Explore Pledge of Allegiance, Raphael Weill Elementary School, San Francisco

K–12 Resource: Close Looking

(Grade 9–12 version) Read about a photograph of children saying the Pledge of Allegiance in San Francisco, California during World War II

Title

Pledge of Allegiance, Raphael Weill Elementary School, San Francisco

Maker

Dorothea Lange

Date Created

1942

Material

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 34 × 25.6 cm (13 3/8 × 10 1/16 in.) Sheet: 35.2 × 27.9 cm (13 7/8 × 11 in.) Mat: 71 × 55.9 cm (27 15/16 × 22 in.)

Place Created

San Francisco, California, United States

Credit Line

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Assignment

Read About This Photograph by Dorothea Lange

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Clutching her lunchbag, this schoolgirl places her right hand on her heart to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Dorothea Lange made this photograph at Rafael Weill Elementary School in San Francisco’s Japantown. The above version of the Pledge of Allegiance received official approval from the US Congress on June 22, 1942, just a couple of months after Lange had captured this image. By then, the US government had relocated this girl and thousands of other Japanese Americans to camps in desolate areas east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which marked the beginning of direct American involvement in World War II, sparked a rise of assaults on the Japanese in America. Lange’s photograph speaks to a shameful part of America’s history, when all persons of Japanese descent residing on the West Coast were forced into detention camps because of their perceived risk to national security. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized these detentions, believing they would protect the US against espionage and sabotage. Knowing this information, what do you think of this photograph now?

Questions

Write or discuss your responses.

  • What is ironic or contradictory about a Japanese American girl pledging allegiance to “one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” given what happened to her community during World War II?
  • What details in the photograph—such as the girl clutching her lunchbag or placing her hand on her heart—make this image particularly powerful or emotional when you consider her upcoming forced relocation?
  • How does photographer Dorothea Lange’s choice to capture this specific moment create a visual commentary on the treatment of Japanese Americans during this period?

Related Materials

  1. Meet Dorothea Lange

    Reading

    A black-and-white photograph of a mother looking into the distance, head poised on chin, as two children lean into her, backs to the camera.

    (Grade 9–12 version) Read about the documentary photographer whose Depression-era work revealed the struggles of displaced Americans

  2. Dorothea Lange and the Relocation of Japanese Americans

    Close Looking

    Use a photograph taken by Dorothea Lange together with two other primary sources to analyze the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II

  3. Dorothea Lange’s Milestones

    Reading

    Photograph of a woman holding a camera sitting on top of a car.

    Make a timeline about American photographer Dorothea Lange after reading about her personal life and professional career

  4. Step into US History with Dorothea Lange

    Writing

    Photograph of a woman holding a camera sitting on top of a car.

    Discover Dorothea Lange’s photographs of challenging times in US history, then step into history yourself by writing from the perspective of one of her subjects

  5. Broadcasting Human Rights

    Presenting

    Examine an image that shed light on a social injustice during World War II, then research and create an announcement about a contemporary civil rights issue

Related Standards

Credits and Licensing

This page is licensed under the Creative Commons NonCommercial 4.0 International license. You are free to make use of these pages under the terms of this license. Note that individual elements or portions of a page (for example, a copyrighted image) may be excluded from the Creative Commons license. Excluded items are clearly identified.

More from Getty Education