Units March 8, 2024
Picturing the Unseen: Illuminating Overlooked Narratives in African American History
State:
Grades:
This unit was created by the Amplify Through Art team as part of the 2023 cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. It is designed for facilitation across approximately eight to ten 45-minute sessions.
Unit Overview
In this unit, students will delve into the often overlooked and censored aspects of African American history in the United States. Through the lens of visual representation, students will explore significant events, figures, perspectives and events that have been marginalized in traditional historical narratives.
By creating various forms of visual media such as data visualizations, students will engage with these stories, gaining a deeper understanding of the complexities of African American history and the impact of censorship on national memory.
Essential Questions:
- Why do erasure and/or underreported stories exist, especially in the context of Black history in America? How about other communities? Who does it benefit and who does it hurt?
- How has art amplified underreported historical stories? In what ways have artists leveraged data/facts to advance the message of art?
- How has art/data visualization been used as a tool to review the past? How can it impact the future?
- Why are contemporary artists using data visualization to reconnect with the past and surface erased narratives and voices?
Learning Outcomes:
- Historical Awareness: Develop a comprehensive understanding of underrepresented and censored events in African American history, including their significance and impact on society.
- Critical Thinking: Analyze the reasons behind the underrepresentation and censorship of certain historical events, encouraging students to question the dominant narratives.
- Visual Literacy: Acquire skills in creating visual representations, including infographics, digital art, videos, and more, to communicate historical narratives effectively.
- Empathy and Perspective-Taking: Foster empathy by exploring historical events from different viewpoints, promoting a more holistic understanding of African American experiences.
- Cultural Appreciation: Recognize the contributions of African Americans to various fields and industries throughout history, emphasizing their resilience and achievements.
Performance Task
By the end of the unit, students will have a portfolio of visual work representing their research and exploration. This will include data visualizations, art projects and reflections on artwork. The final activity of the unit will be a gallery walk for students to share and discuss their work with classmates, families, school staff, and community members.
| 1619 Resources | The 1619 Project Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renee Watson and Nikkolas Smith The Year 1619 from The New York Times |
| Art and Data Visualization | A Timeline of Slavery in America by Lawrence Lander “Does Oklahoma Require the Tulsa Race Massacre to be Covered in Schools?” by Nuria Martinez-Keel, The Oklahoman[.pdf] Greenwood Massacre from What the Tulsa Race Massacre Destroyed by The New York Times [.pdf] Are There Sundown Towns in Illinois? from History and Social Justice [.pdf] Freedom of Movement for Women in Afghanistan by Mona Chalabi for UNWomen |
| Videos | The 1619 Project Born on the Water READ ALOUD Book by Nikole Hannah-Jones & Renee Watson from Reading Rocket (15:08) Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors Testify from CSPAN (25:42) Georgia county's expulsion of Black population still felt today from CNN (7:55) |
| Interactive Websites | Racial violence in America: 60 years of whitewashing from CNN The New York Times Interactive Website on The Tulsa Massacre The 1619 Project Education Portal "Historical Database of Sundown Towns," History and Social Justice "Uncovering the Distribution of 'Sundown Towns,'" by Sam Fader for Mapbox “Protest & Social Movements,” Guide to Primary Sources, a research guides from Kalamazoo College “Civil Rights,” Primary Sources (U.S. History) from LoneStar College Kingwood “Primary Sources,” Civil Rights Movement from LibGuides at University of West Florida Libraries |
| Reporting | “St. Louis Family Discovers a Secret Past,” from Before Ferguson, Beyond Ferguson by Richard Weiss for St. Louis Riverfront Times Black Truck Driver Tells Horrifying Story of His Night in a 'Sundown Town' by Shira Li Bartov for Newsweek “AP Road Trip: Racial Tensions in America’s Sundown Towns,” from Looking for America by Tim E. Sullivan, Noreen Nasir and Wong Maye-E for Associated Press “It Was Once a KKK Stronghold. Last Year, BLM Came to Town,” from When Black Lives Matter Comes to Rural, White Texas by Nadja Drost and Peter Van Agtmael for The Economist “Momentum Grows for Environmental Justice and Advocacy at Grassroots Level,” Climate for Change by Herbert L. White for the Charlotte Post “Still Marching to Secure the Right to Vote,” Battle for the Ballot Box by Brittany Gibson for The American Prospect |
| Digital Resources | Procreate: Procreate Dreams is the all-new animation app with everything you need to create rich 2D animations, expressive videos & breathtaking stories. Kleki: Free web app for painting and editing. Canva: free account option available, good for copyright-free, digital art elements Amplifier Art: a nonprofit design lab that builds art and media experiments to amplify the most important movements of our times. |
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science-6-8
SS.CV.1.6-8.MC
Evaluate the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media.
SS.G.2.6-8.MC
Evaluate how cultural and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
SS.H.2.6-8.MC
Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.
SS.H.3.6-8.MdC
Detect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources.
SS.H.4.6-8.MdC
Compare the central historical arguments in secondary works across multiple media.
Illinois Arts Learning Standards
Visual Arts:Cr2.3.8a
Select, organize, and design images and words to make visually clear and compelling presentations.
Visual Arts:Cr3.1.7a
Reflect on and explain important information about personal artwork in an artist statement or another format
Diversity 10 DI.6-8.10
I can explain how the way groups of people are treated today, and the way they have been treated in the past, shapes their group identity and culture.
Justice 12 JU.6-8.12
I can recognize and describe unfairness and injustice in many forms including attitudes, speech, behaviors, practices and laws.
I learned more stuff about Black History. Some of it made me gag in my head. I can teach someone about the way Black people were treated and how their history was hidden.
Danika G., Stephen Decatur Middle School
The following data visualizations from students in African American Art History class at Stephen Decatur Middle School cover a wide variety of topics and issues, from the birthweight of enslaved babies to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s arrests, to the differences in Black and White schools during segregation, and more. Students took their understanding of data visualizations and did independent research with what were impassioned take further.
**These data visualizations were evaluated using the Peer Review Data Visualization Feedback from Penn State University Libraries [.pdf].