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The Art of Activism

Explore how art featuring Harriet Tubman can inform and inspire.

Art plays a crucial role in activism. It creatively inspires social change, challenges perspectives, and encourages reflection.

Abolition was a movement to end slavery.

The Underground Railroad was a secret network organized by people who helped men, women, and children escape from slavery to freedom.

SHOWCASING AND INSPIRING ACTIVISM

The first meeting of the Carver High School mural committee is about to start. Tianna and Edgar chat excitedly as they enter the room. They have been looking forward to this meeting since a local artist first announced that he was donating his time to paint a mural featuring Harriet Tubman that “inspires students to act.” Tianna has admired Harriet Tubman since 4th grade, when she first learned about the abolitionist known as one of America’s greatest freedom fighters. 

Tubman was born into slavery and lived with her parents until she made her escape in 1849. Tianna’s teacher explained that after Harriet Tubman’s escape north to Philadelphia, she went on to risk her own life and jeopardize her freedom to help others. For approximately 10 years, Harriet Tubman returned to Maryland on thirteen separate trips, leading her family and more than 70 enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad, a secret communications network and safe houses organized by Black and White abolitionists. 

Harriet Tubman also served as a nurse and military leader for the Union Army during the Civil War. She led Black troops in the Combahee River Raid, helping to liberate 750 enslaved people in South Carolina. In her later years, Tubman continued to give of herself to others, including supporting the women’s suffrage movement and opening a rest home for elderly or sick African Americans. Tianna has always been inspired by Tubman and her selfless dedication to equality and freedom for everyone. At the meeting, the mural committee has to determine which achievements of Tubman’s should be artistically represented to inspire others to act, too. Tianna has a lot of ideas and is eager to share them!

Your Challenge

Analyze the primary sources to identify key moments of Harriet Tubman's leadership and characteristics that made her a powerful activist. Choose the elements for the Carver High School mural. Then, make your case by illustrating or describing how you would unify these elements into a mural design that represents Tubman’s legacy.

Teachers

Have your students take this challenge and make their case! To begin, send your students to this website with this challenge’s code.

To get started, review the challenge and these primary sources. Send your students the challenge code so they can make their case! Register for a free account or login to customize this challenge.

The Art of Activism

Your Challenge

Analyze the primary sources to identify key moments of Harriet Tubman's leadership and characteristics that made her a powerful activist. Choose the elements for the Carver High School mural. Then, make your case by illustrating or describing how you would unify these elements into a mural design that represents Tubman’s legacy.

This photograph shows a full-length portrait of Harriet Tubman, standing with her hands on the back of a chair.

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Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait

This article from 1875 includes quotes from people who knew Harriet Tubman.

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Vermont watchman and State journal, February 24, 1875, Story of a Strange Life

This biography of Harriet Tubman by Sarah Bradford includes a letter by abolitionist Thomas Garrett on pages 83-88. He describes real moments experienced on the Underground Railroad.

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Harriet, the Moses of her people

This monument of Harriet Tubman stands at an intersection in New York City.

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Harriet Tubman Memorial Plaza

This Congressional Act from 2022 requires the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition of the Bicentennial of Harriet Tubman’s birth.

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S.697 – Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act

This Maryland Public Television film clip describes Harriet Tubman's commitment to freedom during the journeys she made in late 1860 on the Underground Railroad.

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Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom

Glossary

A C D F I J P R S V W

A

  • Amendment

    a change to the Constitution of the United States

C

  • civic action

    individual and group actions taken to improve or identify areas of concern or causes to address

  • conservation

    using natural resources in a responsible way

D

  • discrimination

    unfair treatment of people based on something like race, gender, or age

  • disenfranchisement

    the practice of not allowing, or depriving, someone of their rights

F

  • federal oversight

    the responsibility of the federal government to keep a close watch on organizations and make sure they are following specific rules

  • federalism

    a system of government that divides power to make laws between the national, state, and local levels

  • freedom of press

    the right of newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications to report news without being controlled by the government

  • freedom of speech

    the right to express your opinions without government interference. This right is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution

I

  • immigrant

    a person who comes to a country to live there

  • immigration

    the act or instance of coming into a foreign country to live

  • indigenous

    the original or earliest known inhabitants of an area, with their own culture and language, before colonists and settlers began to occupy the land

  • Industrial Revolution

    the period of time in the 18th and 19th century when machines were widely used to produce goods

  • internment

    the act of putting someone in a prison for political reasons or during a war

J

  • Jim Crow laws

    race-based laws to force the legal separation of African Americans and white people in public places in  southern United States

P

  • political protest

    a public demonstration of disapproval related to the actions or policies of the government

  • political speech

    a statement made by a candidate for office about how government should be run, and any other opinions of the political process or social issues

  • preservation

    setting aside the land and protecting it as is

  • propaganda

    information, primarily biased or one-sided, that is used to promote or publicize a particular cause or point of view

R

  • representative democracy

    a system of government where all eligible citizens vote to elect people to pass laws for them

S

  • segregation

    the separation of people based on their race, ethnicity, gender, or religion

  • sovereignty

    the right to “to have control over your own lands, and resources, and assets, and to have control over your own vision for the future, and to be able to absolutely determine your own destiny.” Wilma Pearl Mankiller (Former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation)

V

  • voter suppression

    the act of preventing a person or groups of people from voting even when they are eligible to vote

W

  • worker protection laws

    laws designed to protect workers from conditions that are harmful to employees’ life and health

Your Challenge

Analyze the primary sources to identify key moments of Harriet Tubman's leadership and characteristics that made her a powerful activist. Choose the elements for the Carver High School mural. Then, make your case by illustrating or describing how you would unify these elements into a mural design that represents Tubman’s legacy.

To get started, give your folder a title and description, save, and then click the blue + box to take notes on a primary source.
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Help

This view shows a Single Challenge. Each Challenge is a scenario based on a real civics issue. There are additional thoughts to help you consider the scenario in the blue Ideas tab along the right side of the screen.

Teachers


Use this view to find a Challenge to give to your students. Read through the entire Challenge scenario to get a feel for not only the issue at hand, but the angle this scenario wants students to take in making a Case.

After you’ve read the Challenge scenario, be sure to check out the Primary Sources your students will use to find Evidence when making a Case.

Primary Sources
Be sure to check the Primary Sources tab

And carefully read the Challenge directive students will use to formulate their Case idea.

Your Challenge
Your Challenge directs students on how to think about their case

When you’re ready to give this Challenge to your students, simply click the Challenge Code button to find this Challenge’s unique code.

Challenge Code
Each Challenge has a unique code – share this with your students to get them started

Then, send your students to this website and tell them to enter the Challenge code you’ll give them and they’ll be on their way toward making a Case.

Customize this Challenge

If you are logged in with a free teacher account, you can customize any Challenge. Just click this button to get started.

Copy Challenge
Make your own customizations to this Challenge by making a copy to work on.

Students


Use this view to review the Challenge scenario given to you by your teacher. Read the story and imagine the lives of the people involved. Think about how you would react if you were in the same situation.

Pay special attention to the directions in Your Challenge. This tells you how to think about making your Case.

Your Challenge
Your Challenge contains directions on how to formulate a Case

Be sure to check the Primary Sources tab. The items you find there are critical because you will be using them as Evidence to piece together your Case.

Primary Sources
Be sure to check the Primary Sources tab

For additional ideas as you consider how to make your Case, take a look at the blue Ideas tab , along the right of your screen, just under the Help tab.

Finally, when you’ve reviewed everything and you’re ready to make your Case, click the Create My Case button.

Create My Case
Click Create My Case to start making your personalized Case

When you create a Case, you are presented with a window where you can enter a title and description, as well as your name and email.

Create My Case
Enter some details to create your case

Your name is used to help identify you if you are using presentation mode (a PowerPoint-like online presentation of your case directly from this site, like you would use to present in front of your class), and in a listing to your teacher privately if you are working from a teacher-made custom Challenge. Your email is optional and will only be used once to send you information about your Case so you can easily retrieve it. Your personal information will never be shared with any third party, and your email is not stored in the system.

What do I do here?

Read the challenge and look over the primary sources.

If you want your students to work on this Challenge, click on the blue Challenge Code button. Copy and share that code with your students. They just need to visit this website and enter the code to begin.
When you’re ready, click on the blue Create My Case button to begin. Then you’ll investigate the primary sources and add your own notes to build your case.

If you’re stuck, check the blue Help tab  on the right side of your screen. Plus, the challenge and each primary source has specific tips to help you along, available from the blue Ideas tab that appears just below Help.

Thinking Questions

  1. What characteristics did Harriet Tubman have that make her an inspirational figure?
  2. How has Harriet Tubman's life been celebrated and memorialized in different ways?
  3. How does Harriet Tubman inspire you?

Help

This is a collection of Primary Sources for the Challenge you’re reviewing. These are documents, photographs, videos, political cartoons, and more, from the Library of Congress, selected to help you make your Case.

To investigate any Primary Source, simply click into it to see it in detail.

Primary Source
Choose any Primary Source to see it in detail

Teachers

Review these Primary Sources so you understand what your student will be working with. Students are able take entire sources, or parts of a source using cropping tools, and make notes to serve as Evidence when they make their Case.

If you are logged in with a free account, you can also customize your Challenge, including the ability to change Primary Sources that are includes, and to put your own notes on any Primary Source, as a way to give direct and specific instruction to your students.

Students

Along with the Challenge scenario, review these Primary Sources carefully. Think about what each one means in relation to the issues of the Challenge. You’ll be using these sources to make Evidence that forms your Case.

Help

Using the Challenge scenario and the Primary Sources association, it’s time to make your Case. A Case consists of one or more folders, each of which can contain Evidence you find within the available Primary Sources. If you’re having trouble visualizing what you will be making, jump down to the Presentation section below first.

Challenge and Primary Sources tabs
You can always refer to the Challenge scenario and Primary Sources from these tabs

First, notice that you can change your Case’s title or description at any time, right from the top of the view.

Editing Case details
If you’d like to change your Case details, just click into either the title or description field and make your edits. Be sure to Save afterward.

Below that, you’ll see your first folder, but it will be empty. You need to fill it in.

Case Folder
You start with a blank folder. Your case will consist of one or more folders, each with a title, description, and Evidence you find in the Primary Sources.

You could begin by entering a title and description, but without Evidence in the folder, it might not be clear quite yet how you want to organize things. Instead, click the blue + box to add your first piece of Evidence.

Adding Evidence
Click the blue + box to add a new piece of Evidence.

Once you click that, you’ll be take to the Primary Sources listing for your Challenge. Select a Primary Source and inspect it, looking for clues. Remember, there are always ideas to help you in the tabs along the right side.

Once you’ve cropped an image to find a particular detail, trimmed a video, or whatever else you’ve selected as your Evidence, and added your own note, you’ll be returned to My Case with your piece(s) of Evidence in place within a folder. As you add Evidence, you can decide what your folder is about.

Case Folder
This folder has been filled in with a title, description, and two pieces of Evidence taken from Primary Sources.

In this example image, we’ve decided our folder is about Opinions. You can enter a title and description, but always be sure to hit Save after you make edits to these folder details.

Folder Information Saved
You may update each folder’s information at any time, but be sure to save it.

Of course, you’re not limited to just one folder. Your presentation can cover any number of ideas, and each can be a folder for organization. To make a new folder, just click the Create New Folder button.

Create New Folder
You can create any number of folders.

When you have more than one folder, they simply line up one after the other within your Case. And each folder can have a title, description, and pieces of Evidence pulled from Primary Sources.

Second Case Folder
This shows a second folder below the first, also including a title, description and some Evidence.

As you continue to add folders, and add Evidence into folders, you may decide things aren’t organized just how you’d like. That’s fine. You can always move things around. Simply drag and drop pieces of Evidence between folders, or to reorder them within a folder. And you can reorder your folders by drag and drop, too.

Dragging Evidence to a new folder.
If you have collected some Evidence but don’t think it belongs in the folder where it was originally placed, simply drag it to another folder.
Reordering folders
If you don’t like the order of your folders, simply drag them to reorder.

So, that’s how you put together a Case and keep it organized. What’s next?

Well, you can use your Case simply as a reference, like if you are writing a paper or having a debate. Or you can directly present your Case from this website, using your Case’s presentation URL.

A Presentation

You may want to present your Case directly from this website, like a PowerPoint slide show. You might even turn in your presentation URL to your teacher to complete your Challenge assignment. But of course, you don’t want to give away your Case edit code, since that’s lets anyone make changes to your Case. To keep your Case editing private for yourself, but allow others to see your Case online, share your Case Presentation URL.

Case Presentation URL
When you’re ready to view your Case as a presentation, click the Case Presentation URL button to get your unique URL

When someone (including you!) goes to your Case Presentation URL, they’ll get to see everything you put into your Case, in a convenient slide show presentation.

This begins with your title screen.

Start of a Presentation
Your Case title and description start the presentation

From there, we see information about your first folder, to set the stage for Evidence that will appear.

Folder Information in Presentation
Your folder titles and descriptions serve to organize your presentation

After the folder information, the presentation steps through each piece of Evidence in that folder, in order, one at a time.

Evidence in presentation
Each piece of Evidence is presented as you cropped it, with your notes below

And then your presentation continues, going through each piece of Evidence and each folder, just as you’ve organized them, until it reaches the end.

Continued Case Presentation
Your Case presentation continues through each of your pieces of evidence and through all of your folders, one at a time.

So, that’s how you make a Case and give it as a presentation. Good luck!

Help

This is where you can Customize a Challenge. You’re able to modify the title, description, scenario, and more, as well as alter the Primary Sources, and leave notes specifically for your students.

There are a number of fields you can customize, but before you get started, it would be good to know where all of these things will end up. Here’s a handy reference, with customizable field names listed in orange.

Customizing a Challenge
The sections noted by orange field names can be customized by you.

At the top of the screen, you’ll see fields that allow you to edit the title and description, followed by fields for the full text, prompt, and highlighted text.

Title and description
Editing a Custom Challenge’s title and description
Full text
Editing a Custom Challenge’s full text
Prompt
Editing a Custom Challenge’s prompt
Highlighted Text
Editing a Custom Challenge’s Highlighted Text

Below all of the above, you’ll see a space to enter three Challenge Prompts. These are little bits of extra information to help spur your students when they are making a case.

Challenge Prompts
Editing a Custom Challenge’s prompts

But where do those appear? They show up in the Ideas tab that sits along the right side of the screen when your students are working with your Challenge. Clicking that tab shows the prompts you’ve entered.

Challenge Prompts
Challenge Prompts appear from the Idea tab

Customizing Primary Sources

You may want to change the Primary Sources being used for your custom Challenge. At the bottom of the Customization screen, you can do so.

Customizing Primary Sources
Customizing Primary Sources

For each Primary Source you have associated with your custom Challenge, you can enter a special teacher’s note.

Teacher's Note
Adding a teacher’s note to Primary Sources

These notes appear from the special teacher notes tab when students are looking at individual Primary Sources.

Teacher Note display
Viewing a teacher note from an individual Primary Source

You can remove any Primary Source you don’t want to include simply by clicking the Remove This Source button associated with it.

Plus, you can add new Primary Sources from our pool of available options. [Ed. Note: There are approximately 120 sources currently in the database, with plans to add more.]

Add New Sources
Add New Sources

When you choose to add new sources, an overlay panel lets you scroll through available options, each of which can be viewed in another window. Select the one(s) you want with the available checkboxes, then click Add Chosen Sources.

Adding Primary Sources
Select new Primary Sources to include in your custom Challenge

When you have all the text fields updated for your Challenge and all the Primary Sources in place, click the Save Your Custom Challenge button.

Save Your Custom Challenge
Save Your Custom Challenge

You can always return to the Customize tab for this Challenge to make additional edits.

When you’re done and ready to share this new custom Challenge with your students, click the Challenge Code button, just as you would for any Challenge, and share that code with your students.

Custom Challenge Code
Share your custom Challenge code with your students