The unit will begin with several objectives: To use historical documents as educational tools for the experiencing of local histories, to use primary sources -- objects - as a storytelling tool, to have students become familiar with the visual images in their community, to make connections between artwork and local history, to work collaboratively to make a group artwork. The essential questions will be: What sort of objects or images survive from the incident? Why were some items preserved and others not preserved? How can objects, in this case actual items in the New Haven Museum, tell a story? How has the City of New Haven commemorated this important event in its history? How do we design and create a collaborative piece to commemorate the Amistad case that will visually document the struggle of the Amistad captives?
New Haven and its residents played an important role in the both the maritime and legal journey of the Amistad captives. The case illustrates the Margaret Mead quote at the beginning of the paper. A small group of committed people from New Haven helped bring about change that resonated for years. Because Co-op is located near the historic New Haven Green, we are within walking distance of many of the sites of importance in the Amistad case. We are only one block away from the New Haven Museum and Historical Society (formerly the New Haven Colony Historical Society).
The first time I taught the about the Amistad captives, I came across a quote by Dr. John Henrik Clarke in The Middle Passage by Tom Feelings. He wrote, “Of the countless number of Africans ripped from the villages of Africa -- from the Senegal River to northern Angola -- during the nearly four centuries of the slave trade, approximately one third of them died on the torturous march to the ships and one third of them died in the holding stations on both sides of the Atlantic or on the ships. If the Atlantic were to dry up, it would reveal a scattered pathway of human bones, African bones marking the various routes of the Middle Passage.” I have never forgotten this image. This is the reason I think it is so important to teach all students of the struggle to overcome such atrocities.
I am a visual arts teacher at Cooperative Arts Magnet High School (Co-op), an inter-district magnet high school. Approximately 65% of the students are from the city of New Haven and 35% come from surrounding towns. The students apply for a lottery to come to Co-op and choose an area of the arts to apply to. This art form will be their area of intensive study for four years. The students may choose from music, choral or instrumental, visual art, theater, creative writing, or dance. The Visual Art students take a double period of art, approximately 90 minutes, every day.
Students come from districts other than New Haven to attend Co-op rather than their local public high schools, primarily because they are interested in studying the arts in a smaller setting. Co-op has 418 students enrolled in grades 9-12. The student population is 65 percent female and 35 percent male, 47 percent Black students, 24 percent Hispanic, 28 percent White and 1 percent Asian American students. The main languages spoken are English and Spanish with 2 percent English language learners (ELLs). The school has 10 percent students with special education needs. The proportion of students eligible for free or reduced price lunches is 41 percent, which is higher than the state average.
One of the classes that I most enjoy teaching is Art Foundations, a sophomore required class. This course focuses on an overview of the history of art from a global perspective. The course concentrates on history, criticism, and aesthetics, with studio projects that are designed to clarify course concepts and stimulate student interest. Students participate in lectures, discussions, written assignments, as well as studio work. The course is a double period, yearlong course taught on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I teach this course in time-line fashion, starting with cave paintings and working our way through history to Pop Art.
I always like to study the Amistad case at the appropriate place in time (before Impressionism) because it is an important part of local history. Using primary sources in the classroom brings local history to life. Why should we study the representations of the Amistad case? Period images and surviving objects give us clues into the importance of the case, subsequent representations, and how it has been commemorated. It offers examples of how to visually document a narrative.
The ways in which the Amistad case has captured popular attention, then subsided, and then reemerged is important for students to understand. Students need to see history is oftentimes the viewpoint of the present looking back at the past. By examining how
New Haven has engaged with this story over time, students should see a variation of popular interest over time.