We began by examining several historical portraits and learning about the 6 elements of a portrait:
*These elements were developed by Jamin Carter, Arts Integration Consulting, and introduced to the Old Bonhomme staff during a day of Professional Development.
The students learned a body motion that accompanies each of the six elements of a portrait to help solidify their learning. After learning about portraits, students examined portraits of Sojourner Truth. Students learned a lot about her life from the portraits.
As a class, we read several books about her, documented our research, and we created a timeline of her life.
Students also created their own portraits of Sojourner Truth.
The students learned that Sojourner was an important leader in the fight to end slavery. Her stories and speeches helped people to understand how terrible slavery was, and that it must be stopped. She was among the very first group of women to be inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
The students created a bonnet and shawl to represent the part of her life that she spent living as a Quaker with the help of my mom at the sewing machine. This was a highlight of our learning.
We learned that the sewing was done by hand during Sojourner's life, but we used a machine to help us make the bonnet and shawl.
We added a pair of glasses to our artifacts. Sojourner wore glasses later in her life. We also added a handled basket symbolizing the traveling around the country that she did to speak to others.
You can see our museum project on display in the school library during the month of February. If you would like to learn more about Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree) and see our learning first hand, stop by our Sojourner Truth exhibit.
