Lesson Overview
This lesson looks at discrimination and racism in America during the 1920s by studying the portrait entitled Edith by Augustus Dunbier.

Art Exemplar
Title:  Edith
Artist: Augustus Dunbier (1888-1977)
Medium: oil
Date: 1921

Objectives
• Students will become aware that artists send messages through their art.
• Students will investigate the history of discrimination and racism in America during the 1920s.
• Based on their own insights, students will write a reflection on the painting Edith by Augustus Dunbier. 
• Students will create a portrait that depicts a specific emotion.
Procedure

1. Share the image of Edith with the class either through print or MONA’s website: http://monet.unk.edu/mona/
2. Have students fold a sheet of paper in half vertically to create two columns; label the first “observations” and the second “judgments.” After viewing the painting, give students five minutes to fill in the first column with observations of the painting; for example, the woman is smiling. Next, give the students five minutes to record their impressions or judgments about the portrait in the second column; for example, the woman looks proud.
3. Share responses from the class, summarized on one large chart. Ask students to explain their responses with questions like “What makes you say that?” or “Can you tell me more about that?”
4. Discuss the background of the artist and the painting.
   Artist: http://monet.unk.edu/mona/pioneer/dunbier/dunbier.html
   Painting: African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner introduced Dunbier to a vaudeville performer named Theresa Brooks. She posed for this portrait which Dunbier later named Edith after President Woodrow Wilson’s second wife. The Wilson Administration was known for its racial attitudes and supported segregation in governmental offices. It is said Mrs. Wilson even opposed African-Americans working in the White House.
5. Use the information about Woodrow Wilson to build an understanding of the attitude about minorities and racism during the Wilson administration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#Race_and_Ethnicity
6. Use these questions to initiate the discussion: b.   How do artists choose the subject of their work?
   c.   When you view a piece of artwork, do you feel the artist is talking to you?
   d.   What was happening in the U.S. during the Wilson administration?
   e.   Why would an artist “hide” a message in his or her work?
   f.   What do you think the artist might be conveying in this painting?
   g.   How do you think Teresa Brooks might have felt about the title of “her” portrait?
   h.   What title would you have given this painting?
Activities
1. Students write a summary of the painting, using their notes, chart, and class discussions.
2. Announce a feeling or emotion and have students make facial expressions to indicate that emotion. Brainstorm a list of emotions, feelings, or moods and post it in the classroom.
3. Each student selects an emotion and makes five sketches of facial expressions that indicates that emotion. For ideas, use the Kennedy Art Center: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3468/iact1/
4. Now add color to the sketches and have students determine how color enhances the meaning and understanding of that feeling. A good resource for color theory and emotion can be found at: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/color2.htm
5. Review the process of creating a face using the artistic proportions. For background information, go to: http://www.portrait-artist.org/face/structure.html
6. Students select their most effective sketch and transfer it to a piece of large heavyweight paper. Using tempera paint, apply color to complete the message of the portrait.
Conclusion
1. Reflect upon students’ portraits. Discuss how each subject is portrayed with color and expression.
2. Display the portraits without titles for several days. Let visitors “guess” which emotion is being demonstrated. Then add titles that label the emotion, feeling, or mood the student artist intended.
Related Activities
• Character Education
1. Read about attitudes and treatment of minorities in our nation’s history.
2. Discuss civil rights in America.
3. Make a poster encouraging respect for all people.
• Social Studies
1. Research the events of the Wilson Administration.
2. Read a biography of Edith Wilson.
3. Share newspaper articles that report on discrimination or prejudice in current events.
4. Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday
• Art
1. Create a sculpture that shows emotion or feeling.
2. Draw a cartoon that deals with discrimination or prejudice.