Histories of Art, Race and Empire: 1492-1865

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 23.01.06

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Intro
  2. Rationale:
  3. Content Objectives 
  4. Part 1: American Indians
  5. Part 2: Afro descended and mixed-race women
  6. Content Standards and Connection to State Requirements.
  7. Teaching Strategies for analyzing Images as Documents
  8. Classroom Activities
  9. Annotated Bibliography/Resources
  10. Complete Bibliography
  11. Notes

Clothing and Identity in Early America: Black Women and AmerIndian Men

Melissa Muntz

Published September 2023

Tools for this Unit:

Teaching Strategies for analyzing Images as Documents

In the IB system we analyze sources of information using the Origin, Purpose, Value, Limitations framework.  This is usually applied to written documents but can also be used for propaganda, videos, and in the case of this unit, images.  Students will practice this type of analysis on all of the images in this unit.  They will consider:

  1. What is the origin of the image?  Who made it? Where was it made? When was it created? Etc.
  2. What was the purpose of this image?  Why was it created? Who paid for it? What was its intended audience? Etc.
  3. What makes this image valuable to us as evidence for our topic/goal?  Was it created first-hand?  Was the artist familiar with the subject?  Is there an explicit message to the image?  Is this image somehow special or unique? Etc.
  4. What are the limitations of this image?  What does it not tell us?  What makes it less–than–perfect in terms of using it as a historical source?  What are the biases of the artist/patron/publisher? 

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