A HEAD START ON PICTURING AMERICA
By Nicole
Blais
Exciting
news: the Office of Head Start (OHS), the Administration for Children and
Families (ACF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have
partnered to bring the history of America to young children and their families
through the arts.
On December 4, 2008, Janis Santos,
Executive Director of HCS Head Start and Vice-Chairperson of the National Head
Start Association, was invited to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan for the
unveiling of this innovative and aptly named initiative, A Head Start on
Picturing America. Picturing
AmericaSM,
an NEH initiative, is designed to provide preschool through twelfth grade
students and teachers with the opportunity to learn about history, social
studies, literature, and civics through 40 American masterpiece artworks.
Some of the pieces included among the 40
that help us understand history also help us celebrate Black History Month.
The
Robert Shaw Memorial 1884-1897, a relief
sculpture created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) that commemorates the
first African American unit of the Civil War, is included in the project. This
piece took fourteen (14) years to complete and pays tribute to the soldiers of
the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. It is wonderful to think about having a new
generation of children, encouraged appropriately, explore and learn about this
piece of art and then be provided with materials to make their own sculptures
out of clay to proudly display in the classroom.
The
Migration of the Negro-Panel no.57, 1940-1941,
by Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), is a piece that captures the movement of African
Americans moving to northern cities from the rural areas of the south during
World War I. Moving north or “coming up” was a significant chapter in African
American history and changed big cities like New York, Chicago, and Detroit
forever.
The
Dove 1964 is a collage that depicts a busy
street scene in Harlem, New York. The artist, Romare Bearden (1911-1988), a
social worker by day, told stories about African American life in North
Carolina, Harlem, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania through his craft.
The
Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965
is a photograph taken during the 1965 Selma-to- Montgomery march at the peak of
the Civil Rights Movement. The photo was taken by photojournalist James Karales
(1930-2002).
Ladder
for Booker T. Washington, 1996, created by Martin
Puryear (1941- ), is a wood sculpture of a ladder that invites people to
reflect on the struggle for freedom and independence.
These significant works of art tell a
story of the pain and suffering endured by a people living in America and in
the same breath tell a story full of pride and celebration.
Bruce Cole, Chairman of the NEH, describes Picturing AmericaSM as a way to “help us understand our democracy by reintroducing us to our common heritage and ideals…it brings us face to face with the people, places and events that have shaped our country.” A Head Start on Picturing America is a stimulating way to begin to suitably introduce and engage young children and their families in works of art. n