Resistance, Resiliency and Joy (1941-2013)
Historical context
People and communities facing oppression and injustice have shown resistance, resilience, and joy, and it's important to uplift those stories when teaching about a painful past.
This set highlights the experiences of various communities, including Chinese immigrants who passed through Angel Island, Japanese Americans interned during WWII, Black Americans facing segregation, and Indigenous people seeking to preserve languages. This document provides additional context and resources.
Culturally relevant pedagogy considerations
Joy is a complex emotion and in the context of history and injustice, it is even more so. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is learner-centered and teachers should start with the experiences and stories of students in their learning community.
Building off of the connections and experiences learners bring to the classroom, we can see that taking action can take on many forms. Looking at how people expressed their sadness, frustration, and anger through art can provide a great way to think about contemporary art. Just as we look at how people express uncomfortable emotion,s we can see how joy and just being is also a form of action.
Using the primary sources in the set as a starting point and helping students connect to their own forms of action and expression provides a rich learning experience that has relevancy.
This set was compiled by Angela Bianco, fourth-grade teacher in White Bear Lake.
Black roller skaters
Date: 1941
Creator: Russell Lee
Type: Photograph
Jumping rope on a sidewalk
Date: 1941
Creator: Edwin Rosskam
Type: Photograph
Band concert, Manzanar
Date: 1943
Creator: Ansel Adams
Type: Photograph
Baseball game, Manzanar
Date: 1943
Creator: Ansel Adams
Type: Photograph
Manzanar Free Press, page 9
Date: March 20, 1943
Creator: Manzanar internment camp
Type: Newspaper
Volleyball, Manzanar
Date: 1943
Creator: Ansel Adams
Type: Photograph
Indian songs liner notes
Date: 1954
Creator: Willard Rhodes, compiler
Type: Document
Two Cherokee Christian Hymns (no. 16)
Date: 1954
Creator: Willard Rhodes, compiler
Type: Song
Million Native American March
Date: 2003
Creator: Carol Highsmith
Type: Photograph
Interior, Angel Island immigration station
Date: 2013
Creator: Carol Highsmith
Type: Photograph
Poetic verse carved into walls at Angel Island
Date: 2013
Creator: Carol Highsmith
Type: Photograph
Contact
Meghan Davisson (meghan.davisson@mnhs.org), grant director
Disclaimer: Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.