History has always interested me. I constantly loved getting to learn about what happened in our world’s past and how we have changed and continued to grow because of it. That’s why when my friend invited me to go to our town’s famous history museum with her, I couldn’t say no! Me and my good friend, Stella, were now walking together along the pavement in the direction of the museum. It was very dark out, as it was pretty late at night, however the bright lights of the stores and restaurants surrounding us gave us the clear vision we needed.  I was super excited to go to this museum, not just because it was a popular sight to see in our town, but because I heard that there is something special about it!

After Stella asked me to come to the museum with her, I wanted to know what was so special about this certain museum. I asked around my social studies class and heard some interesting insight. It was mentioned many times that there was something sort of off about the museum, but nobody told me specifically what it was. Hmm, I wonder what it could be?

I could tell we were getting closer to the museum when the lights ahead of us started getting brighter and brighter. We suddenly stopped as we saw the huge building sitting right in front of us. Worn down pillars on either side of the building extended above our heads and the vivid lights shone brightly through the door and into our eyes. A small smile escaped both of our lips. I turned to Stella, “Wow. This place is huge!” Stella replied back, “Yeah, no wonder it's a big hit in our town! C’mon let's go inside already!”

Before I knew it, we were already rushing inside the building, looking for the admission desk so we could officially experience the museum. After we got checked in, we began to enter the first portion of the exhibits, The Great Depression portion.

(pretend it's night)

“Eva, look at this!” Stella exclaimed as she pointed towards the glass encasing an abundance of posters and artifacts from the Great Depression era. “Wow, this is so cool seeing actual things from so long ago in history! I wonder what the other exhibits are about?” I questioned. “Well let's go see them then!” Stella announced as she grabbed my wrist and led me to the entryway of the next part of the museum. There was so much to see and so many interesting and unique artifacts that played such a big role in the history of our world. We traveled through the many different exhibits, admiring the history behind them and the great significance of them. It honestly felt like I was traveling through history! It was amazing!

I don’t get how my classmates thought there was something weird about this museum. It seems pretty normal to me, or maybe I'm just missing something?

Stella and I entered one of the last exhibits, which was the WWII portion of the museum. The whole vibe changed and the room went cold. There were various paintings, posters, and pictures messily hung all over the wall in an unorganized fashion. “Hmm, this is kind of... weird.” I thought to myself. It's almost like this room was rushed in the making, or maybe even not supposed to be here in the first place. I kept on wandering around the room, getting farther and farther away from Stella. However, a certain painting caught my eye. I stood cautiously in front of it as I read it’s title, “The Attack on Pearl Harbor'' I stated out loud with a weak, almost whispering voice. As almost on cue, I suddenly heard a deafening noise coming from the other side of the room, almost resembling sounds such as those of a moving helicopter or even a running plane engine.

"The Attack on Pearl Harbor"

“Eva!” I could faintly hear Stella yell from the other side of the room, as she began to sprint toward me for protection. At the same time, the exact same blaring noise I heard from Stella’s side of the room projected right in front of me. Stella quickly grabbed my arm as we both shut our eyes tight and covered our ears to try to block the raging noises. These deafening sounds seemed to go for ages. As the noises finally started to fade, I slowly lifted my face up, opening my eyes and letting my arms drop to my side. My once squinted eyes turned wide with what I saw in front of me. “What is going on right now?” My faint remark caused Stella to follow my steps and also lift her head up, focusing on the painting in front of us. It was moving. The painting, which was thought to just be delicate paint strokes on a canvas, was actually moving.

Was this our imagination, or was this what my classmates had warned me of?

"The Attack on Pearl Harbor"

Various different planes were flying across the painting, all dropping what looked like bombs onto the land and many ships below. The results of the bombs’ contact with the land shook the whole room and vibrated the floor below us, creating a thundering noise, almost greater than what we had heard before. “What is happening? What is happening? What is happening” Stella repeatedly muttered. I didn’t reply, as I was too in shock, and also had no idea what was going on either. All of a sudden the movements on the painting stopped, all except for one thing. My eyes focused on the slight movements of a man inside one of the planes. “Hellooo? Can you guys hear me well?” A voice announced from the painting. “I said Hello? Are you both going to answer me, or just stand there like a frozen statue?” The dark haired man peered out of his plane with an unamused face, waving his hand to try to get our attention. 

“This cannot be real.” I uttered. “Oh no, this is definitely real alright!” The man in the painting replied with a sly tone as he gave us a slight grin. Stella and I both turned to each other with wide eyes. This was not at all what we were expecting to see.

"The Attack on Pearl Harbor"

“Um, excuse me sir, but would you mind telling us what is going on right now?” I spoke up with a calm yet frightened voice. “Sure thing! This history museum isn’t just your normal museum, oh no it's not! And you two are not just our normal guests, oh no you aren’t! We normally never put a show on like this, I mean we haven’t done it in years! We're a little bit rusty at it now, so my apologies! But, we have never seen such passion and interest for our world’s history in such youngins’ like you both, so we decided we would try teaching our lesson again, just like the old days!” The man exclaimed. Silence filled the room, nobody knew what to say next. I finally spoke up, “So you're here to teach us?” “Of course! Shall we get right into it then?” The man questioned us, showing us a big smile. “I mean, when will we ever get this opportunity again? This is amazing, right Stella?” I looked to my right, as we both grinned at each other and looked back at the painting.

The man grinned back. “Alright! Let's get this started shall we? 

?

?

The man spoke, “Today is December 7th, 1941, 7:55 am. We are in Oahu, Hawaii at the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor. I am actually the enemy of the U.S. in this situation because I am a part of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who is attacking this base right now.” The painting slowly pans over to show the Naval base in better detail. “Our intention was to destroy and damage as much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet as possible, before they could respond to our other operations happening on the same day against Britain, the Netherlands, and other U.S. territories in southeast Asia. This painting shows the height of the surprise attack about 2 hours in where the second wave came with 170 Japanese aircrafts, ultimately causing most of the damage, along with the numerous torpedoes.” My eyes focused on the painting as I saw it demonstrate the variety of aircraft circling the sky and torpedoes being sent down deep under the water.

“Did anyone get hurt during this attack?” Stella questioned, genuinely interested and engaged with the man’s words. “Yes, there were actually quite a bit of casualties. In the end, 18 U.S. warships had been sunk, 188 aircrafts had been destroyed, and 2,403 American servicemen and women had been killed. Pearl Harbor was definitely a huge loss for the U.S. but a huge success for Japan!” The painting moved to show the tons of destroyed U.S. ships and aircrafts as a result of this attack. “Wow, that’s really interesting! I’ve never really gone that deep into learning about Pearl Harbor before!” Stella expressed with an amazed look on her face. “Well I'm glad to be able to help you learn a bit more about this topic from a unique perspective! The man spoke.

"The Attack on Pearl Harbor"

“So is this the end of our lesson?” I asked, slightly tilting my head out of habit. “Well, earlier I actually spoke to my buddies in the other “magical” rooms of the museum, and they would totally be more than welcome to teach you about their exhibits. Just go down that hallway there and you'll be all set!” The man smiled while pointing towards a long, well-lit hallway just to the right of us. “Wow! Thank you so much for teaching us and for this amazing opportunity!” I gratefully spoke. “Of course! Now go on, we've already been keeping them waiting because of our rough start!” The man laughed. “Thank you!” Stella and I both responded at the same time, as we walked towards the hallway.

"The Attack on Pearl Harbor"

As we exited the hallway, we cautiously entered the new room, the Cold War portion of the museum. “Hellooo?” I announced both Stella and I’s presence. “Is anyone here?” I shyly questioned, taking caution with every step we took, as we were nervous that another exceedingly loud sound may erupt at any second. “Psst! Over here!” A subtle voice spoke behind us. We immediately turned and made our way over to the area of the faint voice. We presumed the voice came from a certain painting in front of us, as the scale of it was enormous and couldn’t be missed. The painting was of what looked like just a standard neighborhood, not much different from the ones we have today. The title of the painting read, “The White Flight.” As I looked back up to the painting, I saw a short man peek out from the edge of the painting. Our eyes met and he instantly went back to where I couldn’t see him. “Sir? Hello? You know I already saw you right?” I remarked, my face exerting a puzzled look. 

“Alright, alright. You got me!” The man said jokingly as he walked towards the center of the painting. The man had shiny grey hair, sporting some round glasses and an old-fashioned suit. 

"The White Flight"

“Hello and welcome to the next portion of your lesson, which will be all about the 1900s’ infamous “White Flight.” Stella raised her eyebrow in confusion. She asked the man, “What exactly is the “White Flight?” “The “White Flight” happened roughly from the years of the 1940s through the 1970s. It is described as a post-WWII migration phenomenon, where mostly white people began to move to the suburbs.” The man spoke. “Oh I get it! Well, why did they all move though?” Stella questioned again. “Research suggests many reasons why this all happened, but most are unfortunately based on racism. After the Great Migration, where 6 million Black people from the South moved towards the North to flee persecution, many whites moved away to the suburbs to ensure that they would not have to live by or have their child go to school with an African American."

"Other reasons why these whites may have moved to the suburbs is simply because there were just so many new homes being built in the suburbs, along with some newly built highways, which made the suburbs way more accessible.”

My eyes focused off the man and onto the entirety of the painting as it shifted, showing the new I-10 loop and a variety of cars speeding through the roads of the highway. The man began speaking again, “However, most African Americans unfortunately wouldn’t be able to live in the suburbs even if they wanted to. African Americans got paid a lot less than whites, so mostly only whites could afford to move to the suburbs. Also, people of color were denied access to any suburban homeownership opportunities by banks and realtors through a vastly racist process known as “redlining”. The painting shifted back to its beginning scene, however this time, I could see a few families enter their suburban houses behind the man. The man then looked down at his watch and announced, “Wow, the museum is closing sooner than I thought! I should get you two kiddos to the next lesson! Just go through that hallway right over there and you'll be on your way!” 

The man and the families behind him began to wave-goodbye to us. “Alright! Thank you so much!” Stella and I both voiced, giving the man a big smile before setting off to the next portion of the museum.

"The White Flight"