Common Core Social Studies Lesson Plan: Charles White Artist of the Chicago Black Renaissance and Black Heroes

Visual text is an important part of Social Studies.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7
Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

As a result teachers can use videos as visual text. An important event in the history of Afro-Americans was the The Chicago Black Renaissance (CBR). The CBR was a period between 1932-1950 that an important cultural movement took place in Chicago among artists, writers and social scientists.

Below is a video on Charles White (1918-1978). He is one of the major Afro-American artist of the Chicago Black Renaissance.

Lesson Plan: Artist of the Black Chicago Renaissance and the Black Heroes Mural

Agenda

1.      Draw KWL Chart on the Board and discuss the idea of Heroes, complete K-W

2.      View and discuss videos on Charles White

3.      Discuss with the students what they have learned about the art of Charles White and complete part L of the KWL chart.
4. Complete the assignment

Lesson Plan:

CCSS Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6

Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Teacher (T) tell students to take out paper and pen to take notes. Make a KWL Chart on the Board. Label the Chart: What is a Hero?  Remind students to copy the chart and record the students’ response placed in the chart. Next, ask students what they know about “What makes a Hero”. Use the chart to record student responses. We discuss student responses. We will complete parts K and W of the KWL chart.

Next tell students that we will look at the video : Charles White: Afro-American Artist of the Black Chicago Renaissance. Go to Youtube and look at the following video:

Tell students to take Notes. After each video tell students to make at least one question related to the video. Ask students to share their questions with the class.

Discuss student question relating to the video.

After viewing the videos go back to the KWL Chart, and fill in the column on what students learned about Charles White.

Next distribute the Assignment. Explain to the students that the five heroes are Sorjourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, Marian Anderson, and George Washington Carver. Tell students to complete the assignment.

Assessment: Students’ written responses to KWL chart, Notes and oral questioning strategies.

Exit Ticket: Student notes and completed KWL chart

Assignment

Make a close reading Charles White’s Five Great American Negroes. Look at how the images in the picture are organized. Now that you have seen the video what do you believe led Charles White to organize the heroes in the order he presents them? Explain if there was any significance in Charles white placing Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglas in the center of the painting.