Black History Month

Happy Black History Month! Time to get drawing!

 Perth Amboy is a city of firsts!

The Bill of Rights was first signed in Perth Amboy.

 The first black person in the nation to ever cast a vote did so in Perth Amboy.

Thomas Mundy Peterson cast his historic vote at city hall, the nation's oldest public building in continuous public use.

For detailed instructions on how to shade a face click here

For more details about Thomas Mundy Peterson and historic buildings in Perth Amboy click here

To visit the Historic Perth Amboy Virtual Museum, an excellent source of original historic photographs and primary source material, click here.

To listen to the music of the Harlem Rennaisance, click on the link below:

 http://www.wnyc.org/story/moma/

MORE IDEAS FOR ART PROJECTS

INSPIRED BY BLACK HISTORY

FEBRUARY, 2012 BLACK HISTORY

ART CONTEST

Produce a piece of artwork based on the theme

"What black history month means to me"

Here are the contest rules:

* the email address has been blacked out. Please submit your entires through your art teacher before the deadline

McGinnis students, please submit your finished artwork to Mrs. Wintemberg before February 16th so that I have time to photograph it and email it to the superintendent. If you need materials, please stop by my room after school.

SOME IDEAS:

Try illustrating this poem by the great African American poet Langston Hughes:

Dream Variations

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me-
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening...
A tall, slim tree...
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

To learn more about Langston Hughes, click here.

Langston Hughes

For tips and tricks to help you draw portraits, like this one, where the head is turned at a 3/4 angle, click here.

OR

Create a drawing, painting or poster of influential people from black history.

Here are some black history posters I created in 2010:

Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman,
Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama

Michael Jordan, Jackie Robinson,
Louis Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey



Click here to do a Google search for famous artwork from the Harlem Renaissance

What do you notice about the colors, energy and sense of movement in the pictures?
Can you think of ways you can use color, energy and movement to inspire your own artwork?

To learn more about the art of the Harlem Renaissance,  click here

Your artwork should be personal and unique and answer the question; "What does Black History Month mean to me?"


 Below is a painting by Norman Rockwell that illustrates an important historical event in civil rights and US history.

"Racism is a grown-up disease and we must stop using our  children to spread it."-Ruby Bridges

To learn more about this important piece of American art, click here. This painting is currently on exhibit in the White House, just outside President Obama's office. 


To learn more about the story of Ruby Bridges, the girl in the painting, and how this artwork became an important symbol of the civil rights movement, click here.


Click here to visit Ruby Bridges official website.

ART GALLERY
BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK BY THE STUDENTS OF WILLIAM C. McGINNIS SCHOOL IN HISTORIC PERTH AMBOY, NEW JERSEY

This 7th grade student chose to illustrate the poem 'Dream Variations' by Langston Hughes

This student chose to illustrate her poster with original drawings of influential African Americans 

This student imagines herself, the blonde girl, meeting all the famous African Americans she has learned about in social studies class

Imagine a world free from bias and racism. This student did

This 5th grade student chose to portray influential
 African Americans