Early Illinois History through Art INTRODUCTION The story of Chicago begins in the 17th century at a place called the Chicago Portage. Located about ten miles west of Lake Michigan, this swampy area provided a crucial link in a transcontinental system of travel. When flooded in the springtime, a “Mud Lake” connected Lake Michigan and the Chicago rivers with the Des Plaines, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers so that a complete waterway existed. In other seasons, when the swamp dried out, travelers would portage their boats through muck until they reached the next river where they rejoined the water system. The Portage site is Chicago’s “Plymouth Rock.” Indians introduced the French to the Portage in 1673. The French first began exploring North America in the 16th century. These Europeans quickly saw the commercial potential of being able to travel from New France (Canada), into the interior of the land, and all the way down the Mississippi River. First they thought the route would provide a shortcut to China. Instead a vision of potential trade, settlement, and empire in North America opened before their eyes. At the same time, the Dutch, English, and Spanish expanded their empires and established colonies elsewhere on the continent, each intruding on the Indians inhabiting the land. By the mid-19th century, these territories belonged to a new nation—the United States of America and Chicago was a booming city with hundreds of thousands of people.
Mosaic, Marquette Building
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
Early Illinois History through Art LESSON: MARQUETTE AND JOLIET IN EARLY ILLINOIS HISTORY KEY TOPICS History, identity, architecture, exploration
OBJECTIVES Students will be able to a. recognize how visual images help us interpret events in American history b. critically analyze primary source documents c. analyze a work of art to understand its meaning d. research the history of the Indians living in the region, the French presence in early Illinois, and Father Jacques Marquette and trader François Joliet’s expedition. e. demonstrate an understanding of the lives of Indians living in the Illinois region by creating poetry and a visual art project
SUMMARY The lesson requires students to use key skills, such as critical thinking, analysis, research, and artistic creativity. In Activity 1 students will analyze illustrations of Marquette’s and Joliet’s expedition, research the journey by using online resources, and create an explorers’ guide to report their findings. In Activity 2 students will visit the Marquette Building and analyze its decorative program, including the rotunda mosaics, bronze busts, and relief panels. They will choose one of the building’s images of an Illinois Indian for further research, and create a poem and a collage that demonstrates their knowledge about the Illinois people at the time of their encounter with Marquette and Joliet. Guiding questions for the lesson include:
How does art communicate the concerns and values of a society at a particular time?
How have artists memorialized Marquette and Joliet’s 1673 expedition?
COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET BY UNIT CC Grades 6-8: RH 1, 2, 7 CC Grades 6-8: RI 1, 2, 7
CC Grades 6-8: WHST 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 CC Grades 6-8: SL 4, 5
CC Grades 6-8: W 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 CC Grades 6-8: L 1, 2, 3
STATE GOALS AND STANDARDS MET BY UNIT IL 5: B, C
IL 16: A, D
IL 25: A
IL 27: B
One of four bronze panels that appear over the front doors of the Marquette Building. The panels depict incidents in Father Marquette’s life as he explored the Mississippi River. © 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art GETTING STARTED MATERIALS
Computers with internet access Art Analysis Guide (see Appendix 1) Sample Rubric (see Appendix 2) Art supplies to create collages (scissors, glue, magazines, newspapers, fabric swatches, etc.) Images of the Marquette Building (see Images 1.a—1.m) “We Were” Poem worksheet (see Worksheet A)
SUGGESTED TIME Activity 1: Two days Activity 2: Five days
VOCABULARY Mississippi River, exploration, settlement
ACTIVITY 1: CREATING AN EXPLORERS’ GUIDE Day 1 Introduce the expedition with a short reading on the Marquette and Joliet expedition. The Wisconsin Historical Society’s website provides an overview of the readings and entries from Father Jacques Marquette’s journal. The Wisconsin Historical Society’s Marquette and Joliet information can be accessed at www.wisconsinhistory.org/topic/Marquette_Joliet. The Encyclopedia of Chicago provides an interpretive essay entitled, “Solitary Lives Along Chicago’s Lakes and Waterways: French Missionaries and Traders,” that includes Marquette’s map of the western Great Lakes and entries from his journal. Daniel E. Harmon’s book, Joliet & Marquette: Explorers of the Mississippi (2001) can provide additional information. Students can use these resources and other online or library materials to complete their explorers’ guide. The guide can be completed on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, laid lengthwise, and folded in half. Students should include illustrations, maps, and create text that tells Marquette and Joliet’s story. The guide should include the following information:
a brief biography of Marquette and Joliet
details about the expedition (Why did they travel? Where did they go? What did they find?)
a bibliography of at least five sources attached to the guide
Day 2 Students complete the explorers’ guide. The teacher can use the Sample Rubric (Appendix 2) to assess the project.
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Early Illinois History through Art ACTIVITIES (cont.) ACTIVITY 2: MARQUETTE BUILDING VISIT, POEM AND COLLAGE PROJECT Day 1 Visit the Marquette Building, 56 W. Adams St., in Chicago. Prior to their visit, the class may read “Glass Frieze Mosaic for the Marquette Building Chicago” (Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1895, 3) a contemporary article that describes the decorative art in the Marquette Building. While on the visit, students will complete the Art Analysis Guide (see Appendix 1) of the rotunda mosaic or bronze panels. Students will select one of the images of an Illinois Indian, who represents the group of Indians that Marquette and Joliet encountered, to research to complete poem and collage projects.
Day 2 Research the Illinois Indians. The Illinois State Museum’s educational web resource, “Museum Link” has information about the lives of Illinois Indians that may provide students a good starting point for their research, (http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/il.html). Students will answer the following questions. Students should also complete a bibliography of at least five sources and attach it to the sheet where they write their answers.
Who were the Illinois?
Where did they live?
How did they live?
What foods did they eat?
What clothing did they wear?
What did they trade and with whom?
What was their interaction with Marquette and Joliet?
What are some interesting features of the Illinois culture?
Day 3 Students will continue to research. Students will turn their findings into an “I Am” poem (adapted as a “We Were” poem, Worksheet A) in order to tell the story of the Illinois and their encounter with Marquette and Joliet. The teacher can add lines to the poem as appropriate. Students will complete the statements on the worksheet using the information they have learned about the Illinois. Students can complete their poems for homework.
Day 4 Students will take the words of their poems and create a collage that best illustrates its themes and ideas. Students can use words, pictures, textures, and symbols to help the reader visualize their poems. For homework, students can complete their collages and write a brief paragraph explaining the choices they have made in creating the collage and the meanings that they were trying to convey through the collage. The poem, the collage, and the paragraph will be handed in on the same day.
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Early Illinois History through Art ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES Additional Resources Information about the French in North America can be found on the Encyclopedia of Chicago website. See Charles J. Balesi, “French and French Canadians,” Encyclopedia of Chicago, (http:// encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/488.html). The Chicago Metro History Education Center for the Illinois-Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor Civic Center Authority, “Swamp to City: Chicago History from the Portage Site to the Metropolis” education curricula. This guide provides rich primary source materials and lesson plans that focus on the importance of waterways in nurturing Chicago’s growth as a burgeoning metropolis, (http:// www.chicagohistoryfair.org/curriculum/swamp-to-city.html). Sample journal entries from Father Jacques Marquette can be found at the Chicago Public Library website, (http://www.chipublib.org/cplbooksmovies/cplarchive/historyfair/marquette.php). “Chicago: City of the Century,” a documentary from PBS’s American Experience series has background information on the Marquette and Joliet expedition, (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/ peopleevents/p_mandj.html).
Enrichment Activities Students can visit the Chicago Portage National Historic Site, located at Portage Woods Forest Preserve and Ottawa Trail Woods Forest Preserve. Portage Woods Forest Preserve is located at 4800 S. Harlem in Lyons, Illinois. Ottawa Trail Woods Forest Preserve is located just north of Portage Woods on the west side of Harlem Avenue between 47th Street and Joliet Road.
Mosaic, Marquette Building lobby
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.a
Marquette Building entrance from Dearborn Street
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.b
Marquette Building entrance from Dearborn Street
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.c
Exterior Panels, Marquette Building
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.d
Door Detail, Marquette Building
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.e
Door Detail, Marquette Building
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.f
Marquette Building lobby
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.g
Bronze Bust, Marquette Building lobby
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.h
Interior Panel, Marquette Building lobby © 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.i
Interior Panel, Marquette Building lobby © 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.j
Mosaic, Marquette Building lobby
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.k
Mosaic, Marquette Building lobby
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.l
Mosaic, Marquette Building lobby
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art IMAGE 1.m
Mosaic, Marquette Building lobby
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Early Illinois History through Art WORKSHEET A How would you tell the story of the Illinois at the time of their encounter with Marquette and Joliet? Create a poem that explains your interpretation of their experience based on the research that you have done. Look at each line of the poem and fill in the appropriate word or phrase that you believe best completes the statement and shows the history of the Illinois peoples encounter with Marquette and Joliet.
“We Were” Poem We were (list two special characteristics about the group) ______________________________________ We wondered ___________________________________________________________________________ We heard _______________________________________________________________________________ We saw ________________________________________________________________________________ We wanted _____________________________________________________________________________ We tried _______________________________________________________________________________ We understood _________________________________________________________________________ But we did not understand ________________________________________________________________ We were (repeat the first line) _____________________________________________________________
Mosaic, Marquette Building lobby
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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