This Day in History

Aug. 6, 1945: The U.S. Dropped an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima

Time Periods: 1945

Themes: US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, World History/Global Studies

On Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb for the first time in war over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Shinichi Tetsutani (then 3 years and 11 months) loved to ride this tricycle. That morning, he was riding in front of his house when, in a sudden flash, he and his tricycle were badly burned. He died that night.

Learn more about Shinichi and his family at the Hiroshima Memorial Museum website.

Shinichi was one of hundreds of thousands killed and many more who were injured and/or displaced by the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Here are resources for learning more about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

“A Veteran Against War” by Howard Zinn, a WWII veteran, who recounts,

Hiroshima and Royan were crucial in my gradual rethinking of what I had once accepted without question—the absolute morality of the war against fascism.

“W. E. B. Du Bois to Malcolm X: The Untold History of the Movement to Ban the Bomb” by Vincent Intondi
Democracy Now! archives on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Related Resources

Teaching Activities (Free)

Haiku and Hiroshima: Teaching About the Atomic Bomb

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
Lesson for high school students on the bombing of Hiroshima using the film Barefoot Gen and haiku.

Coretta Scott King (R) with Women Strike for Peace founder Dagmar Wilson, 1963 | Zinn Education Project

If We Knew Our History

W. E. B. Du Bois to Coretta Scott King: The Untold History of the Movement to Ban the Bomb

Article. By Vincent Intondi. If We Knew Our History Series.
Intondi states: “African American leaders have long been concerned with broad issues of peace and justice — and have especially opposed nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, this activism is left out of mainstream corporate-produced history textbooks.”