K–12 Lesson Plans: Oral Histories from Black Los Angeles Artists

This collaboration between the Getty Research Institute and the UCLA History-Geography Project aims to bring primary sources and archival materials into K-12 classrooms in ways that are timely and culturally relevant, and that meet California’s grade-specific curriculum standards for public schools. The 14 lesson plans below draw on oral histories from Black Los Angeles artists, set in context through additional primary materials including photographs, maps, flyers, and artwork. While each lesson plan is distinct in its approach and coverage, all aim to bring greater visibility to underrepresented stories and experiences; to strengthen historical thinking and critical literacy skills; and to integrate the arts into K-12 education. These culturally relevant and sustaining lessons connect students to local history, art, and Black Los Angeles history, challenging dominant narratives and fostering discussions on race, power, and community activism through art.

These lessons are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share Alike 4.0 International. They may be used, shared, and adapted under the terms indicated.

The lessons are all in alignment with California's History-Social Science Content Standards, the California History-Social Science Framework, the California Common Core Standards, and the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, and are in compliance with the California FAIR Education Act.

This project is part of the Getty Research Institute’s African American Art History Initiative.

1. In what ways do Black artists in Los Angeles use art and creative spaces to spark community solidarity and oppose violence?
   Created by Nivia Alvardo
   11th–12th Grade
   Adaptable for AP African American Studies

In this multi-day lesson, students explore how Black artists in Los Angeles have used their art, media, and community spaces to bring people together across racial and cultural lines in the face of violence and injustice. Through a source analysis station activity, students will engage with a range of sources: murals, photographs, articles, and short videos that highlight how artists have used creativity as a form of resistance, healing, and collective power.

After learning from these examples, students will apply what they’ve discovered by creating their own Zine of Solidarity, where they visually and textually express their understanding of how art can build community and inspire connection.

2. How does oral history preserve the history and culture of communities?
   Created by April Bennet
   7th Grade

This lesson is intended to help students understand how storytellers use oral history to preserve the history and culture of their society. After learning about oral history traditions in West Africa, students will investigate oral history interviews produced as part of the Getty Research Institute’s African American Art History Initiative. Students will examine one of five pieces of art and then learn the background of the artist via their interview. Finally, students will conduct an interview with an adult in their community to document a piece of the community's culture and history.

3. How does the art of Mildred Howard and Howardena Pindell reflect their lived experiences and personal histories?
   Created by Andrew Burt
   11th Grade

In this lesson, students will compare the lived experiences of Black Americans in the West (Oakland) and the East (Philadelphia) during the 1940s and 1950s. By analyzing the oral histories and artwork of Mildred Howard and Howardena Pindell, students will examine the impact of the Great Migration and experiences of segregation and integration in housing and education. Students will use an X-Ray analysis strategy to connect specific artistic choices to the artists' personal histories and conclude with a comparative analysis of how place shapes identity.

4. How do the places and spaces we grew up in shape our outlook of the world through the creation of art?
   Created by Isabel Cortes
   11th Grade

Historical memory—a topic of great contention in the United States. Whose memory matters? Whose memory is incorporated within the curriculum? Who is considered an expert within the classroom walls? These are the questions my lesson seeks to address. In this learning segment, students will begin by reflecting on their identities and histories of resistance, oppression, solidarity within their neighborhood community. After, students will hear from the testimonies of four Black Californian artists: Ulysses Jenkins, Dale Brockman Davis, Judith Wilson, and Chales Gaines to uncover how their childhood shaped their artwork. Finally, students will identify how their lived experiences, including the challenges, the stories of resistance, and their understanding of their community’s history shape the artwork they create.

5. How do personal and political history shape art?
   Created by Cal Dobbs
   10th Grade

This lesson takes a comparative look at the reciprocity between art, artist, and history. Students will analyze three artworks by artists outside the United States and three by American artists during the Los Angeles Black Arts Movement. Students will explore art and digital media, including oral histories of artists, to understand the relationship between personal and political factors expressed through art. The art selections from American artists will feature three artists from the Getty African American Art History Initiative Oral Histories Collection. As an assessment, students will analyze their favorite political art piece using the blank 7 C’s Chart found here.

6. How were photographers of the Black Arts Movement shaped by and how did they contribute to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements?
   Created by Aditi Doshi
   11th Grade
   AP African American Studies

Students will examine how the Black Arts movement influenced Black culture, politics, and activism in the 1960s and 1970s. They will also analyze the reciprocal relationship between art and activism. Students will practice claim development and thematic analysis by applying an evolving claims activity to photographs from the Black Arts Movement. Students will complete a formative assessment with a personal photograph and analysis that is inspired by the Black Arts Movement and AP African American Studies themes.

7. How do social movements influence and inspire artists and their work?
   Created by Erika Gonzalez
   9th–10th Grade

Students will explore how social movements ignite artists’ creativity to critique social injustice. Delving further into this topic, students will discover how art can deepen an understanding of the self, assuage anger, and begin healing. Students will examine the oral histories and artwork of select artists from the Getty Research Institute (GRI), with an emphasis on Black Los Angeles artists during the Civil Rights era, including Alonzo Davis, Dale Davis, and Noah Purifoy. Students will be led through a series of narratives, photographs, and records that examine “protest art.” For a summative assessment, students will be organized into groups of four whereby they will produce a digital poster and an expository essay to present to the class.

8. What can Hollywood Jazz, 1945—1972, the historic jazz scene it portrays, and artist Richard Wyatt Jr.’s oral history teach us about the contributions of Black visual and musical artists in Los Angeles?
   Created by Dan Lynch
   6th–12th Grade

In this two-day, two-hour lesson, students explore the life and work of Los Angeles muralist Richard Wyatt Jr. through the lens of his Hollywood Jazz mural. They will learn about the cultural and historical context of the Central Avenue jazz scene and its connections to early Hollywood; listen to audio clips of musicians featured in the mural; and analyze Wyatt’s reflections on his background and creative process through a jigsaw listening activity. After engaging with and identifying key selections from Wyatt’s oral history transcript, students will synthesize their learning with a creative project—designing a collage-style digital mural that incorporates selected quotations and images to illustrate Wyatt’s artistic influences, themes, and contributions to the visual and musical heritage of Los Angeles and the United States more broadly.

9. In what ways do African American artists help us understand the experiences of African American migrants?
   Created by Diana Phillips
   6th Grade

Students will develop a historical interpretation by analyzing two historical texts created by African American artists in various media formats. They will identify push factors related to the experiences of African American migrant families. Additionally, students will write a brief explanatory text to express their claims, supported by evidence from the texts.

10. How do photography and oral histories express Black artists’ love for their community?
    Created by Eli Ross
    9th–10th Grade
    Adaptable for IEPs and 504 Plans

Students will interact with multiple oral histories and visual materials to form an analysis of how these oral histories and photographs of significant events of protest and justice have defined the community. Artists like Melvin Edwards and Melodie McDaniel will be viewed and discussed to further their knowledge on art forms, while oral histories from Charles Gaines and Alonzo Davis will provide students with extra source material along with a notetaking guide for the summative assessment. The summative assessment will ask students to create their own digital art to represent what they love the most about the Los Angeles community, to reflect on the sources given.

11. In what ways can significant sites help us rethink the story of Black Los Angeles Communities?
    Created by Taylor Shields
    6th Grade

This lesson is a multidisciplinary exploration of how oral histories, art, and place preserve the narratives of Black communities in Los Angeles. Students will engage with oral histories from artists Charles Gaines and Ulysses Jenkins, analyze primary and secondary sources, and view multimedia clips that highlight South Central’s legacy as a hub of Black culture, business, and resilience. Through activities such as quadrant viewing, mapping, and photography stations, students will interpret information across media, identify central ideas, and compare perspectives.

The culminating assessment challenges students to design museum-style plaques that educate others on the historical and cultural significance of South Central landmarks, connecting literacy skills with community-based learning and civic awareness.

12. How can the creation of art be used as a tool to elicit joy within a community?
    Created by Jeanine Taylor
    4th Grade

Students will explore how artists Richard Wyatt and Charles Gaines find joy through art by exploring oral histories in small groups using graphic organizers and writing strategies. Students will also discuss their responses collaboratively. Students will then create their own art that reflects joy.

13. How do political movements influence art and culture?
    Created by Taylor Vivanco
    11th–12th Grade

Students will read an oral history from Black artists based in Los Angeles to build connections between the political movements that the artists experienced and the influences this had upon their artistic and cultural development. Students will analyze the artwork that they either produced or collected, connect this back to the artists’ experiences, and ultimately practice their use of claim, evidence, and reasoning as they answer the inquiry question: How do political movements influence art and culture?

14. Brockman Gallery and St. Elmo Village: How did Black artists sell their art and create creative spaces for their community in Los Angeles?
    Created by Veronica Wang
    3rd Grade

Students will explore the topic of a local economy and what it means to “keep money” in the community. They will ask questions about art as a business practice and the politics of space. By analyzing oral histories from Dale and Alonzo Davis, as well as videos featuring Roderick Sykes and St. Elmo Village, students will learn about the history of Black-owned art spaces in Los Angeles. They will understand why spaces like the Brockman Gallery and St. Elmo Village were so important to Black communities in Los Angeles, and reflect on how that legacy continues today.

"I understand that art played a huge role in the Black Freedom Struggle through studying BAM and visiting the Getty because of its essential role in portraying individual and communal Black identity. Art was very important for the Black community as they used it to portray themes of resistance, Black power, and identity."

"Through the Getty, I learned up close how paintings and photographs were a powerful source of resistance against dehumanization of African Americans and the identity that was built through it."

"My visit to the Getty complicated my understanding by presenting works of art that might not have been intended for audiences at all. This gave me the new perspective that art was used in an intensely personal manner for artists to explore their unique identities and relationship with Blackness."

"Through our trip to the Getty and the lessons in class, I was able to understand art as a form of joy, anger, grief, hope, and over all being human."

"From what I understand, art is often used as a weapon and a way to bring sympathy towards a cause. Art in one sense can be used to pushback against societal issues and bring those issues to center stage, forcing the audience to confront the issue. As well, art can help display traits of dignity and compassion."

"The Black Arts Movement continues today through the preservation and public displays of unapologetic expressions of Black dignity. Studying BAM and visiting the Getty revealed that the movement was exclusive to its time. Rather, BAM continues to evolve and impact lives today, speaking to the importance of cultural memory as a means of resilience in the Black community."

"Art made for the Black Freedom Struggle conveyed deep and thoughtful messages. They would either directly go against political views, support Black beauty, and portray the pride in the long history of African Americans. At the Getty an image that stood out was "The Ghost of Emmitt Till" because it feels like a big statement towards the injustice done to him."

"I understood that art played a very strong role in the Black Freedom Struggle due to its visuals. It is long lasting and some artworks can even critique life today, and it is beautiful."