History in Our Everyday Lives

Activities

Collaborative Public Art Piece for Glasgow High School

Students will use information learned about Delaware’s desegregation history and newly-acquired knowledge about public art to devise a plan for a three-dimensional piece of art that will they will then build and display somewhere on school grounds. Students will initially be divided into groups of four and will begin by brainstorming ideas for the public art; they will be instructed that it should represent the student population (both Wilmington students and local suburban students) and that all three-dimensional materials that they have worked with prior to this lesson will be available for the construction of the piece (these materials include papier-mâché, wood, clay, wire, paper, and cloth).

After each group has brainstormed various ideas, they will each construct a proposal for an idea that the group agrees upon. Each group will be given a sheet of poster board on which to draw a large sketch, and each group will designate one member as the spokesperson for the group. The groups will take turns showing their sketches and listening as each spokesperson explains the idea and its proposed location on campus. After all groups have presented their ideas, the class will vote on which idea they would like to build and display. At this point, I will discuss a timeline with the students to determine how much time will be necessary to build the artwork—and a portion of class time for the following classes will be dedicated to working on the project.

Class Proposal for New Public Art in Wilmington

In addition to planning and creating a small-scale project that will be on display on school grounds, students will also collaboratively work on a proposal for a new piece of public art in Wilmington that will represent the prominent role that Delaware played in desegregation. “Students will explore publicart.ie’s “Advice for Artists on Preparing a Proposal” and use Duke University’s example public art proposal as a template for determining what information to include in the proposal. Students will be divided into teams, including an “objectives” team, a “visuals” team, and an “information” team. Students on the “objectives” team will work on the main objectives for the public art project: what is its purpose? What will it hopefully achieve? To what people or event will it bring recognition? Students on the “visuals” team will be responsible for developing sketches and drawings of the proposed monument; it is important to note that it is not necessary to settle on one specific design; due to the relative informality of this proposal, submitting more than one idea is acceptable, as long as they all share a common theme. Finally, students on the “information” team will work on writing the background information and the supporting details for why the class feels this piece of public art is necessary for the city of Wilmington. When the final proposal is completed, it will be sent to city legislature for review.

Oral History Interviews with Christina School District Students from 1979

Guest speakers who were students in the Christina School District when busing first began in 1979 will be invited to come into class; students will conduct oral history interviews with these guests to gain a deeper understanding of the students’ perspective of busing as a desegregation effort. Students will be asked to develop a series of questions prior to the visit and a group discussion will help eliminate redundant questions and hopefully uncover new questions that students did not think of independently. Information gained during the interviews will help to shape and better inform students’ understanding of the busing that they still participate in today.