history mystery civil war

Solving History’s Economic Mysteries 5:Using Images to Teach Civil War and More

Deborah Kozdras, Ph.D.University of South Florida

Stavros.coedu.usf.edudkozdras@usf.edu

Using Works of Art to Teach History

• art is a unique pedagogical tool helping students construct a historical understanding of the past, in a way that other sources cannot (Barton, 2001; Epstein, 1994a, b; Gabella, 1994, 1996, 1998; Levstik & Barton, 2001/2005).

• another group of researchers, including historians and history educators, is considering art as historical evidence that can advance students’ historical thinking just as is done by other primary documents.

http://www.socstrpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MS_06372_Spring2013.pdf

Art as a Pedagogical Tool• In a study of her own eleventh grade U.S. history class, Terrie

Epstein (1994b), for instance, found that when various arts were used, students developed knowledge that is “human or lifelike” in form, unlike the analytical knowledge that they gain from history textbooks or other non-art sources.

• when art is used as an evaluative tool to measure students’ historical understanding, students who felt uncomfortable expressing their ideas in writing performed better (Epstein, 1994a)

•

http://www.socstrpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MS_06372_Spring2013.pdf

Art as a Pedagogical Tool• Marcy Singer-Gabella (1994, 1996) studied an eleventh grade

U.S. history class where works of art, such as photography, film, painting, and music, were used as main teaching resources. The study argues that because art is an expression of human experience, it allows students to acquire a type of historical understanding easily accommodating various perspectives and fosters a degree of empathy for historical actors.

http://www.socstrpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MS_06372_Spring2013.pdf

Art as Historical Evidence• A group of historians published a series of articles in a special

issue of Journal of American History (Coventry et al., 2006), reporting their experiences in using works of art to teach students.

• They argued that learning about the past through art requires both teachers and students to be equipped with the intellectual thinking skills they would need when working with other primary sources.

http://www.socstrpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MS_06372_Spring2013.pdf

Art as Historical Evidence• History educators confirm this argument and further define

historical thinking as the ability to place a piece of artwork in a larger historical context, and to make an argument about the artwork’s place in a particular time period, just as historians do when they inquire about the past by using works of art as historical evidence (Barton, 2001; Desai, Hamlin, & Mattson, 2010).

http://www.socstrpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MS_06372_Spring2013.pdf

3 Teachers Case Studies

What they did• Sharon: Teaching “The Spirit

of the Age” • Brandon: Teaching Diversity

with the Arts • Tom: Teaching History as

Art

Findings• students do not

automatically comprehend the meanings and significances of primary and secondary sources within a larger historical context

• sources alone do not teach students nor do they equip students to think historically

So what?

Critical Media Literacy & The Economics of Attention

See, Think, Wonder1) What do I see?

Evidence2) What do I think?

Inferences3) What do I wonder?

Critical Media Strategy Questions

Civil War in Art

• http://www.civilwarinart.org/items?sort_field=Item%20Type%20Metadata,datesort

http://www.civilwarinart.org/items?sort_field=Item%20Type%20Metadata,datesort

Civil War in ArtHow are the roles of men and women separated?Who is doing the harder work?Are you surprised to see women working in this way at this period of time in history? What is the publication? Who read this media?Why did they choose these images to be on the cover?What other critical media literacy questions can you think of asking?

What is wrong with this picture?

http://www.civilwarinart.org/items/show/43

Art activity

Historical Paintings • Genre emerged in 1700s

to describe paintings with subject matter from classical history and mythology, and the Bible

• During the first half of 19th century history painting was one of the few ways that the British public could experience its overseas Empire. In this context, history painting became a form of documentation.

http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/h/history-painting

Paintings: Primary or Secondary Sources?The phrase “created at the time under study” provided a focus for their discussion and decision. The page about the item identifies this as a chromolithograph published in 1893, and Columbus is thought to have visited San Salvador in October of 1492. With those dates in mind, would this be a primary source for studying Columbus’ first encounter with land in the New World? It was created 400 years after the event, definitely not “at the time under study.”

https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2011/10/what-makes-a-primary-source-a-primary-source/

Paintings: Primary or Secondary Sources?How would the answer change if the picture were being used to study late nineteenth-century attitudes about the event? Most of the institute participants agreed that this picture would be a primary source in that context. They added that it would also be a primary source for the study of nineteenth century painting. At one point, I overheard a teacher remark “This is exactly the type of conversation you want in your classroom!”

https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2011/10/what-makes-a-primary-source-a-primary-source/

http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Smithson-to-Smithsonian/lesson1.pdf

Paintings as Sources: Values• Can effectively capture the spirit, opinions and

sentiments generally characterizing that time. • Contain evidence about a culture at specific moments

in history- customs, styles, preferences, atmosphere, architecture, manner of dress, appearance.

• Provide a visually stimulating piece of historical evidence.

• Examples of art styles of the time. • Comment on features of regime. • Can show how people viewed a time.

Paintings as Sources: Limitations• Produced by an artist with a definite point of view, and

therefore inevitably biased, being influenced by the opinions and prejudices of its creator.

• Limited scope- generally highlights one specific aspect of a period of history.

• Artist not generally concerned with providing a factual account of a historical event or circumstance, but rather with producing a creative piece of work or expressing own opinions and emotional reactions.

Economic Way of ThinkingPrinciples of Economic Thinking

1. People choose. 2. All choices involve costs and

benefits. 3. People respond to incentives. 4. People create economic

systems that influence choices and incentives.

5. People gain when they trade voluntarily.

6. Decisions have future consequences.

Questions Based on Principles

1. What did they choose to do?2. What were the benefits and

costs of their choices?3. What incentives existed or were

introduced?4. How did the system influence

choice? How did changes influence choice?

5. How did trade work? What were the gains from trade?

6. What were the future consequences of decisions?

Timeline of Civil War Paintings

http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/civilwar_timeline/

Paintings Activity

Daguerrotype

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/dag/medium.html

Civil War PhotographsAsk students to study the technology visible in “Wagons and Camera of Sam A. Cooley” and think about the photographic technology they most often use. How would the size of the camera affect use? Invite students to list as many other factors as they can that would affect how and where they would take photographs. As a follow up, students might research photographic processes from the Civil War era and consider how that has changed over time.

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/civil-war-photographic-technologies/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf

Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter

Alexander Gardner moved the body into position and added the rifle, which is not a sharpshooter’s rifle, but a Springfield rifle, from his own belongings.

Ask students:Given that we often assume photographs to be accurate representations of the world, how does this information change your perception of the photograph, its title, and the accompanying prose description? How does this information affect your perception of other photographs that you might not expect to be posed? What questions can we ask to discern how true to life a photograph is?

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012647605/

Matthew Brady – Civil War Photos

• No battle scenes• Primitive technology

required people to be still at the moment the shutter snapped

• Wet plate glass process difficult to master in a studio and more difficult outdoors

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos#documents

Civil War Photography Unit

• Photographers mixed their own chemicals and prepared their own wet plate glass negatives.

• The negatives had to be prepared, exposed, and developed within minutes, before the emulsion dried.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/civilwarphotos.html

Is this photo fact or fiction? The title information says “General Grant at City Point,” so the image claims to show General Ulysses S. Grant on horseback, in front of his troops at City Point, Virginia, during the American Civil War. But, once you look closely at the content of the photo, questions begin to surface. . .

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/mystery.html

Photo Analysis Activity

Meet the document.Observe its parts.Try to make sense of it.Use it as historical evidence.

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/activities.html

Photo Analysis Activity

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Photographs_and_Prints.pdf

http://frankwbaker.com/mediatriangle.htm

Media Studies Triangle

Civil War Reasons

• https://www.archives.gov/files/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent/images/patent-drawing-xl.jpg

https://www.eliwhitney.org/7/sites/default/files/minisites/cotton/patent.html

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent

http://www.trackmyt.com

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Friendly Competition: The Two Henrys

I: Inquiry/investigation“Reading” like a detective: pg. 2

How have maps shaped how we see Florida?

Text dependent questions• What is cartography? (R1,

R4)• Why did early cartographers

and artists struggle with creating maps? (R1, R3)

• How are things different today? Compare and contrast the way cartographers used to create maps to how we create maps using technology today.

Pg. 2 first article

Report: pg. 9

• Read the info on page 9. Find the landmarks on the map. Imagine that you are living in this time period and traveling to these places.

• Write a narrative journal by using the information in the text and go beyond the text to be creative.

Close Reading for Map Texts: Library of Congresshttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Maps.pdf

Pg. 11. 3 Lenses1) Geography: Spatial lens. Where were railroads constructed? Why there? Why do

we care?

3) Economic lensWhat scarcity problem did Plant address?What were his incentives?What were the costs and benefits of his decisions?

Use the text and the map to consider the economic implications & impacts (consequences) of the railroads.

Ask questions and do research to fill in your missing information.

Pg. 11. Three different texts.

R: Report/responseWhat were the costs and benefits to Henry B. Plant’s decision?

• Use diverse sources, including images (R3.7)

• Use a decision-making grid (R1.3)

• Write a report based on your findings in the decision-making model. (W1.2, W1.4)

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/index.htm

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/interactive-map/?ar_a=1

Economics of the Civil War

Lesson 18 Why Did the South Secede”Lesson 19 An Economic Analysis of the Civil War

Why Fight a War You Know You’ll Lose?

• In light of the economic advantages of the North over the South, it seems in retrospect almost irrational for the South to have engaged the North militarily. Why did the South secede?

Visual 18.1 Why Did the South Secede from the Union?

• Was the South irrational to fight the Civil War? Some people thought so. William Faulker, a distinguished novelist from Mississippi, put the question in these terms:

• Who else would have declared a war against a power with:– 10 times the area?– 100 times the men?– 1,000 times the resources?

Visual 18.2 Advantages of the North

At the outset of the Civil War, the North had many material advantages over the South.

• The North had a population of 22 million.• The South had a population of 9 million which included 3.5

million slaves.• The North had 92 percent of the nation’s industries.• The North had 22,000 miles of railroad track. The South

had 9,000.• The North controlled the U.S. Navy and the merchant

marine.

Visual 18.3 Advantages of the South

While the South had fewer material advantages, some elements were in its favor.

• The South had a clear war objective – to win independence. The North fought for the somewhat less definite goals of preserving the union and eliminating slavery.

• The South needed only to defend its territory. The North had to carry out an invasion.

• The South had a strong military tradition. Many U.S. Army and Navy officers had been recruited from the South. Great arsenals and army bases were located in the South.

• The South believed that its cotton trade with Great Britain and France would cause these nations to provide aid.

Economic Analysis of the Civil War

Lesson 19

Visual 19.1 Did the U.S. Civil War Cause Industrialization?

• Many individuals believe that the Civil War brought unprecedented economic growth to industry.

• Simulated by increased demand for wartime goods, many industrialists charged ahead to produce the goods and services. Production of iron and steel are examples.

• Taking the Civil War as one example, how does war seem to affect a nation’s economy?

• Does war foster or suppress economic growth?

Northern Production Increased

• New war factories• Labor saving machines were invented

– Sewing machine• Agriculture production increased

– Reaper• Railroads expanded

Visual 19.2 Benefits and Costs of the U.S. Civil War

Benefits of the U.S. Civil War• End of slavery• Protection of the Constitutional structure of

U.S.• Increased industrial production of war-related

goods• Higher military employment

Visual 19.2 Benefits and Cost of the U.S. Civil WarCosts of the U.S. Civil War• Human death and dismemberment• Destruction of capital (tools, factories)• Loss of livestock• Reconstruction• Economic decline of the South• Uncompensated loss of capital investment in slaves• Inflation• Production inefficiencies• Decreased production of civilian goods and services• Loss of rights of states to secede or claim independence from

the Union when in disagreement with the President or the Congress.