Histories of Art, Race and Empire: 1492-1865

“Sugarcane, cotton hands

My blood and sweat came from this land!

My life would've been different if I didn't have cinnamon pigment

We built this!”-The Cast of Black-ish¹

Introduction

During the pandemic, students were confused, scared, and didn’t understand why people were rioting after the George Floyd police killing. These topics were brought up a lot in my virtual classes and I made space for it because it was important to me that they understand what was happening in society. 

The questions that kept coming up were, “Why are people rioting in the streets?” “What does Black Lives Matter mean and how is it different from All Lives Matter?” These conversations with my students inspired me to begin gathering materials that would refresh students on the history of slavery, oppression, and exploitation, and how it still affects us in the present. As we had conversations about this virtually, I realized students were not connecting the history of slavery in the U.S. with our present society; students didn’t see the links. 

This high school English unit is based on the Yale National Initiative seminar: “Histories of Art, Race, and Empire 1492-1865. This seminar examined images from the period that represented native people, enslaved people, and colonialists. The seminar allowed us to examine the fictions of empire, oriental fantasy, and unlearning colonization propaganda that is still perpetuated today. 

I have been teaching high school English electives for many years. My elective classes are primarily offered to seniors with a few juniors in the mix. Many of the students in my electives don’t need the class to graduate. Because my English elective may not be a graduation requirement for most of my students, I’ve tried to incorporate thought-provoking lessons that will keep the students engaged, learning, and completing their assignments. It can be a real struggle getting high school seniors engaged and completing work when they know the English elective they’re taking isn’t a graduation requirement. I make sure to survey students and get their input on topics they’d be interested in learning. I created this unit based on conversations I had with students when we were virtual learning during the pandemic. I used the knowledge I learned in my Yale seminar to improve this unit and add images that would strengthen it.