Mississippi: Mississippi History through the Arts Curriculum

In honor of Mississippi’s 200th birthday, the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) has developed and published a new arts based curriculum for elementary through secondary students. The 20-lesson curriculum, Mississippi History through the Arts: A Bicentennial Journey, is available for free on MAC’s website. Using images of art featured in two Mississippi Museum of Art exhibitions—Picturing Mississippi: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise and The Mississippi Story—as well as photos from MAC’s Bicentennial Folklife Survey, the curriculum tells a cultural story that begins before Mississippi’s statehood, continues through today, and will inspire generations long after this year’s bicentennial celebration. Each lesson is based on select artworks, such as Choctaw baskets, portraits of Native American leaders, hand-drawn maps of early European settlements, antebellum photographs and engravings, paintings depicting the Great Depression, documentation of the Civil Rights Movement, and images and sculptures made in response to Hurricane Katrina. Working with the Mississippi Department of Education, MAC designed the curriculum to be appropriate for elementary, intermediate and advanced grade levels. Furthermore, it is aligned with the state’s College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Visual Arts, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Dance, Music and Theatre. For more information, contact MAC Arts Education Director Charlotte Smelser.