Heart Mountain was home to nearly 11,000 Japanese-Americans incarcerated during World War II. But this history isn't taught in-depth throughout the nation. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanitieshopes to change that by bringing 72 primary and secondary educators to Heart Mountain for a two-week workshop.
The Heart Mountain Foundation will continue providing workshops for educators in the summer of 2022 thanks to the grant. The workshops aim to provide context and information on the history of Japanese-American incarceration.
Dakota Russell, the Heart Mountain Foundation's executive director, said teachers reach hundreds of students.
"The idea behind this, landmarks in American history and culture program, is that it is a place based education. It's about getting people out into the landscape and exploring it and taking some of that firsthand experience back home to their students," said Russel.
The foundation received the grant for the same workshops for the summer of 2020 but the pandemic moved those workshops online.