Write a paragraph on your visceral reactions to the glog. Interact with all the components of the glog - read the quote from Quicksand on the poster, listen to the song by the Women of the Calabash (2002 recording), listen to the W.E.B. Dubois clip and observe the pictures. What can you infer about Black education during the 1920's?
Now pay attention to how people are dressed in the photographs - are they predominantly wearing dark or light colors, same articles of clothing - any of the pictures stand out in terms of attire, diversity? If you did not address this in your first paragraph, do so now in a second paragraph. Do some extra research into 1920's African American education paying attention to the Tuskegee Institute (which is reminiscent to Larsen's Naxos).
Get into groups of three or four and answer these discussion questions:
1. How do the images on the glog compare to Helga Crane's time in Naxos?
2. What do you think about Helga Crane's dislike for Naxos - is she justified? are her feelings relatable to historical institutions such as Tuskegee?
3. What does color say about individuality in an educational environment? What effect might a uniformed look have on a public institution like a school - what about in Larsen's historical context? Consider schools that enforce uniforms versus schools that allow students to wear what they want.
. . . great! . . . I like your glog and your assignment . . . I'm wondering, since you've started to set up two things (reading photographs and the theme of color/expressivity) if you couldn't use the "research" part of the assignment to help students develop these things further . . .i.e. what if instead of a general (" Do some extra research into 1920's African American education paying attention to the Tuskegee Institute (which is reminiscent to Larsen's Naxos"), you asked them to look for images of black style and expressivity in the 1920s (at LOC or nypl etc.) and "read" them in relation to the images from "Naxos"/Tuskegee . . . the comparison you set up would also be very helpful in framing a "how to read photographs" component . .
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