Evidence of Protest in African American Art


Background

Students will gain a new appreciation of the struggles encountered by African Americans from the time of slavery through modern times. Through exploring the web students will learn to connect African American artwork with the struggle that is portrayed. Students will also learn to express feelings about art through writing and the design of a multi-media presentation. This lesson plan is designed to cover five or more classes and involve significant time working independently.

Learning Objectives
  1. Students will use Internet to research African American art that was used to protest slavery, segregation, and racism.
  2. Students will identify correlation between struggles of African Americans and specific pieces of art.
  3. Students will explain a particular struggle or time period in a Powerpoint Presentation given to entire class. Presentation must include art depicting time period or struggle and historical fact.

Intended Grade Level

This lesson is intended for High School art and history students. The lesson would be best taught in an interdisciplinary style. Before beginning lesson, students must have background knowledge of the history of African Americans from Slavery through modern times. This lesson plan utilizes the World Wide Web, therefore students must be competent in accessing information and searching the web. Students must also be able to create a basic Microsoft Powerpoint Presentation.

Concepts Covered in the Lesson

The major content covered by this lesson is history, sociology, art, and technology. Teaching methods may vary but the lesson will include group discussions and independent research time.

Materials list

Students will need the following materials:
  1. Pen or Pencil
  2. Paper for note taking.
  3. Computer with connection to Internet for each student or group of students.
  4. Computer with Microsoft Powerpoint for each student or group of students.
You will use the following web site as a launch point to study specific artists.
Radical Protest-Art and Politics http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/ Colleges/ARHU/Depts/ArtGal/.WWW/exhibit/98-99/driskell/exhibition/sec4/index ..htm

The following list of sites can be used to facilitate study of time periods in African American history
  1. Gateway to African American History http://charter.uchicago.edu/AAH/
  2. African American History http://www.watson.org/~lisa /blackhistory/
  3. Black History Timeline http://wanonline.com/b lackhistory/1999/tl.html
Procedures

It will take several days to two weeks to complete this lesson. The time taken depends on your needs, time constraints, and how much content you want students to cover. The first step, should be completed on the first day with subsequent steps being completed according to your time table. Be sure to set aside adequate time for the last step so that students have time to share their presentations and field questions.
  1. Introduction-Review with students the 5 periods of African American History listed below.For more information refer to the Gateway for African American History.
    1. Slavery and the Slave Trade
    2. The Civil War to the Twentieth Century
    3. African American Life from 1900 to 1940
    4. The Struggle for Rights 1940-1975
    5. The Struggle Continues 1975-Present
    Lead students in discussion of each period identifying the main characteristics and it's effect on African American people. Ask students to recall ways in which people express their feelings about going through oppression. Show students picture of "Freedom Morning" by Claude Clark. Explain that painting was drawn in 1944. Ask students to recall the climate for African Americans during that time. Ask students how the artist displays elements of the climate in the painting. Tell students that they will now complete an assignment, choosing their own artist and piece of art, showing how the artists uses his or or work to protest the treatment of African Americans during a specific time period.

  2. The Assignment Show students the Radical Politics-Protest and Art web site. Tell students that they will use this site to begin research on an artist. The site has links to many other relevant sites. Students can also search for information on their own. Show students the following list of artists.
    1. John Biggs
    2. Claude Clark
    3. David Driskell
    4. Melvin Edwards
    5. Jacob Lawrence
    6. Charles White
    Have them spend time using the Radical Politics site to view the work and learn about the lives of these artists. They should select one piece of artwork by one of the above listed artists to study further. Tell them they will now research the artist and the time period. They will create a Powerpoint Presentation showing the life of the artists, detailing what was going on during the time period and concluding what motivated the artist and detailing how the artist uses the piece to protest the treatment of African Americans. Emphasize that all of these elements are required for successful completion.Note-your time constraints determine the length and depth of the individual presentations. It may also be wise to create a sample presentation as an example.

  3. Student Presentations Provide ample time for students to show their presentations to the class. Allow fellow students to discuss each presentation
Assessment Activities

The assessment for this lesson is the final PowerPoint Presentation. A successful presentation should contain the following evidence.
  1. Presentation should contain information about life of the artist, including birth, education, and death. Information on motivation should also be present. Images should also be used in longer presentations
  2. Presentation should include information about period of time that the piece is set. This evidence should detail significant evidence of oppression including historical background, legal challenges, cultural bias, and political climate. Again, longer presentations will use images from time period.
  3. Presentation should contain details on the piece of artwork such as the title, medium, and the year it was created. There should also be a full sized picture of the piece or art on one slide.
  4. Presentation should detail how artist used piece or art to protest treatment of African Americans.




Created by: Greg Bulger