Art History - Faith Ringgold

In my Art History 2023-2024 blog post, I decided January / February would be Faith Ringgold. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Faith Ringgold
1930 - 2024

also

Faith Ringgold Dies at 93; Wove Black Life Into Quilts and Children’s Books
The New York Times - Apr 13, 2024

https://www.faithringgold.com

Harlem Renaissance Party blog post

Art History Kids - The Studio - February 2019

STORY QUILTS

Tar Beach book by Faith Ringgold

Crazy Victorian Patchwork - EXTREME Scrap-busting & Rampant Creativity
YouTube

Instructions for patchwork: A new book of patterns and instructions for making fancy patchwork from 1884 (PDF)
Internet Archive

Stitch Meditation Scrolls
YouTube
a sewing project option for a child who finds Story Quilts too intimidating, and a lovely use for old wooden spools

Cloth Weaving
YouTube
a way to make a fun new texture

Booklist for Story Quilts blog post

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
This year Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, January 15.

My Dream of Martin Luther King book by Faith Ringgold

A Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. with Faith Ringgold's Art
Art History Kids

When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson (1939)
by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (1955)
by Phillip Hoose

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down (1960)
by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Let the Children March (1963)
by Monica Clark-Robinson

The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Henricks (1963)
by Cynthia Levinson

Freedom Summer (1964)
by Deborah Wiles

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
by Carole Boston Weatherford

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Doreen Rappaport

Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
by Alice Faye Duncan

Belle, The Last Mule at Gee's Bend: A Civil Rights Story
by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Art Guide (PDF)
Art History Kids

Coming to Jones Road Tanka #3: Martin Luther King, 2010
Faith Ringgold

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speaking (John Lewis Series), 2005
Benny Andrews

Hope Moving Forward, 2021
Basil Watson

IMMIGRATION

We Came to America book by Faith Ringgold

William's House
by Ginger Howard

Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
by Emma Glaser

When Jessie Came Across the Sea
by Amy Hest

Oskar and the Eight Blessings
by Richard and Tanya Simon

HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Harlem Renaissance Party book by Faith Ringgold

Harlem Renaissance Party quilt by Faith Ringgold

Henry Ossawa Tanner: His Boyhood Dream Comes True by Faith Ringgold

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Love to Langston
by Tony Medina

Langston Hughes (Poetry for Young People)
edited by by David Roessel & Arnold Rampersad

That Is My Dream!
text by Langston Hughes, illustrations by Daniel Miyares

Mules and Men
collected by Zora Neale Hurston

Zora & Me
by Victoria Bond & T.R. Simon

This Jazz Man
by Karen Erhardt

For Dizzy Gillespie, Queens Was the Place to Be and to Bop
The New York Times - Jan 5, 2024

Our List of Jazz Artists blog post
picture books, music & video links

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong

Florence Mills

Thomas "Fats" Waller

Edward "Duke" Ellington

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

George Gershwin

Billie Holiday

Charlie "Bird" Parker

John “Dizzy” Gillespie

Thelonious Monk

Melba Liston

Ella Fitzgerald

Ray Brown

John Coltrane

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga
p.104 - "Quilted Work" activity
available online as a FREE PDF from Bright Ring Publishing

---

week of Jan 1:

Thu/Sat - have children work in pairs to make Wet Felted Geodes to serve as their pincushions during the Story Quilt project

this is a great way to use up scraps of wool roving yarn as well!

week of Jan 8:

Mon - read Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

make a display of other books illustrated with textile art:
Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes
My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World
Clare Beaton's Mother Goose Remembers
Mother Earth and Her Children: A Quilted Fairy Tale

give each child a blank Story Quilt 9"L x 6.5"W x 2.75"H sewing box to decorate, which will house their fabric & supplies in their cubby


Tue - introduction to Jim Crow

read When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Muñoz Ryan




Wed - introduction to the Civil Rights Movement

read first half of Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan
Memphis -- 1968
Mud Puddles
Marching Orders
Winter Blues
Trouble
Martin
Silver Rights
Omen


Thu - read remainder of Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop
Beale Street
Trucks and Tanks
Dreamers
Lorraine
Black Widow
Victory on a Blue Note
Mountaintop

choose fabric colors and store in your box: felt backing (6" x 9"), assorted fabric scraps




Sat - introduce Story Quilt project, read My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World by Salley Mavor and look at other examples of books illustrated with fabric art, decorate sewing boxes, choose felt backing piece, choose scraps of cotton fabrics in different colors and textures (with younger children offer felt scraps instead)

week of Jan 15:

Mon - read Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Doreen Rappaport



Tue - put 20 pins in your pincushion, choose one spool of thread, choose two cards of buttons, cut scraps to desired size/shape (consider a seam allowance if you don't like the look of raw edges)

sort the remaining fabrics into 8 boxes:

green
blue
purple
pink & red
yellow & orange
brown
black & grey
white & gold


Wed - arrange the design of your fabric scraps and pin into place


Sat - introduce techniques for transferring shapes (chalk, brown paper patterns), introduce new knots (tailor's knot to begin thread, quilter's knot to end thread)

week of Jan 22:

Mon - read Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down (1960) by Andrea Davis Pinkney




Tue - work on Story Quilts


Wed - read Let the Children March (1963) by Monica Clark-Robinson, work on Story Quilts




Thu - The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Henricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson




Sat - work on Story Quilts

week of Jan 29:

Mon - read My Gandhi Story by Nina Sabnani, recommend some additional books on nonviolent protests, work on Story Quilts




Tue - introduction to immigration

read We Came to America by Faith Ringgold, work on Story Quilts


Wed - read When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest, work on Story Quilts (new skill: how to sew on buttons)




Thu - read Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Tanya Simon, work on Story Quilts (new skill: embroider details with back & satin stitch)




Sat - work on Story Quilts

week of Feb 5:

Mon - introduction to the Harlem Renaissance

read Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold, work on Story Quilts


Tue - read The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, work on Story Quilts




Wed - work on Story Quilts


Sat - read Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford, work on Story Quilts

week of Feb 12:

Mon - read Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong by Lesa Cline-Ransome, listen to music (Louis Armstrong's All Time Greatest Hits), work on Story Quilts



Tue - read Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Pinkney, listen to music (Pure Ella), work on Story Quilts




Wed - work on Story Quilts


Thu - read Jazz Age Josephine by Jonah Winter, watch video clip, work on Story Quilts




Sat - read Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills by Renée Watson, work on Story Quilts

week of Feb 19:

Tue - read Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her by Amy Novesky


Thu - read Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky, listen to music (The Essence of Billie Holiday & Stay With Me), work on Story Quilts


Sat - read Henry Ossawa Tanner: His Boyhood Dream Comes True by Faith Ringgold, work on Story Quilts

week of Feb 26:

Mon - read Love to Langston by Tony Medina



Tue - read and listen to poetry by Langston Hughes

Soul Looks Back in Wonder
edited by Tom Feelings
"To You" by Langston Hughes




Poetry Speaks to Children book & CD
edited by Elise Paschen
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes
introduced and read by the poet, tracks 15 & 16





Wed - read Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston by Alicia D. Williams





Thu - read All Stuck Up retold by Linda Hayward

finish Story Quilts and take home sewing boxes (students who are not finished can take home supplies to complete their work at home)

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