click
picture
click
picture OVERVIEW | ASSIGNMENTS | READING GUIDE
COMPUTER LAB | LINKS | EXAMS AND PAPERS
INTERACTIVE WEEK-BY-WEEK SYLLABUS
TWO PHOTOS/ MANY STORIES
Activity. You will work in an assigned group.
First Class --
February 2nd (Sections 091/111)
February 3rd (Section 141)
Step One. First, working as an individual, examine the two photos.* Observe closely. Look closely for detail. Then -- based on your careful observation and whatever prior knowledge you bring to the task --, write a few paragraphs explaining what you see. Your writing can take the form of a story, poem or historical comment. You will write your story in BlackBoard.
click
picture
click
picture
Step Two. Share your writing with your group (by reading one another's posts on BlackBoard). Collaborate on a list of what you observed in the two photos and what hypotheses you might draw from those observations and whatever prior knowledge you bring to the task. Then create a brainstorming list about what else you need to find out in order to explain and put the photos in some meaningful context. If there is time, as a group post your brainstorming list and questions to BlackBoard.
Next, go to the Archives of the West/ Episode Seven website <http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/>. Find and identify the images.
Second and Third Class Session
February 16-23 (Sections 091/111)
February 17-24 (Section 141)
Step Three. Examine the documents below. You can read them by either clicking the links below or examining them in hard (print) copy handouts that you will receive in class. In one way or the other, the documents speak to the process of assimilation (and so-called “Americanization” ) represented by the before and after photo of Lakota Sioux at the Carlisle School
- Sun Elk, He is Not One of Us
- Lone Wolf, None of Us Wanted to Go
- Luther Standing Bear, Back to the Blanket
- Old Lady Horse, There was War between the Buffalo and the White Man
- Richard Pratt, Kill the Indian, Save the Man
- President Arthur, To Introduce Among the Indians the Customs and Pursuits of Civilized Life
- American Progress (lithograph)
- American Progess (text document)
After examining the documents, choose one that you find interesting. It does not have to be one with which you identify. In fact, it might be more fun and challenging to choose a document whose position you find very different from your own.
Then, in the voice and character of the person you choose, comment on the process of de-culturalization and assimilation represented by the two photos. You will be making a leap in time and space back to the late 19th century.
For example, if you choose the document by
Richard Pratt, you would certainly comment favorably. If on the other hand, you
choose the one by Luther Standing Bear, you would look at the process of
assimilation much more negatively.
You will write your comment on the blackboard discussion board entitled “Two
Photos -- Historical Voices Commenting on Assimilation and De-Culturalization.”
At the top your post, identify the author you chose. Write at least 10-12
sentences in the voice of your character.
Remember you character lived in the late 19th century and hence you are discussing the before and after photos from his/her point of view at that time. Where possible, take language and arguments from the document you read.
When you finish your post, respond in character to at least one post of someone who has chosen a character with a different point of view from the one you wrote.
You need to both and post by the end of class, Wednesday, February 23 (sections 091 & 111) or Thursday, February 24 (section 141).
Related Reading: Iron Horse vs. the Buffalo
*How to look at photographs. For
assistance in evaluating photographs as historical evidence, you might want to
check out the following:
--Document
Analysis Worksheet for Photographs (National Archives and Records
Administration)
--Making Sense of
Documentary Photography (History Matters)
