Images at War
Introduction
Visual materials can speak of the past
with such immediacy that we feel ourselves in the presence of
those times, drawn to knowledge by the power of emotion. Yet,
like all documentary materials, images of the past carry contextual
information which, after careful analysis, may reveal as much
about the past as the evidence presented to our eyes.
Learning Objectives
To examine American attitudes toward
war as revealed in Civil War photographs and World War II
homefront posters; to explore ways in which the experience
of war has helped shape the American social and cultural identity;
to gain experience interpreting archival images; to organize
a statement of findings.
1
Begin by asking students to examine the photograph titled
"A Harvest of Death" by Timothy O'Sullivan (a member of Mathew
Brady's photographic team) in the Selected
Civil War Photographs collection at the American
Memory website. (You can search for this image using its
title.) This image of the aftermath at Gettysburg is perhaps
the best known of several photographs in the collection that
show Confederate casualties dead on the battlefield. Ask students
to comment on the title O'Sullivan attached to his image.
How does the title enlarge the scope of the picture beyond
photojournalism? How does it slant the meaning of the picture
within the partisan context of the Civil War? What was O'Sullivan's
purpose in making this image for a Union audience? In what
way does it comment on the Union cause? What attitudes toward
the Civil War does the picture express? What might the picture
look like if its purpose were to glorify a Union victory?
Follow up these questions by asking students what other archival
sources they might consult to support their interpretation
of the photograph (e.g., periodicals and correspondence of
the time).
2
Next ask students to examine the World
War II poster titled "The Sowers" by Thomas Hart Benton in
the "Powers
of Persuasion" exhibit at the National
Archives website. This is one of several posters in the
collection designed to influence American attitudes toward
the enemy during the war. Ask students how the enemy is characterized
in the poster. How does this characterization compare to O'Sullivan's
portrayal of enemy casualties? How are the two images related
to the special circumstances of the two wars? How are they
related to our national memories of both wars? To our lasting
attitudes toward both "enemies"?
3
Share
with your students a broader selection of images from the
"Powers
of Persuasion" exhibit at the National
Archives website. Ask students how an anthropologist might
describe the American people based on the images portrayed
in these posters. How might these posters have served to enhance
solidarity among all Americans during World War II? How does
this compare with the solidarity O'Sullivan's Civil War image
might have fostered?
4
Have students work in small groups to
research and analyze other images of wartime America. They
can search the Selected
Civil War Photographs collection or the Photographs
from the Office of War Information collection at the American
Memory website for images of American mobilization during
World War II. In addition to the "Powers
of Persuasion" exhibit, students can find World War
II images at the National
Archives website in the A
People at War exhibit and in a collection of "Pictures
of African Americans during World War II," as well as in a
collection of "Pictures of the Civil War." Have each group
organize an exhibit that illustrates a range of American attitudes
toward war and toward the role of civilians within the war
effort. Ambitious groups might extend their research to include
images from more recent wars, such as the Vietnam War and
the Gulf War.
Extending the Lesson
Depending on your curriculum, you might
use these images of war as a starting point for study of American
literature about the experience of battle: for example, Stephen
Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, stories from Ambrose
Bierce's In The Midst of Life, Mark Twain's Private
History of a Campaign That Failed, or Walt Whitman's Specimen
Days; N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, Lillian
Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, or Charles Fuller's A
Soldier's Play. The images can serve also as a starting
point for a broader investigation of the techniques of persuasion
they represent. Finally, you might compare these images from
wartime with the attitudes Americans express toward war through
national monuments like the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Vietnam
War Memorial.
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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