This is a presentation I gave at the 2014 Tennessee Art Education Association conference in Memphis, TN. The conference was themed "We Can Dream." The presentation seeks to demonstrate how enduring ideas and essential questions connect classroom concepts to real-world experience to promote higher order thinking. The presentation also shares how my art education training has been essential in shaping the National Civil Rights Museum's educational materials for teachers. Also included are ways to incorporate civil rights history into art lessons. View the last slide for additional links.

1. Teaching the Dream:
The Enduring Idea, Art, and the
National Civil Rights Museum
Jody Stokes-Casey
Education Coordinator, National Civil Rights Museum
Presentation given at the Tennessee Art Education Association State Conference
Memphis, TN October 24, 2014

3. Enduring Ideas comprise concepts that
have drawn the attention of humans through
the ages.
Marilyn Stewart, Rethinking Curriculum in Art (Worcester, Mass: Davis
Publications, Inc., 2005), 17.

4. COURAGE
VOICE
JUSTICE

5. COURAGE
Enduring Idea:
Courageous acts can become a part of a larger movement for
change.
Essential Questions:
• Was courage a necessary component of the Civil Rights
Movement?
• What happened in the Civil Rights Movement that made
people courageous enough to push back and challenge
systems and beliefs?
• How can learning about the courageous actions of individuals
during the Civil Rights Movement influence our own
approaches to fears, challenges, or other limitations?

6. Defini&ons
The
willingness
to
act
with
or
without
fear
in
response
to
a
threat
to
achieve
an
important
moral
goal
(Woodard
and
Pury)
Types
Characteris&cs
Examples
Non-­‐Examples
COURAGE
FRAYER
MODEL
GRAPHIC
ORGANIZER
Physical
Moral
Emo&onal/Psychological
• Feeling
FEAR
yet
choosing
to
act
• Passion,
Conscious,
Following
your
heart
• Persevering
in
the
face
of
adversity
• Facing
suffering
with
dignity
or
faith
• Exhibit
integrity
and
character
• Standing
up
for
what
is
right
• Indifference/not
caring
• Bystander
• DoubIul,
wavering,
indecisive
Ac&ons
and
lives
of
“Big
Names”
Rosa
Parks,
Mar&n
Luther
King,
Jr.
Thurgood
Marshall,
Harriet
Tubman,
etc
Small
ac&ons
can
be
courageous
too.
Helping
someone
in
need
even
if
it
may
be
a
risk.
Doing
something
by
yourself
for
the
first
&me.
Asking
someone
on
a
date

7. DEFINING COURAGE
WILLFULNESS
RISK
MORALITY
Courage is no accident. It is a choice.
Courageous acts involve risks of many varieties.
Physical, Emotional, Professional, Personal, etc.
Oftentimes, the acts considered to be most
courageous have a worthy, noble or moral
goal.

8. 'There lived … a people who had the moral courage to stand
up for their rights. And thereby they injected a new meaning
into the veins of history and civilization.’
Martin Luther King, Jr.
5 December 1955 , Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting

9. Culture of Resistance Slavery in America 1619-1861

10. Art, Art History, History, Literacy
Courage
Quilt making
Adaptable to all grades
Harriet Powers, Bible Quilt, 1885-1886, cotton, 75”x89”
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Jaqueline Woodson, Show Way, 2005
Harriet Powers
(1837-1911), Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston

11. Memory Jugs
Art, Art History, History
Faith
Ceramics, Collage/Scrapbooking
Adaptable to all grades
Kente Cloth
Art, Art History, History
Voice, Faith
Fiber Arts
Adaptable to all grades
Nkisi Nkondi
Art, Art History, History
Faith, Justice
Sculpture
Adaptable to all grades

12. Frederick Douglass
Ca. 1840s Ca. 1856 Ca. 1860s
Ca. 1879
Photographic Portraits
Art, Art History, History, Visual Literacy, Literacy
Voice, Courage, and Justice
Photography, Drawing, Criticism
Upper levels
Contemporary: Have students evaluate their Facebook profile pictures to determine
their own visual legacy.

13. I, Too, Am American Combating Jim Crow 1896-1954

14. Aaron Douglas, Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery to Reconstruction, 1934. Mural
Painting, Mural Painting
Art, Art History, Music, History
Voice
Painting, Drawing, Value or Color Studies
All Grades
TN Connection – Nashville, Former teacher at Fisk University, holds extensive collection of his paintings
Compare painting to Duke Ellington’s Brown, Black, and Beige

15. A few Harlem Renaissance Artists
Agusta Savage
Sculptor
James Van Der Zee
Photographer
Jacob Lawrence
Painter

16. Separate is Not Equal Brown v. Board of Education 1954

17. Malala Yousafzai
Photo: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images

18. Dr. Kenneth Clark conducting the “Doll Test” with a young male child, 1947.
Gelatin silver print. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (62)

19. Mark Rothko, Light Red Over Black,
1957, Oil on canvas
Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist, 1950
Enamel, oil, acrylic on canvas
Painting
Art, Art History, History, Philosophy
Voice
Color Studies
Upper Middle – High School Grades

20. Standing Up by Sitting Down: Student Sit-ins 1960

21. Andy Warhol, Birmingham Race Riot, 1964, Screenprint on paper, 16”x 24”
Printmaking
Art, Art History, History, Visual Culture
Voice, Courage
Upper Grades

22. Gordon Parks, Eldridge Cleaver and His
Wife, Kathleen, Algiers, Algeria. 1970,
Gelatin silver print, 13x18”
Ernest C. Withers, Young Woman
Receives her voter registration card,
Fayette County, TN 1960. Gelatin silver
print, 15x15”
Photography
Art, Art History, History, Visual Culture, Philosophy
Voice, Courage
Middle and Upper Grades

23. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round: Albany Movement 1961-1963

24. Neutral
Courage Meter Activity
Empty Full
No Courage Ultimate Courage

25. Scenario: A group of teenage and younger girls are
arrested in Albany, Georgia for participating in a non-violent
protest march. They are jailed in the
Leesburg Stockade and held for 45 days with no
bedding, extremely unsanitary conditions, and
undercooked food. Danny Lyons (member of
SNCC) risked his own well-being by sneaking into
the stockade and photographing the conditions of the
girls. His photographs were entered into the
congressional records and used to release the
Stolen Girls.
Neutral
Empty Full
No Courage Ultimate Courage

26. Danny Lyon, The Leesburg Stockade, 1963, Photograph
Photography
Art, Art History, History
Voice, Courage
All Grades

27. Photo Jeff Simon The Washington Post, April 30, 2014

28. Say It Loud: Black Pride, 1966-1975

29. Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach, 1988, Acrylic on Canvas, Tie-dyed, pieced fabric border 74x69:
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Fiber Arts, Painting
Art, Art History, History, narrative/story telling
Voice
All Grades

30. José Clemente Orozco . Frescos at The Cabañas Cultural Institute
Credit: Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
Painting, Mural Painting
Art, Art History, History
Voice, Justice, Courage
Painting, Drawing
All Grades

31. Emory Douglas
(Left) Originally published in The Black Panther April
18, 1970 (c) 2008 Emory Douglas/Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York
(Below) February 2008, Black Panther: Emory Douglas
@ MOCA Pacific Design Center
Graphic Design, Printmaking, Painting
Art, Art History, History, Visual Culture
Voice
All Grades

32. Barbara Jones-Hogu, Unite, 1971, Silkscreen with ink on wove paper, 22 ¼ x 30.” National Civil Rights Museum.
Graphic Design, Printmaking, Painting
Art, Art History, History, Visual Culture
Voice
All Grades
AfriCOBRA

33. Barbara Jones-Hogu, Relate To Your Heritage, 1971, Silkscreen with ink on wove paper, 34x43.”
National Civil Rights Museum.

34. ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTION (Learning Links for Say It Loud: Black Pride exhibit)
Create your own artwork based on the print “Relate to Your Heritage” by AfriCOBRA artist Barbara Jones-Hogu.
AfriCOBRA artists sought to celebrate African heritage by using artistic elements found in traditional African art, such
as rhythmic patterns and bold colors. In “Relate to Your Heritage” Jones-Hogu uses the rectangular sections to create
a rhythmic pattern in the overall composition. She also creates patterns within each rectangular panel by using the
letters of the words “relate to your heritage.” Follow the directions below to create artwork in a similar style, using
similar technique to Jones-Hogu.
• Take a piece of white paper and using a ruler, draw 4 straight lines from the top of the page to the bottom of
the page, dividing the page into 5 sections. Make sure each section is wide enough for you to draw a picture
inside.
• Cut along the lines to create 5 separate strips of paper.
• Using a pencil, draw a profile (side view) of yourself in one strip.
• Draw a portrait (front view) of yourself in the second strip.
• In the third strip draw a picture (you may pick between profile, portrait, or full body) of either your mother,
father, aunt, uncle, or someone in your family or community you look up to or feel close to.
• In the fourth strip, draw a picture of another relative or older friend or community member (you may pick
between profile, portrait, or full body).
• In the fifth strip, draw a picture of what you think one of your ancestors may look like (you may pick between
profile, portrait, or full body). Think of a great grandmother or grandfather several generations back. You
may also choose someone who is a hero to you.
• Pick from the following sayings or create your own saying that represents your family or community:
Relate to Your Heritage
Celebrate Your Family
Proud of My Community
• In the background of each strip you drew on, write the saying you choose. Use block or bubble letters. You
can write the words up and down or sideways. You can repeat words from the saying and have letters
disappear off the edges of the page. Use the words of the saying to create a pattern.
• Pick 4 bold colored crayons or markers. In addition to the 4 colors, you may also use black and white. Using
only these colors, color in each of the 5 strips you drew on. Make sure to color in the background too and
each strip can have a different background color.
• Move the strips around until you find an order that looks good to you. Once you decide on the order of the
strips, glue them down to second piece of paper to create one picture like in the artwork by Jones-Hogu.

35. Elizabeth Catlett, Negro Es Bello II, 1969,
Lithograph on paper, 30 x 23 1/3”. National
Civil Rights Museum.
Graphic Design, Printmaking, Painting
Art, Art History, History, Visual Culture
Voice
All Grades

36. Jet Magazine. November 1966, NCRM 201.003.009

37. Bayard Rustin and the Courage to Be Authentic

38. “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a
dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963 March on Washington

39. Teaching the Dream:
The Enduring Idea, Art, and the
National Civil Rights Museum
https://www.slideshare.net/JodyStokesCasey/
taea-presentation-40512850
Jody Stokes-Casey
Education Coordinator, National Civil Rights Museum
Presentation given at the Tennessee Art Education Association State Conference
Memphis, TN October 24, 2014

40. Notes and Links
Slide 10:
Show Way Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Show-Way-Jacqueline-Woodson/dp/0399237496
Show Way Lesson Plans: http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=6143&a=1
Harriet Powers Bible Quilt: http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_556462
Slide 11:
Memory Jugs Lesson Plan: http://changing-exhibit.museum.state.il.us/sites/changing-exhibit.museum.state.il.us/files/Memory Jug gallery: http://www.ohiofolk.com/Memory%20Jug%20Gallery.html
Kente Cloth Lesson Plan (Elementary) http://www.kinderart.com/multic/kente.shtml AND http://www.dickblick.com/lesson-PBS Lesson Plan for Kente Cloth: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/tools/music/activities3.html
Information about Nkisi Nkondi: http://www.artsconnected.org/resource/93730/nail-figure-nkisi-nkondi
Slide 12:
History on Douglass, photography, and visual culture: http://www.huarchivesnet.howard.edu/0002huarnet/freddoug.htm
Visual Literacy: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy
Frederick Douglass as abolitionist : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html
Also see Courage Guide and http://www.cmbernier.org/
Slide 14:
Aspects of Negro Life essay: http://www.jmu.edu/evision/archive/volume4/Burlovich.pdf
Duke Ellington “Black, Brown, and Beige” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM2N8_H4me0
Slide 18: Dark Designs and Visual Culture by Michele Wallace available on Google Books
Slide 30: Watch Faith Ringgold Discuss her artwork: http://www.makers.com/faith-ringgold
Slide 31: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/arts/design/the-legacy-of-the-painter-jose-clemente-orozco-is-revived.Slide 34: Interview with Barbara Jones-Hogu http://never-the-same.org/interviews/barbara-jones-hogu/