For the past year, the Applied Cartooning Lab has been developing What We Stand For and Against: What the U.S. Army Wanted Every World War II Soldier to Know About Fascism, a graphic adaptation of Army Talk 64, a pamphlet distributed to American soldiers in 1945.
The project adapts a historical document created to help soldiers understand fascism for a new generation of students. More than a reproduction of a historical artifact, the comic is designed to help readers think critically about democracy, citizenship, propaganda, and the responsibilities that come with self-government.
Creating the book entailed an extended process of research, writing, classroom conversations, and collaboration with educators from across the country. Throughout development, we shared drafts with teachers, curriculum specialists, historians, and students, whose feedback helped shape both the comic and the national educational campaign that will accompany its release. Classroom pilots have already taken place in Vermont and Seattle.
We’ll have more to share in the months ahead, including plans for school visits, distribution partnerships, and lessons learned from bringing a seventy-year-old document into the present.
As always, the Lab remains grateful to the educators, students, cartoonists, historians, and partners who continue to make this work possible.
