HawaiiNewsNow Reports: New documentary details Date of Infamy

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -

The film is a frame-by-frame account that took a year to create.

A new documentary called "Pearl Harbor Declassified" offers a fresh look at the sequence of events that started at 7:52 a.m. on December 7, 1941. The main focus is the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona.

"They were able to go back and get the best copy of the footage of the Arizona exploding and replicate it in high-definition," National Parks Historian Daniel Martinez said.

A company called Creative Differences pieced together film with photographs from the National Archive and the Naval Historical Center into the 60-minute documentary that captures the first 15 minutes of the attack.

It includes rarely seen military footage from Japan and a home movie taken by U.S. Navy Dr. Eric Haakenson. Mixed in are underwater shots of the sunken vessel and first-hand accounts from attack survivors.

Martinez said the movie is the best documentation to date of the date that will live in infamy.

"I've worked with these images since 1991, and to see it in this clarity was remarkable," he said.

A free screening will be held Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center theaters.

"Pearl Harbor Declassified" debuts on the Military Channel on December 7, the 71st anniversary of the attack.

Common Core State Standards

You've heard a great deal about the Common Core State Standards. But do you know what they are? 

According to the official web site, "The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy."

Click this link to download the standards for English language education and learning. History teachers will find these very useful in planning their lessons and assignments. 

Thanksgiving Wishes from History Education Hawaii, Inc.

The officers and directors of History Education Hawaii, Inc., wish all of our members, friends, colleagues, partners a supporters a joyful and bountiful Thanksgiving holiday. 

Thanksgiving is a special time in which we pause to express to you our sincerest appreciation and aloha for your confidence and support for our efforts to improve and promote historical literacy in Hawaii. 

We are deeply thankful for our island history teachers and all their efforts in and outside the classroom. Our thoughts also turn to our historians, history buffs and students with warmest appreciation, too. 

Safe travels to all who are visiting family and friends in distant places. May your holiday be abundant and joy-filled. 

Aloha,

Jeffrey Bingham Mead, President and Co-founder. 

"Thanksgiving Day First Observed Here in 1838"

Thanksgiving Day First Observed Here in 1838

Instigated by Missionaries

Source: Honolulu Advertiser. Wednesday, November 24, 1948. 5:1.

Thanksgiving Day came early in Hawaii.

Hawaii's first Thanksgiving Day was observed 110 years ago, records of the Territorial archives show. According to a passage from Frear's 'Lowell and Abigail,' Dec. 6, 1838, was the date.

The Chronicle notes: "This day has been observed by us missionaries as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God. Something new for this nation. The people turned out pretty well to meetings and they dined in small groups and in a few instances large groups. WE missionaries all dined at Dr. Judd's and sipped at Brother Bingham's."

ON NOV. 23, 1849, just 99 years ago, King Kamehameha III issued this now-famous proclamation:

"In accordance with the laws of this kingdom and the excellent usage of Christian nations, it has pleased His Majesty, in council, to appoint the 31st day of December next as a day of public thanksgiving to God for His unnumbered mercies and blessings to this nation.

People of every class are respectfully requested to assemble in their several houses of worship on that day to render united praise to the Father of nations, and to implore His favor in time to come upon all who dwell upon these shores, as individuals, as families and as a nation."

The authority for annual Thanksgiving proclamations was provided under the statute laws of 1845, which added: "When thus promulgated, they shall be obligatory according to their general spirit and intent upon all persons, provided that they shall have no sectarian tendency, and not be calculated by favoring one sect to injure another." 

One of the best-known Thanksgiving messages in Hawaiian annals is that in which the Hawaiian Evangelical Assn. recommended Thursday, Nov. 28, 1861 as a day of general thanksgiving.

This message, signed by E.W. Clark and E. Corwin, recounted the Biblical quotation: "Let all His people, then on the day appointed, enter His courts with thanksgiving and His gates with praise." 

It cited the "manifold blessings" which had been bestowed upon the islands: "new and becoming avenues of industry have been opened…the necessities of life have been supplied to all…industry and enterprise have been duly rewarded…a free press and an equitable representation of public opinion in matters pertaining to the public welfare as secured…religious toleration is enjoyed…no pestilence has desolated the islands…institutions of learning and religion abound." 

2014 OAH Annual Meeting Information

It's never too early to starting thinking about history conference plans, is it? With that in mind we're pleased to notify our members and friends that the Organization of American Historians has posted its 2014 annual conference information. 

The theme for the 2014 OAH Annual Meeting will be Crossing Borders. 

"The history of the United States is a product of migrations – internal and international. Along with people, goods and ideas crossed these borders, reshaping the composition and character of the American people. Sometimes the borders and boundaries were physical, as when international migrants crossed oceans and continents, or when large numbers of individuals migrated from one region of the country to another, or when the lure of wealth and influence led to foreign invasions and conquests. Those on the move were accompanied by bacteria or viruses, microorganisms whose migration across borders also shaped human experience. Borders were also framed by culture – racial, ethnic, class, and gender differences that perennially redefined our population and social order. The theme for the 2014 conference seeks to examine, in all their complexity, a broad array of border crossings and “encounters” in US history, highlighting the contributions and challenges presented by those who transcended borders to redefine their lives or flee the constraints of their pasts."

The annual conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia at the Hilton Atlanta, April 10-13, 2014.

Historians and history educators please note! Proposal submissions will be accepted starting January 1, 2013. The submission deadline is February 15, 2013. 

For complete conference information go to this link today. 

2013 Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting

In April, 2013 the Organization of American Historians will be holding its annual meeting in San Francisco, California. Hawaii history educators, historians and students are encouraged to attend. 

The theme for the 2013 OAH Annual Meeting is Entangled Histories: Connections, Crossings, and Constraints in U.S. History.

"The history of the United States is one of entanglement: trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, and cross-border interactions; conflicts and collaborations based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and class; intersections and crossings at all scales from the global to the intimate. The conference theme seeks to examine and complicate a broad range of “entanglements” in US history, paying attention to both the possibilities as well as the limitations of these interactions."

To register for the conference go to this link.

The annual meeting will be held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Go to this link for lodging information for conference attendees. 

Go to this link for the conference program. 

'The Civil War and American Art' at Smithsonian American Art Museum

This morning's Washington Times featured this article about a new Civil War exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum:


The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s new exhibition, “The Civil War and American Art,” which opens today, has two stars. One is the enslaved black American; the other is Winslow Homer.
The issues of emancipation and racial equality – Frederick Douglass‘ “great, paramount, imperative and all commanding question” – are addressed in some of the exhibition’s most moving paintings.

The exhibit "examines how America’s artists represented the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath. The exhibition follows the conflict from palpable unease on the eve of war, to heady optimism that it would be over with a single battle, to a growing realization that this conflict would not end quickly and a deepening awareness of issues surrounding emancipation and the need for reconciliation. Genre and landscape painting captured the transformative impact of the war, not traditional history painting." 

Hawaii's distance from this exhibit is not necessarily an issue for those of you interested! 

Go to this link for a slideshow of selected works. This link on Flickr features photos of the opening of the exhibit. 

Click this link for a presentation delivered by Eleanor Jones Harvey on six featured paintings.

For educators there is a Teacher's Guide available via download free of charge.