The Hawaiʻi Writing Project (HWP) at the UH Mānoa College of Education (COE) was recently awarded $11,000 to support Fragile Freedoms: Regional Perspectives on U.S. WWII Confinement Sites Education Project. Running from 2026–2028, the project is part of a larger national collaboration involving the National Writing Project, the National Japanese American Historical Society, and the National Park Service through the Norman Y. Mineta Japanese American Confinement Education (JACE) grant.
COE School of Teacher Education (STE) Professors Charlotte Frambaugh-Kritzer and Stephanie Buelow, who co-direct the HWP, will adapt a national curriculum for Hawaiʻi and collaborate with Honouliuli National Historic Site to support educators in exploring the history and legacy of World War II confinement, constitutional freedoms, and their connections to Hawaiʻi communities. The project will engage approximately 40 teachers in grades 4–12 over two years through professional learning focused on writing, inquiry, critical thinking, and place-based learning. Participants will develop locally relevant lessons and resources to bring back to their classrooms and schools.
In spring 2027, HWP plans to work with 20 Hawaiʻi teachers through a professional learning workshop series that will include opportunities to learn from local partners and engage with Honouliuli National Historic Site. The project aims to create sustained professional learning that deepens teachers’ understanding of this important history while helping them develop meaningful ways to engage students with questions of freedom, belonging, civil rights, and citizenship.
“We are incredibly honored that the Hawaiʻi Writing Project was selected for this opportunity,” said Dr. Frambaugh-Kritzer. “For us, this work is about much more than learning history. It is about helping teachers and students understand how questions of freedom, belonging, civil rights, and citizenship connect to our own communities in Hawaiʻi. We are especially excited to partner with the Honouliuli National Historic Site and create meaningful learning experiences that teachers can carry back into their classrooms.”
The HWP implementation of the Fragile Freedoms project builds on a national institute that was held in San Francisco in July 2026 where Frambaugh-Kritzer and Buelow joined Writing Project colleagues from across the United States to study the curriculum and prepare for local implementation. The institute provided opportunities to consider how national curriculum and historical perspectives could be meaningfully connected to local communities.
“For the Hawaiʻi Writing Project, that work includes centering the stories and perspectives connected to Honouliuli and the broader history of Hawaiʻi while helping students explore the relationship between writing and critical thinking,” said Buelow. “We look forward to highlighting the important stories and perspectives connected to Honouliuli and the broader history of Hawaiʻi.”
