Montana: Stories of the Land

Chapter 19 - World War II in Montana, 1939 - 1945

Educational Trunks

The Home Fires: Montana and World War II  from the Montana Historical Society.  This trunk explores aspects of everyday life in Montana during the 1941 to 1945 war years, including little-known government projects such as the Fort Missoula Alien Detention Center and Civilian Public Service Camps.

Takeaways

Inspired by reading specialist Tammy Elser, who was in turn inspired by SKC graduate Taylor Crawford, we've created a "Takeaway" bookmark for every chapter of Montana: Stories of the Land. Before starting a chapter, print and cut out these bookmarks and distribute them to your students. Ask them to use the Takeaway to summarize the GIST of what they learn from reading assigned sections of the chapter. Remind them that they don't have much room, so they'll need to think before they write down the most important idea they want to take away from the section. Learn a little more about the GIST strategy.

Even though we've created Takeaways for every chapter, we don't recommend you have your students complete a Takeaway for every section of every chapter they read. That would be exceedingly tedious. However, used appropriately, they can be a useful tool for encouraging reflection and teaching students how to summarize information.

Websites and Online Lesson Plans

World War II propaganda has received much attention, including a National Archives exhibit, "On the Homefront: America during World War I and World War II" also features posters and fliers, with suggested teaching ideas that can be easily related to Montana.

The National World War II Memorial in cooperation with the History Channel created an extensive teacher's guide to the national history of World War II. 

Information on the Smith Mine Disaster can be found here and here. 

The Billings Gazette has created a gallery of five front-page news stories it covering the 1943 Smith Mine disaster.

Videos or DVDs

Homefront: United or Divided - 27 minutes.

Against The Darkness: A Tribute to the Montana Coal Miner - 30 minutes.

Bella Vista, An Unseen View of WWII - 30 minutes.

Chapter 12, "Montana's Response to Global Conflict," (17 minutes) of Montana Mosaic: 20th Century People and Events focuses on Jeannette Rankin's story. (Check your library. OPI donated a copy of this DVD to every public school in Montana. The DVD is also available as streaming video.)

Possible Fieldtrips

Carbon County Historical Society, Red Lodge 

The World War II Alien Detention Center Barracks Tour at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula

Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History, Missoula

Alignment to Content Standards and Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians (EU)

Tests and Answer Keys