Teaching with and through Maps

Resources

Bibliography for Teachers

Chocolate Cities: The Black Map of American Life by Marcus Hunter and Zandria Robinson

This book gives a thought provoking commentary of Black life in the United States by challenging the negative rhetoric about Black people. The authors analyze networks and maps that show liberation, innovation, and hope from Black circles throughout the existence of America. Chapter four specifically addresses the Chitlin’ Circuit providing a chronological overview tracing the evolution of this network from the late 1800s to present time and accounts from performers who have traveled the route.

Follow de Drinkin’ Gou’d, Texas Folklore Society Volume VII, H.B. Parks

This is the first published arrangement of the song Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd. Within this volume, the actual song can be found in the third chapter and features the written account of H.B. Parks who describes how he discovered the song, his method of collecting the lyrics and melody, and his family’s connection to the Underground Railroad.

Legba’s Crossing: Narratology in the African Atlantic by Heather Russell

This POWERFUL book discusses West African philosophy and spirituality illustrating how the deity Papa Legba, manifests in communities of the African diaspora linking examples such as the double entendre in the lyrics of Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd to Papa Legba’s characteristics of shapeshifting and ruling the crossroads; a concept Russell coins called the “Legba Principle.”

The History of Cartography, Volume Two, Book Three Editied by David Woodward and G. Malcolm Lewis⁷⁶

I came across this collection while searching for non Western maps. There are a plethora of examples that show pre-colonial cartography. I found it interesting how all, but one set of maps were described as scientific creations. The second chapter describes maps of housing as “rock art” with “cartographic content.”

Websites

Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History www.followthedrinkinggourd.org

This website by Joel Bresler details all of his research about Follow the Drinking Gourd. He presents his methodology, analysis, and discussion about the origins of the song and about the collector of the song, H.B. Parks. Additionally, Bresler shares timelines, early audio recordings, and teaching resources.

An atlas of Radical Cartography www.an-atlas.com

The website creators, Lize Mogel and Alexis Bhagat, are very open about their goals to present new representations of power and challenging dominant political narratives. This website features a collection of maps and essays that bring awareness to a variety of social issues.

Suggested Maps & Materials for Students

Maps for Activities Two and Three

Armada Portrait

“A map exhibiting all the new discoveries in the interior parts of North America,” Arrowsmith & Puke 1802⁷⁷. This map features updates from all the new things that pioneers found in North America. The map has notes that detail rivers and travel times that were contributed by Indigenous people. This raises questions as to why the Indigenous contributions are labled as such, but other contributions are not.

“British Empire throughout the world exhibited in one view”. John Bartholomew, 185-. The map shows the world with red shadings around the countries the British Empire possessed at the time. The cartouche shows British citizens on horses surrounded by figures with minimal clothing standing with them.

“The British Empire Spans the World.” The Constitutional Publishing Co., 1929⁷⁸. This map is printed in a newspaper. Lands are shaded a bright red to signify the territory of the British Empire. Along the sides of the map are statistics that advertise the benefits to going to a specific territory.There is an advertisement for Dale’s Beer below the map.

“Map of North America Including All the Recent Geographical Discoveries,” D.H. Vance and A. Finley, 1826⁷⁹. Example of land being described as the territory of European countries.

“Map of North America.” Charles Smith 1849⁸⁰ This is a map of North America with green, red, and yellow shading to show national boundaries. On the bottom right, Caribbean and Central American countries are also shaded in green, which appears to convey these countries are connected to the United States of America.

“[Marshall Island stick chart, Rebbelib type],” Majuro, Marshall Islands: s.n., 192-?⁸¹ A map used to navigate the Marshall Islands by canoe. The seashells represent island locations and the sticks represent currents and ocean swells.

“The Daily Telegraph map of the world on Mercator’s projection”, Alexander Gross, 1918⁸². This map of the world uses Mercator’s flat projection distorting the size of the African continent. The map features notes that mark the control of land during WWI.

“Overseas Empires of European Powers,” 1914⁸³. This map uses Mercator’s projection to show territories and possessions of England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Russia, and Spain. The places that have been territorialized are Australia, Canada, India, Siberia, and the African continent. The Philippines has U.S.A. underneath its name in parentheses. This is not in the map key because it focuses on European powers, however this is reflective of territorialization of that land.

“Native Land Digital⁸⁴” map is an interactive map online that projects the world to show groups of people who are indigenous to a specific area of land before colonization. This is a living map that show indigenous groups across the world, not just the Americas. This map centers indigenous perspectives and continues to update as more information is learned.

Maps for Activity Four

Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History www.followthedrinkinggourd.org

This website by Joel Bresler details all of his research about Follow the Drinking Gourd. He presents his methodology, analysis, and discussion about the origins of the song and about the collector of the song, H.B. Parks. Additionally, Bresler shares timelines, early audio recordings, and teaching resources. The “map” lies in the lyrics of the song. Drawing from the explanations of H.B. Parks⁸⁵ and insights from Joel Bresler⁸⁶, here is an explanation of the song lyrics.

The Chitlin’ Circuit https://www.blackmusicproject.com/exhibit/big-mama-thornton

There isn’t an official map of the Chitlin’ Circuit. In terms of primary sources, the network becomes tangible through flyers, newspaper articles, and historical accounts. There are multiple maps from the present that have plotted information creating a visual map for the Chitlin’ Circuit. The map I recommend using comes from Black Music Project⁸⁷ which is an online with a wealth of information about Black Music through the lens of US history.

Early Street Maps of Chicago https://chicagology.com/prefire/prefire275

These maps show early plottings of Chicago, before the great fire, where Jean Baptiste Point DuSable’s home was. The house is listed as John Kinzie’s house.

An Imaginary View of the Site of Chicago in 1779. A.T. Andreas⁸⁸

This image is printed before the title page of the book History of Chicago. From the earliest period to present time, published in 1884. This image shows an imaginary view of what the land looked like featuring DuSable’s home on one side of the river and Native homes on the other side of the river. This is interesting because on page 75 of the book, Andreas shows an image of the Old Kinzie Mansion and it is more decadent than DuSable’s home, but it is the same home.

The Folded Map Project www.foldedmapproject.com

This is an interactive map that is continuing to take on new forms including a virtual map, a book, a stageplay, an exhibition, and a curriculum thus far. Students can and should explore the website in full, however, to provide focus within the timeframe of the classroom, I suggest directing student to the About section, the interactive maps, and the Exhibition sections which are all accessible on the website.