Goes to War.
UCSD has digitized its entire collection and provided it for general use at its website Dr. Seuss Went to War. All his wartime cartoons for PM have been categorized by year, battle, geographic area and personality covered by Seuss.
It provides an excellent resource for teachers making connections between the complexities of war and a beloved childrens’ author. Seuss was always political, and these cartoons show the political mind that would later create such controversial works as The Lorax and The Butter Battle Book.
As exemplars of political cartoons, this database is second to none. The obviously excellent artwork provides hours of analysis, critical thinking and classroom discussion. Because they were made as events occurred, the Seuss cartoons have an immediacy that is often overlooked by students today.
Finally, as a historical artifact, the Seuss cartoons allow students to see the war as readers at home saw it–through the eyes and pens of the writers and artists of the press.
Enjoy these cartoons and please let us know how you used them.
A Lesson on WWII Primary Sources; or, how eBay Finds some Educational Value
New websites are like new toys.
We can’t seem to find enough ways to play with them until they either break or get discarded for the next big thing.
In the early 2000s, eBay was my new toy—and a purchase from those early days found an unusual role in my classroom.
One day, while I had some down time at my office, I puttered around eBay looking for whatever crap struck my fancy. In those days, it was THE place to find hard-to-find knickknacks, doodads, and whatnot—a veritable treasure chest.
I didn’t find treasure, but I did find a map.
For some odd reason, I needed an old map to frame for my den (even though I lacked a den, a yacht, and Sperry Top-sider footwear). Though there were plenty of old maps of Maine, Bermuda, Aruba and other preppy hangouts, but I was drawn to a 1940s WPA map of New York City given to servicemen during World War II.
Never mind that it was folded, wrinkly, yellowed and with a funny double-print font that’s hard to read; I needed it for $20.
Let’s say I really didn’t need it. This relic of wartime Gotham sat in my desk for a decade.
A few months ago, one of my fifth grade classes was wrapping up their unit on US History. World War II seemed as good a finish as any. A half-decade of Call of Duty games certainly prepared them with enough content knowledge to teach a military history class at West Point.
To end the unit, I decided to whip out this old relic of a map. It couldn’t be mounted on a wall, since it was double-sided. Nonetheless, I made copies of it and gave it to the class. They examined the map, automatically finding the places they recognize (it’s easy since all the sports stadiums use a ballpark icon).
To really analyze the map, I split the class into groups. One group made a top-10 list of places a soldier would visit on leave. Another planned out a 24-hour day for a soldier, detailing where he would visit and for how long. Still another group came up with places that weren’t on the map.
Some of the responses were downright hilarious.
The top-10 list included places like the George Washington Bridge and the YMCA. One group gave a soldier five minutes to get from the Statue of Liberty to Harlem. The list of places not listed on the map ranged from pizza places to bars to…strip clubs and “love motels” (which we decided to lump into the generic term of “adult establishments.”)
The results, though, were some pretty damn good essays. They covered about not only about what soldiers did on their free time in New York, but also prevailing attitudes about how soldiers were supposed to behave i.e., the lack of “adult establishments.”
All from an impulse buy on eBay so many years ago.
Here is the link to WWII Lesson Plan. It includes worksheets and graphic organizers. Try it out in your own classroom.
This is the Essay Planning Page for the culminating project.
Here’s also a PDF of the WPA New York City Map for Servicemen that goes with it.
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Tagged as American History, Aruba, Commentary, Curriculum, eBay, Education, George Washington Bridge, History, Media, New York, New York City, New York History, Opinion, Social studies, Statue of Liberty, Teachers, Teaching, U.S. History, United States, war, World History, World War II, YMCA