World War I: Posters and Propaganda

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World War I Posters and the African American Community

by Ron Nash

UNIT OVERVIEW

This unit is one of the Gilder Lehrman Institute's Teaching Literacy through HistoryTM resources, designed to align to the Common Core State Standards. These units were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and evaluate original source materials of historical significance. Through a stepby-step process, students will acquire the skills to analyze, assess, and develop knowledgeable and wellreasoned viewpoints on textual and visual primary and secondary sources.

Over the course of three lessons, the students will analyze a secondary source and primary sources in the form of propaganda posters produced to support the US during World War I. These period posters represent the desire of the government to shape public opinion. Students will closely analyze both the primary source artwork and the secondary source essay with the intent of not only understanding the literal meaning but also inferring the more subtle messages. Students will use textual and visual evidence to draw their conclusions and present arguments as directed in each lesson.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

? Analyze primary and secondary source documents ? Infer subtle messages from primary source artwork and secondary source text ? Summarize the meaning of an informational text ? Respond to a thought-provoking essay prompt using textual and visual evidence

NUMBER OF CLASS PERIODS: 3

GRADE LEVEL: 9?12

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9?12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

? 2013 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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LESSON 1

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson the students will carefully analyze an essay that discusses both the purpose and the impact of World War I images of the American war effort in the African American community. This essay will give the students background knowledge that will make close analysis of the posters more effective over the next two lessons. A summary organizer will be used to help facilitate and demonstrate their understanding of the essay.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Within a week after the United States declared war on Germany, President Woodrow Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI).The purpose of the CPI was to convince the American people that direct involvement in this "foreign entanglement" was both unavoidable and just. Wilson picked George Creel, a muckraking journalist from Missouri, to head the CPI. Under Creel's leadership, the CPI carried out activities designed to stir America's commitment to the war effort. The CPI's domestic division was composed of 19 subdivisions, and each focused on a particular type of propaganda.

The CPI did not limit its promotional efforts to the written word. The Division of Pictorial Publicity had at its disposal many of the most talented advertising illustrators and cartoonists of the era. These artists worked closely with publicity experts in the Advertising Division. Newspapers and magazines eagerly donated advertising space, and it was almost impossible to pick up a periodical without encountering CPI material.

Powerful posters, painted in patriotic colors, were plastered on billboards across the country, and America printed more than twenty million copies of about 25,000 posters in support of the war effort. This was more than all of the other belligerents combined.

An examination of the "official "propaganda posters demonstrates that very few were directed at the African American population. The posters and other images that specifically targeted black citizens had a different appeal. The essay by historian Jennifer Keene introduces us to the "ongoing conversation" that was a major part of this unique propaganda effort.

MATERIALS

? "Images of Racial Pride: African American Propaganda Posters in the First World War," Jennifer D. Keene (excerpted from the complete essay printed in Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture, University of Nebraska Press, 2009)

? Summary Organizer: Images of Racial Pride: African American Propaganda Posters

PROCEDURE

1. You may choose to have the students do the lesson individually, as partners, or in small groups of no more than three or four students.

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2. Hand out "Images of Racial Pride: African American Propaganda Posters in the First World War," by Jennifer D. Keene.

3. "Share read" the essay with the students. This is done by having the students follow along silently while you begin reading aloud, modeling prosody, inflection, and punctuation. Ask the class to join in with the reading after a few sentences while you continue to read along with the students, still serving as the model for the class. This technique will support struggling readers as well as English language learners (ELL).

4. Hand out the Summary Organizer: Images of Racial Pride: African American Propaganda Posters in the First World War. The students will use the organizer to analyze the secondary source document. This can be done as a whole-class activity with discussion, in small groups, with partners, or individually.

5. Discuss different interpretations developed by the students or student groups.

? 2013 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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LESSON 2

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OVERVIEW

In this lesson the students will carefully analyze eight primary source posters from World War I. These posters reflect the themes that motivated the African American community. These themes were introduced in the essay used in Lesson 1. The students will determine which of the themes each poster best represents. They will use the visual evidence as well as the textual evidence to analyze the theme presented in the poster. A poster analysis sheet will be used to demonstrate their understanding.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The development of posters to promote American patriotism during World War I is an example of propaganda. Propaganda is a form of communication that usually motivates a target group by appealing to the emotions. The posters developed for the home front during World War I were designed to motivate American citizens and develop a sense of patriotism that would turn the United States into an unstoppable war machine. They called on all Americans to be part of the war effort, not just by carrying a gun into battle, but in many other important ways. The posters and other types of propaganda, like sheet music covers and advertisements, directed at African American citizens involved much more. As historian Jennifer Keene points out, "many saw the war as a chance to advance a civil rights agenda."

MATERIALS

? World War I Posters #1?#8

o Poster #1: The Colored Man Is No Slacker (Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC06134) o Poster #2: True Sons of Freedom (Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC09121) o Poster #3: True Blue (Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection, Yale Collection of

American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library) o Poster #4: Concrete Ammunition: Second Line Defense (Gilder Lehrman Institute,

GLC09521.01) o Poster #5: Do Your "Two Bits" Daily (National Archives) o Poster #6: Help the Negro People Help Their Own (National Archives) o Poster #7: Help Our Coloured Soldiers (National Archives) o Poster #8: Emancipation Proclamation (Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection,

Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

? Analyzing the Poster (each student or group will need four copies)

PROCEDURE

1. You may choose to have the students do the lesson individually, as partners, or in small groups of no more than three or four students.

2. Hand out World War I Posters #1?#2 and Analyzing the Poster. 3. The students will answer the questions on the Analyzing the Poster handouts for each poster.

For the first two posters this will be done as a whole-class activity with discussion. After analyzing the first two posters with the class, hand out Posters #3?#8 and Analyzing the Poster

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(3 per student or group). These posters will be analyzed by the students in small groups, with a partner, or individually. 4. Discuss different interpretations developed by the students or student groups. Discuss the information in the Historical Background above.

? 2013 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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