I have worked with the biographies of individuals portrayed in this series in several different ways. As I researched the lives of each one, I realized that the areas of study for their use were beyond the obvious I had initially considered: social studies and the study of United States History. I have therefore used this page of the curriculum portion of the website to list ways I see these biographies extending past what I originally thought and hope that you will share ways in which you or colleagues might see this as well.
The themes, which came immediately to mind, are social justice issues and peace and anti-war efforts. I would add the role of the media and the press in a democracy as well.
Learning from the biographies of responsible journalists will provide a model as well as a forum for discussion of the ways in which students receive and process information about our country.
Social justice biographies can be further divided into study of the civil liberties of Women, Native American, African American and Gay citizens. Labor, economic and environmental rights can also be explored.
Additionally, biographies can be studied to lend insight into the studies of Business Math and Economics, and Science. The use of quotes in the portraits works well for English studies. Also, of note, are the portraits of authors who have written their “truths.” These literary pieces are another way to look at using the gift of writing and the well-documented power of the written word.
Below I have listed areas of study and related biographies.
In the “ Ways to Use Biographies” section of the curriculum pages, there is more information on specific strategies to enliven and deepen student interaction with the subjects of the portraits.
In conclusion, the most important biography to be studied here is that of the artist himself: Robert Shetterly. To introduce the Americans Who Tell the Truth series without a deep knowledge of its intention and meaning would render it so much less than it is.
There has never been a time in the culture of our youth where we have seen the need for an understanding of personal power, as there exists today. Our students live in a global community in ways we have not. Our students live in community fueled by media in ways we have not. As I work with students who do not know their own civil liberties and live in a time when those are looked at differently than was intended, new questions emerge and better answers must, also. To hear Rob Shetterly share his disturbance after 9-11 and his encounter with each of the lives portrayed in his paintings is an essential part of the curriculum. Hosting him in your school, writing to him, telling the story of his work and how he has used his artistic gift to bring us to a new way of looking at ourselves, each have a pivotal place in your work with these portraits. Ask your students: why did he paint these? What mattered to him? What are the truths he is speaking of and how can they take those up for themselves? What did the events of 9-11 mean and how can we look to the future and step forward?
Robert Shetterly’s work lends itself as another courageous step toward a better world. Once I wrote to Mr. Shetterly about an event I attended where my beloved friend and colleague, Harry Pickens, led us in prayer and meditation for peace. I told Rob that I actually believed for a few moments that we would have peace in our world in my time. He wrote back to me that he, too, has moments of that kind and said when it doesn’t happen, “it almost breaks your heart.” When I shared Rob’s comment with my students before they met him, their response was, “ Wow! He really means it!”
Yes, he does. And so do we, as teachers who take up these studies in our classrooms. We mean to use what we can see in these courageous beings to create a better world.
United States History and Social Studies:
General: Social Justice
(Click on the name to go to that portrait and biography on the website.)
In fairness to each person portrayed by Mr. Shetterly, all of them belong in this category in some way. For our purposes, however, I have placed them in more specific sections based upon my use of them. Please do not let these be prohibitive. Naturally, we are interested in ALL the ways this work can be seen and used and all points of view are valid.
General Social Justice issues:
Emma Goldman
Dorothea Lange
Jim Hightower
Noam Chomsky
Jane Addams
Kathy Kelly
Frank Serpico
Eleanor Roosevelt
Marian Wright Edelman
Here are categories listed above that are areas related to social justice:
Antiwar/Peace movement work
Henry David Thoreau
Jane Addams
Wendell Berry
Peter Davis
Edward Said
Smantha Smith
Marian Wright Edelman
Daniel Ellsberg
Dwight Eisenhower
Jody Williams
Muhammad Ali
Chief Joseph Yalektit
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Howard Zinn
African American civil rights movement
Harriet Tubman
Sojourner Truth
William Sloane Coffin
Paul Robeson
Muhammad Ali
Fannie Lou Hammer
Eugene Debs
Malcolm X
W.E.B. DuBois
Frederick Douglass
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King, Jr.
James Baldwin
Ralph Ellison
Abraham Lincoln
Ida Wells
Perry Mann
Native American studies and issues
Chief Joseph Yalektit
Winona LaDuke
Women’s rights
Eleanor Roosevelt
Mother Jones
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Margaret Chase Smith
Judy Wicks
Susan B. Anthony
Worker’s rights
Mother Jones
Cesar Chavez
Utah Phillips
Gay rights
Harry Hay
Paul Wellstone
Role of the Media/ Journalism in a Democracy:
Lewis Lapham
Noam Chomsky
Susan B. Anthony
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Jim Hightower
Amy Goodman
Utah Phillips
Perry Mann
Studs Terkel
Dorothea Lange
Molly Ivins
Bill Moyers
Edward Said
Economics:
Listed here are individuals whose life work is related to concerns regarding distribution of wealth, labor movement work and the role of economics in the political climate of the nation. I have used these when teaching Business Math to middle school students to help them address the fundamental questions of the class. I begin the class by asking them: What is money for, anyway? They share their thoughts and then we examine these biographies as we research the many answers to that question.
Dorothy Day
Frances Moore Lappe
Jonathan Kozol
Ralph Nader
Helen Keller
Dr. Paul Farmer
Paul Wellstone
Derrick Jensen
Winona LaDuke
Robert Kennedy
W.E.B. DuBois
Granny D. Doris Haddock
Rachel Carson
Mother Jones
Marjorie Kelly
Paul Robeson
Cesar Chavez
Judy Wicks
Utah Phillips
Science:
I have found that using these biographies helps students in Botany and Zoology studies in particular to understand that the natural world is now a concern in our political world and will remain so throughout their lives. It will also help to examine these lives to help students see that science must be used for the enhancement and not the destruction of life. It is my hope that these studies help them to come to understand how long ago the causes of environmentalism actually began and what it will take to protect our beautiful home on earth.
Rachel Carson
John Muir
Terry Tempest Williams
Ralph Nader
Dwight Eisenhower
Utah Phillips
Wendell Berry
English- Again, use of quotes from an individual’s life either derived from speeches, writings or both, are a powerful tool for communicating. Many of the writers portrayed are well known for their work but not as much for their political importance, which is important to share.
Writing the story of a life allows it to live forever. I might ask, how is each portrait then a novel?
Below are those individuals from Americans Who Tell the Truth who used the power of the written word to express themselves in our country.
Arthur Miller
James Baldwin
Woody Guthrie
Lewis Lapham
Bill Moyers
Edward Said
Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman
Zora Neale Hurston
Molly Ivins
Studs Terkel
Jonathan Kozol
Wendell Berry
Daniel Ellsberg
Howard Zinn
Amy Goodman
Mark Twain
Perry Mann
Ralph Ellison
