Rationale
Through my participation in the seminar "Understanding History and Society through Visual Art, 1776-1914", I wish to design a unit of five lessons that will engage my students and provide a depth of learning about the people and the events of the era of "manifest destiny" in the early to middle 19 th century United States, while at the same time challenge them to think about the event in a more reflective and evaluative way. Our state standards include that of examining the concept of manifest destiny as a motivation and justification for westward expansion. Understanding the concept itself and its origins in a purely knowledge level way has not historically been difficult for my eighth grade students. However, the concept should not be viewed in a simplistic or rudimentary way, as most textbooks or history books have portrayed it over the centuries. Indeed, long before the term "manifest destiny" was coined by John L. O'Sullivan in 1845 this ideology was already being enthusiastically carried out, and it continued for many years after O'Sullivan gave it a name. America's westward expansion period was quite a long one, an extensive period of continuous linear westerly movement of groups of European American settlers; a population movement on the grandest scale and scope the American nation has ever witnessed. The tapestry of rich and varied characters and events that were inherent within this era of expansion are fascinating in their own right and an enormous time could well be spent on them in the classroom. The theory of manifest destiny encompassed a set of ideas that empowered European Americans to appropriate huge territories formerly occupied by Native Americans, based on the religious and nationalistic belief that this was supported by Providence. School curriculums and textbooks all include the concept of manifest destiny within their discussion of westward expansion but in the most simple and rudimentary way. European American settlers had been moving west almost since their feet touched the rocky east coast lands of the New World in the early seventeenth century. Two hundred years later, Americans, both in the east and those already on western frontiers, fully embraced the idea of manifest destiny and used it to bolster their already westward tendencies. Americans had pushed west consistently, each time a new territory was acquired. But it was under the administration of President James K. Polk, and the acquisitions of Oregon Country and Mexico's vast holdings of present day Texas, California, Oregon, added to that of the Louisiana Territory holdings of Kansas and Nebraska, that Americans would require a rationale for such rapidly acquired and vast territorial gains. Settlers of all ilks and purposes began to move west to fill in these regions and secure them for the national best interest. It would not be long before the entire United States map as we know it today, save for Alaska and Hawaii, was complete.
All of the above is true and accurate but it is not the complete story. The results of this period of rapid and unrelenting expansion were not positive ones for everyone involved, especially for those most brutally and irrevocably victimized by this national ideology, the Native Americans. In order for my students to understand the entire "big picture" of America's period of westward expansion and nation building, the profound effects and ramifications of this lengthy period of movement on the Native American must be uncovered and viewed without the constraining rhetoric that has clouded this event and that often makes it difficult for all but the experts to truly grasp. What were the motivating factors of the European Americans? How did they justify the acquisition of land that someone else already inhabited? These questions are not answered with cut and dry facts: rather, these are the questions that must be answered after careful and critical analysis of the events that surround the era. It is important for my students to be able to look critically at the ideological statements of the period and form their own opinions about the pros and cons of this nationalistic ideology. I want my students to be able to effectively skirt around the propaganda, patriotic fervor, and sales gimmicks of this chapter in American history and connect with not only the concept and content of manifest destiny but the human failings, tragedies, and triumphs. Being able to do the above will certainly assist my students socially and politically in their everyday American lives, now and in the future.
I want my students to be able to critically evaluate the ideology with respect to not only why the nation embraced manifest destiny, but also what effect this policy had on the image of and the culture of the Native American. I find that my students almost always engage in their own learning when they can make those emotional connections. Our school is very diverse culturally, and students need to be able to engage in activities and instruction that allow them to hash through the different events of history, both joyous and tragic, without boundaries or blinders. However, although my students live in a region with a history and present that are profoundly affected by the events stemming from manifest destiny and westward expansion, they do not seem to make the necessary connections or even to care much at all. Westward expansion seems to be an isolated, long ago, event that lacks relevance to them. I want them to be able to connect personally and critically to these events, seeking out the universal themes throughout the historical event, themes that are indeed relevant today. It is frustrating to find the Native American so often marginalized, not only in history but in the present day in standards and curriculum in schools. Native American history is our history and needs to be front and center in all study of American history.
As adolescents who exist in an extremely exhilarating visual world themselves, my students are naturally attracted to the visual image in the classroom. However, I have found that they are so bombarded with visual stimuli that they aren't thinking much about any of it, certainly not viewing it in any critical fashion. I have chosen to teach the multi-layered concept of manifest destiny through numerous art works, including paintings, prints, sculpture, and photography, using some sound strategies for critical analysis. As residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, formerly Indian Territory, we are indeed fortunate to have a nationally recognized museum of western art, one that is absolutely free to students in the area, the Thomas Gilcrease Museum. It is in this treasure trove of western art and artifacts that my students will be able to put all of the pieces together while making deep, personal connections with the art works in order to reveal the motivations and the relationships of the various groups of people involved in this extraordinary era of America's westward movement. My unit of study will focus on uncovering how the persistent and continuous westward movement of primarily white Americans impacted the relationships between and among the Native Americans and frontier settlers. Through a partnership with Gilcrease Museum, which will include a day long field study exploration of their holdings, students will employ the strategies and skills required for the critical analysis of authentic works of art within the realm of American westward expansion. Ironically it is my students that live a stone's throw away from the Gilcrease Museum of Art that have never visited and quite possibly may never visit any museum. In recent years, the museum has reached out to public schools in the area, encouraging school visits and even paying for the expenses, a wonderful incentive for our economically strained school district. With this unit of lessons, I will prepare my students better beforehand so that it is an exciting and enriching experience for all, especially them. It is my obligation to make sure that all of my students are afforded the opportunities to not only engage with fine works of art, as I believe is their right as a citizen of the community and indeed, as a human being, but also to utilize all of the tools that are within our reach for their educational growth and success.
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