National identity

Teaching guides: National identity

Help your students explore works of art as primary documents.

Who are “We the People” (today) and who have “We the People” been (over the past millennium)? The close study of art can do much to answer this question, but one must proceed with extreme caution. Traditionally, the study of the art made in North America has largely involved the examination of painting and sculpture commissioned by the only group affluent enough to pay for such works: wealthy white men.

Benny Andrews, Flag Day

Teaching guide<br>Benny Andrews, <em>Flag Day</em>

By Smarthistory

In the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Benny Andrews protested the exclusion of Black artists from museums. Flag Day captures a complex sense of being both imprisoned by and liberated by the American flag as efforts to combat racial discrimination were slowed by continuing resistance from white institutions.
APUSH: KC-8.2.1.C
TEKS: 113.41.(9)(B)

Learn more

Thomas Cole, The Hunter's Return

Teaching guide<br>Thomas Cole, <em>The Hunter’s Return</em>

By Smarthistory

Thomas Cole's painting reflects both the hopes and the anxieties brought on by the Market Revolution and Manifest Destiny. As the United States expanded westward, displacing Indigenous communities, was its drive to industrialize destined to destroy the landscape's sublime beauty?
APUSH: KC-4.1.II.C, KC-4.2.III.A, KC-5.1.I.A

Learn more

Mississippian shell gorget

Teaching guide<br>Mississippian shell gorget

By Smarthistory

Found marking the grave of an important individual, this gorget was worn as a neck ornament during life. Mississippian culture was one of the most cosmopolitan Native American cultures prior to the arrival of Europeans. The city of Cahokia was an important hub for trade networks.
APUSH: KC 1.1.I.C

Learn more

Explore the diverse history of the United States through its art. Seeing America is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.