Visualizing Expansion Lesson 5: Art and Understanding "the West"

Visualizing Expansion Lesson 5: Art and Understanding "the West"

What did a Native American warrior look like in a community insiders' view, a studio artwork, and a commercial image?
Essential Questions: What can maps and art teach us about the past? What does a visual depiction of a person or place reveal about the people who made it? How did Native Americans and white settlers engage with expansion into the Plains differently? What are some stereotypes about Native Americans and how did they come to be?

Ellen Schneider

50 minutes

• White settlers viewed westward expansion as an exciting opportunity and a civilizing mission, but Native Americans were violently removed from their homes and placed in military camps.
• Two authors can create very different visual records of one person based on their personal biases
• Stereotypes are created based on existing biases and power dynamics
• Evaluate visual sources for biases
• Situate works of art within a familiar
historical narrative
• Compare and contrast visual sources'
messages and biases
• Explore and trouble stereotypes about
Native Americans in "the west"

Copies of worksheets for each student
Blank paper
drawing supplies

Introduction: Uncovering Existing Understandings (10 minutes)
• Prompt students to draw "the wild west."
• Instructions: “On a blank piece of paper, take 5 minutes to do a quick sketch of what
you think of when you imagine “the wild west.” Think about who is there, what the setting looks like, and what the people are doing.” Encourage students to get ideas down, not worry too much about creating great art in five minutes.
• Students pair off and discuss reflective questions (see handout 1) about their drawings. Alternatively, students can just write down their answers, or discuss them as a whole group.
• “What is happening in your image? Why did you pick that? What people did you draw? What details did you include to communicate who they are? What is the setting you drew? How are you and your partners’ drawings similar and different? What sources or experiences informed the ideas you used in your drawing?
Main Activity (40 minutes)
• Demonstrate how to use a see/think/wonder chart (5 minutes)
• Draw the chart on the board and project Image 2, Cheyenne Warrior Killing a
Wagoneer, Cheyenne Warrior Killing a Mexican, Army Soldiers Kill a Crooked Lance Bearer and His Horse. As you think out loud through filling out the first row of the chart, write your example answers on the board.
• Explain how to use the see/think/wonder chart and give an example for the first row. Use your own observations or the example given below:
• “We will use this chart to unpack three images of Native American Warriors from three different perspectives. In the first column, write about one detail you see observe in the image. Here, I see a line of men wearing black holding guns. Then, I’ll write what that detail makes me think is happening in the image. I think these men are a white army because of their formal clothes and arrangements, and because they have weapons. In the last column, I will write something these details have left me wondering about. I wonder why they are there attacking.”
• Students look at images on their own (10 minutes)
• Divide the class into thirds and assign each group one of the three image sheets. Pass one
image sheet out to each student. See worksheets following this lesson plan
• Each student fills out a see/think/wonder chart for their assigned image
• Students pair up (5 minutes)
• After students have had time to get several good observations on their charts, have each
student pair up with someone who looked at the same image they did. Alternatively, if students are having a tough time engaging with the images on their own, they can work in pairs from the start.
• In pairs, students compare observations and discuss their biggest questions and ideas about their images.
• They agree on the most important details, conclusions, and questions to share to help someone who is seeing this image for the first time understand it.
• Jigsaw: 15 minutes
• Pass out jigsaw worksheet. Put students into groups so that each group contains at least
one student who has looked at each image. They share their images and conclusions from
the see/think/wonder worksheet.
• Together, they discuss the questions on the jigsaw worksheet. If you want them to write
their answers down, appoint a scribe in each group.
• As a group, debrief answers and questions that arose during the jigsaw activity. Wrap Up: (5 minutes)
• Pass out Exit Slip sheet
• Students write a few sentences answering the exit slip questions