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Jacob Lawrence: Storyteller
Curriculum unit developed by the J. Paul Getty Trust

Lesson 1: Harriet Tubman: Telling Stories about Our Heroes

Activity 1: What is a Hero?

Overview:
Students interpret image #10 with text from Harriet Tubman series, learning about Tubman and the role of a hero. The focus is on the way the artist used symbols to tell about key events in the life of Harriet Tubman.

Have students brainstorm what constitutes a hero. Elicit the following ideas:
  • Heroes are individuals who perform special deeds or acts that help others.
  • These acts of great achievement usually involve courage, bravery, and other outstanding qualities.
  • Heroes are often remembered and honored after their death. Their exploits are often recounted in stories, poems, songs, and pictures.
Make a list of people the students consider heroes.

Show students image #10 from the Harriet Tubman series. Explain that the artist, Jacob Lawrence, created a series of images to tell about Harriet Tubman, a woman of great courage, who helped slaves escape from the South to the North. The series has 31 images and text that tell about many different parts of her life. The images feature two very important aspects of Tubman's life: her escape from slavery, and her many trips back to the South to free other slaves.

Provide students with a copy of the text for images 9-14. Explain that this text accompanies images from the series that tell the story of Harriet's own escape to freedom. The text in #14 mentions the Underground Railroad. Explain to students that the Underground Railroad was a network of people who helped slaves escape to freedom.

Have students look carefully at image #10. Look at the text for #10 and #11, the latter being the published reward notice for her capture from Harriet's owner.

Jacob Lawrence communicated ideas about Harriet and her journey by showing things in special ways and including certain symbols. Have students work in small groups to describe what they see in image #10.

Questions to ask:
  • How do you think Harriet is feeling?
  • How has the artist suggested her fear?
  • What is going on in this image?
  • What time of day is it?
  • Where does it take place?
  • Do you think the artist was concerned with showing things exactly as they happened? Why or why not?
Explain that artists communicate important ideas by what they show and how they show it. In image #10 of the Harriet Tubman series, Jacob Lawrence chose Harriet's eyes as the only facial feature to show, and he shows them wide with emotion—possibly fear. Another example can be seen in Harriet and the Promised Land, where Lawrence portrays Harriet as a protective guide to her people. Lawrence depicted her left hand very large and extended in a beckoning manner—as if to gather her people together—while her right hand points the way toward the North Star and freedom. Artists also include symbols—items that "stand for" something else. A stop sign is a symbol that "stands for" a command to stop. A peace sign "stands for" the importance of peace. Ask students to offer other examples of symbols.

Give students the worksheet Looking for Meanings together in their small groups. Have them fill in the columns for images #10 and #20 of the Harriet Tubman series. (Click here for a Teacher's Key.)

Have students share their completed worksheets and ideas with the class.


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