Moadsf resistance curriculum guide

Images (L-R): Judith Jamison in “Cry,” Max Waldman (1919-81), 1976, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Carol Greunke, Max Waldman Archives; Joe Louis, Underwood & Underwood (active 1882-c. 1950), c. 1935, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Angela Davis, Stephen Shames (b. 1947), 1969; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Curriculum Resource Guide

BY DEMETRIE BROXTON - EDUCATION PROGRAM MANAGER AND ROULA SEIKALY – MoAD IN THE MIDDLE PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Museum of the African Diaspora - Education Department

Notes for Teachers This interdisciplinary, standards-based curriculum is intended to engage students before, during, and after their visit to the exhibit, Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits. Our aim is to help make connections to the curriculum used in schools as well as the core exhibitions found at the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco. The Gallery Guide Questions and Lesson Plans in this bundle can be used to prepare for and visit the exhibition, Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits, on view at MoAD from April 4 to June 14, 2009.

Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits highlights individuals whose passion, determination, and talent played an influential role in shaping notions of race and status over the past 150 years. The exhibition’s theme was inspired by the rallying cry of celebrated abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet, who challenged enslaved African Americans to rise up and emancipate themselves. “Let your motto be Resistance!” he exclaimed. “Resistance! RESISTANCE! No oppressed people have ever secured their liberty without resistance!” The portrait subjects come from many sectors of the African American community, from Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, to Wynton Marsalis and Ella Fitzgerald.

Henry Highland Garnet

MoAD exhibits and four core themes – Origins, Movement, Adaptation, and Transformation – are used as the foundation of each learning experience included in this guide. Students will further develop vocabulary, visual literacy, historical knowledge, writing skills, and a deeper understanding that the African Diaspora includes all people. Students should be encouraged to reflect on the sources of their own identity and the role they play in the continuing human journey.

Although the individual lesson plans included within this guide are written for specific grade levels, each lesson plan can be adapted for other grade levels.

How To Use This Guide When Visiting MoAD The Gallery Guide Question Sheet and Lesson Plans should be used to prepare students for a focused museum visit. MoAD group tours can be used to introduce students to the exhibition and related MoAD core exhibitions.

Jack Johnson

While visiting MoAD, give each of your students a copy of the Questions to Use While at MoAD which accompany the exhibit Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits. These questions will further engage them in the context of the pictures in this exhibition. Younger students can draw lieu of words. Be sure to have your students answer the Reflection Questions as soon as possible after your visit to the Museum. These questions are designed to further students understanding and awareness of what they have seen. You may also opt to choose the grade-level specific projects to complete before or after your Museum visit. Again, these can be used as they appear or modified to accommodate other age groups. Enjoy!

About the Exhibition

“Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” Gallery Guide Questions Please print these questions and use them as a photo guide in the 3rd floor gallery. The questions on these cards do no cover all of the photos but rather enhance the four categories in which the photographs are divided.

Activists Octavius V. Catto: (1839-1871) 1. What does this photo tell us about the time in which it was taken?

2. How do you think the time and circumstances surrounding his life shaped his activist mentality? Can you see it in this picture?

Angela Davis: (Born 1944) *includes audio tour 1. What does Angela Davis seem to be doing in this photo?

2. What is it about her appearance that signifies the time frame of this picture?

Sojourner Truth: (c. 1799-1883) *includes audio tour 1. What does her pose and demeanor in the photo tell us about her life and work?

2. What does the following statement tell us further about Truth’s cause and the photo itself: “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance”

Athletes and Performers Judith Jamison: (Born 1944) 1. Knowing that this photo is of the acclaimed ballet “Cry,” what type of emotions does this dancing evoke?

2. How do you connect the physical movement in Judith Jamison’s body to her facial expressions?

Jackie Robinson: (1919-1972) *includes audio tour 1. How are the two sides of Jackie Robinson’s life converged into this photo?

2. Are there any surprising features in this photo?

Sarah Vaughan: (1924-1990) *includes audio tour 1. Is there anything remarkable in the photo which signifies the time and place with which this was taken?

2. What type of song do you think Sarah Vaughan was singing at the time? Was it happy? Sad?

George Washington Carver: (c.1864-1943) 1. What is in the foreground of the photo?

2. Are there any markers of his agricultural background in this photo?

Artists, Educators, & Writers Private Gordon: (Life dates unknown) 1. What does this picture tell us about the physical severity of slavery? What does it tell us about the emotional severity?

2. What does Gordon’s facial expression and body language evoke?

3. Although historical accounts cannot trace Gordon’s life shortly after this photo was taken, how does he remain an educator based on his participation in this picture?

Elizabeth Catlett: (Born 1919) 1. Why do you think the sculpture of the man’s head takes prominence in this photo?

2. What kind of social significance does the appearance of her work in the photo hold?

Diana Ross w/ Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard: (Born 1944) *includes audio tour 1. Can you point out any distinguishing features which place Diana Ross in a specific decade?

2. How are all three of the singers engaged with one another in the photo?

James Brown: (1933-2006) *includes audio tour 1. How is the “Godfather of Soul� represented in this photo? Does he take hold of the photo or does he fade into the background?

2. Do you notice anything in particular that marks the time and place of the photo?

Richard Pryor: (1940-2005) *includes audio tour 1. Known well for being a comedian, what sense of emotion does this photo evoke? What is Richard Pryor doing that would lead you to such conclusions?

2. Is there anything in the photo which would indicate the particular time in which this was taken?

Celebrities fLangston Hughes: (1886-1958) *includes audio tour

1. Listen to the audio tour for Langston Hughes. What does he say that makes him a Resistor?

2. Does this photograph tell you anything about who Hughes was? What kind of person do you think he was?

Lorraine Hansberry: (1920-1983) *includes audio tour 1. Listen to the entire audio tour for Lorraine Hansberry. In the interview, does Mike Wallace ask fair questions, or does it seem like he has an agenda he wants to push?

2. Does Hansberry’s responses to Mike Wallace’s questions make her a symbol of Resistance?

Reflection Questions 1. Was there someone featured in the exhibition who you had never heard of before? If so, who was this person and what did you learn about him or her?

2. Is there someone you think should have been included in the exhibition, but was not included? If so, who is this person and why do you think the exhibition should have featured them? What did they do?

3. What did you think of being able to use your cell phone in the Museum?

Was this helpful to your understanding of the people in the photographs?

Why or why not?

4. How do photographs influence our understanding of history?

5. Think of a modern day activist, artist, performer, or athlete who is also a resistor. How does this person resist stereotypes or break down boundaries put up for people of color?

6. The exhibition shows that the framing of the picture heavily influences the perception of the viewer. How are images of people in today's media framed? Is the media contributing to stereotypes by framing pictures in a certain way?

Lesson Plans and Additional Resources The themes of Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits fit well with the lessons MoAD developed to accompany our exhibition, Double Exposure: African Americans Before and Behind the Camera. Teachers can download the free .pdf version of the Double Exposure Curriculum Guide and use the lesson plans in order to examine contemporary issues of African American identity.

The following links lead you to websites for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the International Center for Photography. Both institutions hosted the exhibit Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits and produced K-12 lesson plans which meet national standards. All lesson plans can be modified to suit different age groups.

Additional resources include links to interviews with exhibit curator Deborah Willis. For more information about the subjects featured in Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits, search the National Public Radio archive by the subject’s name. The search field can be found on the home page of the site www.npr.org. Available subjects include: “Blind Tom” Wiggins, Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott-King amongst others.

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture http://nmaahc.si.edu/section/education/view/82 International Center for Photography K-5 http://shopping.icp.org/school/Motto_ES_curriculum.pdf 6-8 http://shopping.icp.org/school/Motto_JHS_curriculum.pdf 9-12 http://shopping.icp.org/school/Motto_HS_curriculum.pdf NPR Interview with curator Deborah Willis http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11022034