Teaching History with Art
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
National Park Partners joined the Chattanooga Public Library, Shaking Ray Levi Society, and Rise Chattanooga to host students and families in the “Wayne-O-Rama” exhibit with after-school tours and lessons this fall and winter on the 3 rd floor of Chattanooga Downtown Library. Teachers brought students from around the county to engage in the art created by the 2017 project curated with artifacts from the Chattanooga History Center collection and interpretive panels produced by the partnership.
The public engaged six days per week for five months, learning through art how Chattanooga events and people have impacted American history for 12,000 years. Students and their families enjoyed after-school outreach, lessons, and tours on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, connecting courageous Chattanoogans and the city’s landmarks preserved in our six National Park Service sites to the social studies lessons they are learning in school.
The iconic author Ernest Hemmingway coined the phrase “Courage is grace under pressure” in a 1926 letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald and it is said to have been a mantra throughout his life. Considering his life and work were punctuated by service in three wars, injuries under fire in battle, and two consecutive plane crashes in Africa, it can be argued that he knew and had seen courage. The lives of the historic personages featured in the “Wayne-O-Rama” exhibit personified courage and each of them connected Chattanooga to a part of American history.
Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is the strength and resilience that allows a person to face something terrifying despite being afraid. I love teaching students about why American history is a part of their history and watching them make that connection between courage and fear, seeing themselves and their struggles in the lives of the people they learned about was an honor. From the first European contact with Hernando de Soto and Juan de Pardo to Chief Dragging Canoe and his cousin Nancy Ward and their roles in the Revolutionary War, to the Underground Railroad, the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, and innovations like radio, television, and photography, the people of Chattanooga punctuated history students had only seen in textbooks. Now those students and their families will think of a cherished place in their city when they hear about a pivotal part of American history.
Chattanooga is a city surrounded by elevations and has been a crossroads since the Paleo-Indian era began over 12,000 years ago. The War Paths merged here, a man who escaped enslavement from here helped create the Underground Railroad, the Trail of Tears began here, and it is a city that both President Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis fought to control. It’s elevations and access to the telegraphs alongside rail lines made it a strategic city to control and the six sites of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and National Park Partners offer ways to engage in all this history throughout the community. Wherever you live in the Chattanooga area, a National Park Service site is probably just minutes away with opportunities to connect history, beauty, nature, and exercise, building family memories and ensuring a stronger future by learning about the past.
Jennifer Crutchfield is an author, educator, and Talk Radio 102.3 guest host. Manager of the Open OutDoors for Kids National Park Foundation project with National Park Partners, she is leading weekly after-school lessons at City of Chattanooga Community Centers this Spring and Summer.