Histories of Art, Race and Empire: 1492-1865

Activities

The overall objective of this unit is for students to analyze how the historical event of The Treaty of 1868 affected the Diné. The unit will be scaffold into four sub-objectives of:

1. Students will identify what is a treaty.
2. Students will identify what lead up to the treaty.
3. Students will analyze photographs that were taken during and after the imprisonment of the Navajo People.
4. Students will create an art piece of choice telling about the Long Walk & the Treaty of 1868.

Identify what a ‘Treaty’ is

In this activity, students will be shown the word, ‘Treaty.’ They will use a consensus map, a KWL chart and write an Exit ticket. They will use the KWL chart to define what a ‘Treaty” is and have a table discussion and discuss what they think the word means. Students will be asked what the word means, have they heard of that word, and why is it important? The teacher will then show students the ‘Treaty of 1868.’ The teacher will use a PowerPoint to discuss how this treaty came about for the Navajo People. They will be asked, what they know about the Long Walk. During the presentation, students can add to their KWL chart about what they know about the Long Walk and create questions like, “How do these two topics tie together?” Pictures will be shown during the presentation, but the focus will be on defining what a ‘Treaty’ is. At the end of the lesson, they will create a consensus map to come to an agreement together to tell what a Treaty is.

What lead up to the ‘Treaty of 1868’

In this activity, students will dive into what lead up to the ‘Treaty of 1868.’ Students will be using a cause and effect chart, an illustration summary and do a gallery walk. The teacher will read the story, “Dzani Yazhi Naazbaa’/Little Woman Warrior Who Came Home: A Story of the Navajo Long Walk.” During the read aloud, students will create an illustration summary. After the read aloud, students will post their illustration and do a gallery walk. Students will create their cause and effect chart. They will use the story and the PowerPoint from the week before to identify the cause and effect of the ‘Treaty of 1868.’

Analyze photographs of the ‘Long Walk’

In this activity, the teacher will show several photos from the Long Walk and analyze them. Students will be given a set of questions to think about as they look at these photos. “Who are these people in the photographs? Where are these people at? What are they wearing? Look at their faces, how do you think they feel?” One of the photos will show the Navajo People signing the document. Students will be asked, “How do you think the People felt when this document was signed? Look at their faces, do they seem to know what is going on? What would you do? During the gallery walk, students will choose a photo that stands out to them.

After analyzing the photographs, teacher will give students information about the photographer and how the subjects were told to pose for the photos. After this given information, students will give their own opinions about the photos and what they think the People should have done.  Students will then be shown recent modern replicated illustrations of the Navajo Leaders who had their photos taken and discuss in groups what the artist was trying to convey. As the activity concludes, students will be told to go back to the photo they chose and think about how they would change the photograph like what modern artists have done. They will also be asked think about how to explain their changes for the next activity.

Creating an Art Piece of choice

In concluding this unit, students will create an art piece of choice that tells about the ‘Long Walk/ The Treaty of 1868.’ Students will be given the book, “The Navajo Treaty of 1868: Treaty between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians.” This book has more photographs that students will look at and think about what to create. The choices they will have are creating a collage, an illustration using paint/color pencils/pencils, or creating a digital image using technology. Students will be given two class periods to complete this activity.

When students have completed their projects, students will do another gallery walk. They will look at each other’s work and give each other affirmations about the work.