<p>This topical collection is based on a past exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery entitled <a href="http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/rebels/index2.htm" target="_blank">Rebels and Beats: Painters and Poets of the 1950s</a>. This collection might be used by teachers or students who want to explore the counterculture of the 1950s, a time period typically associated with conformity. The collection includes paintings, photographs, and videos related to the writers and artists involved in the Beat Generation, San Francisco Renaissance, Black Mountain College, and New York School scenes. </p><p>In what ways did these artists challenge the social norms of the time? Why is art often a means of challenging the status quo?</p><p>tags: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, de Kooning, Baraka, poem, counterculture, Beat Movement</p>

<p>In this collection, students will review the life of Frederick Douglass and learn about one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" (it is also commonly referred to as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July). They will explore the strategies he uses to persuade and compare staged readings of the speech. Next, they will consider the central question posed by Douglass--how does the history of racial injustice in the United States affect our understanding of national symbols and what they mean? In addition, how do the diverse opinions of the many citizens of the United States present both challenges and opportunities for our nation? </p><p>Teachers may draw relevant connections to today and recent protests during the national anthem by professional, collegiate, and high school sports teams. </p>

<p>Have you ever sat while someone painted your picture or took a photograph? How does it feel? What do you think about while it occurs? This student activity begins with a portrait of George Washington and a letter describing his attitude towards portraits. After students reflect on these, they will choose another portrait from the set and focus on developing observational skills and an attitude of empathy by examining the work closely and imagining the perspective of one of the people in the image. </p><p>Tags: portrait, point of view, perspective, Washington, Pine, de Kooning, John F. Kennedy, JFK, Norman Rockwell, Mitchell, Spalding, video, self-portrait</p>

<p>This collection of resources invites students to examine how societies have been convinced to take action regarding air pollution over time, and to craft their own persuasive message regarding pollution. Students will identify several different means of compelling individuals and groups to change their behavior in order to benefit the environment. They will then evaluate the effectiveness of those strategies. Finally, they will create their own message convincing others to take steps towards improving the environment. </p><p>Tags: smoke control, smog, pollution, environmentalism, earth day, advertising, persuasive writing, ad campaign</p>

Using the Project Zero Visible Thinking routine "Claim Support Question," a routine for clarifying truth claims, students will examine a photograph taken by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. This exercise could be used as a warm up for a lesson about the Great Depression's impact on farmers, sharecropping, or the New Deal. Tags: Roosevelt, New Deal, Farm Security Administration, Great Depression, tenant farmer, sharecropper, migrant farmer, Okie, Missouri, Oklahoma, Dust Bowl, Resettlement Administration.

<p>This collection was prepared for a workshop with Pittsburgh Public School teachers about integrating the visual arts with Social Studies curriculum. It models how to use the claim-support-question visible thinking strategy as well as the use of historic lenses that suggest different questions to ask about a work of art.</p><p><br /><br /></p><p>The content focus of this collection is Pittsburgh during the Great Depression. </p><p><br /><br /></p><p>Tags: Pittsburgh, Great Depression, 1930s, New Deal, steel mills, workers, economy</p>

<p>This collection can be used for a teaching activity on the military draft in the United States and how it has changed over time from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. Students will consider attitudes towards the draft, its effects, and means of avoiding the draft in different eras. What trends or patterns emerge? What changes? Why is the draft no longer in use?</p><p>Tags: conscription, draft, selective service, Civil War, World War I, World War II, WWI, WWII, WW2, Vietnam War, change over time, continuity and change, exemption</p>

<p>This collection explores the conception of "women's work" and challenges users to think about whether such a phrase has meaning. </p><p>Teachers and students can use the collection in a number of ways: grouping or sorting the resources chronologically to explore change over time; writing definitions of "women's work" for different time periods; completing image or text analysis on individual resources; or researching women's contributions in a particular field. </p><p>This is a work-in-progress based on the digitized materials within the Smithsonian Learning Lab's collection--it is not meant to be wholly definitive or authoritative. In fact, this could be a point of discussion: what, or who, do you think is missing from this collection?<br /></p>

<p>This collection of photographs provides insight into the Scopes Trial in 1925. "Marcel C. LaFollette, an independent scholar, historian and Smithsonian volunteer uncovered rare, unpublished photographs of the 1925 Tennessee vs. John Scopes “Monkey Trial" in the Smithsonian Institution Archives. The nitrate negatives, including portraits of trial participants, and images from the trial itself and significant places in Dayton, were discovered in archival material donated to the Smithsonian by Science Service in 1971."</p><p>"Science Service is a Washington, D.C.-based organization founded in 1921 for the promotion of science writing and information about science in the media. Watson Davis (1896-1967), the Science Service managing editor, took these photographs when covering the Scopes trial as a reporter. In the 1925 trial, John Scopes was tried and convicted for violating a state law prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution. William Jennings Bryan served on the prosecution team, and Clarence Darrow defended Scopes."</p><p>Collection users might consider the following questions:</p><p>-How effective are court cases at swaying popular opinion? Can you think of other examples of this?</p><p><span></span>-How did this trial reflect the changes in mass media, science, and religion occurring in the 1920s?</p><p>-It is said that Bryan "won the case, but lost the argument." What is meant by that statement?</p><p>-How do these archival photographs challenge previously held conceptions of the case?</p><p>Source for text in quotes throughout collection: Smithsonian Institution Archives. Web. Accessed 16 Aug. 2016 <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/research/scopes.html">http://siarchives.si.edu/research/scopes.html</a>.</p>

This student activity includes a range of visions of the future, to serve as inspiration and present a challenge for students: what do you want your city to be like in the future? Students will watch a video where students complete a similar project, and then view a variety of artifacts presenting different views of the future, with questions for analysis. Finally, students will be tasked with developing their own vision for their city or town in the future.

This collection includes sixteen signs and posted notices from across the Smithsonian's collections. Use your history detective skills to figure out what you can about the sign--but don't look at the information tab! Can you determine the context for each sign, matching it to a place and decade in United States history? Consider who it might have been aimed at and for what purpose it was used. Be as specific as possible. The first resource models a historian's thinking and questioning process for students to mimic with other signs in the collection. Answers are listed on the last resource. Tags: historical thinking, questions, review activity

This is a topical collection of women's suffrage postcards that could be used to supplement lessons on the women's rights movement and/or gender equality. They are also excellent practice in artifact analysis. Some questions to consider: -What do these postcards tell us about the arguments for and against women's suffrage? -Why are so many of the postcards focused on geography? -Who do you think each postcard is meant to appeal to?