“I would like to think that objects have memories, and that we have memories about certain objects. A lot of what I do is eliciting memory from an object.”--Fred Wilson
Brooklyn is filled with monuments, memorials, statues, and plaques we often walk right by without noticing. In the following lesson, students will identify, research, and document Brooklyn’s local memorials.
Before you being the lessons, have students look at the following clips and reflect on the folowing questions:
What do Brooklyn’s local memorials and markers commemorate? As historical evidence, what do they tell us?
Memorial Clip #1 Memorial Clip #2 Materials
Warmup or AIM: What is the purpose of a memorial sculpture?
Step 1: In class, discuss famous NYC memorials/statues (ex. the Statue of Liberty, the African Burial Ground National Monument, Strawberry Fields). Pick one to analyze using the following questions:
- Who is the intended audience for the memorial?
- What is the memorial specifically commemorating?
- What story or message do you think the artist was trying to convey?
- What isn’t being said?
- What is the significance of the memorial’s design and features?
- Why was it erected?
- What does it mean to the community now versus when it was originally erected?
Step 2: Discuss that memorials are important for communities to commemorate and teach about events important or meaningful to them and that features and elements of a memorial are carefully selected to meet the goals of the community.
Part 1: Research a Memorial
Step 1: Have students individually or in groups, find a Brooklyn statue or monument that appeals to them. Students should make sketches or take photographs of the monument from several angles. Using those images students will note the details (both practical and aesthetic) and research what they mean.
- Then students will research and answer:
- What does this memorial commemorate? What is its goal or purpose?
- What features of the memorial drew you to it? How does it make you feel?
- What made it appealing to you? Is there anything unappealing?
- Is the location symbolic? Are the materials used symbolic?
- Why was the memorial erected?
- Who erected it (and what was their role in the Brooklyn community)?
- Who is it honoring (if applicable)?
Step 2: When it was erected and how many years after the event it is commemorating it was created (and why that might be significant)?
Step 3: Have them share out, or create a short presentation, about thier findings.
Part 2: Investigate Public Opinion
Students should use their research and the images you sketched or photographed of the memorial and create a piece of investigative journalism about the memorial. They can interview fellow students and community members about the memorial using their own questions and the following,
- Do they think anything should happen to this monument?
- How do they think history should be commemorated?
Conclusion: Thoughts on Memorials
As a class, make a chart of what the memorials in Brooklyn are commemorating and why that might be important. Have students discuss:
- Who in the community decides to build memorials?
- Why might the Brooklyn community decide to build these memorials and why do students think they have withstood the test of time?
Extensions
Using the steps above, please feel free to have students conduct one of the following extension activities.
Extension 1: Have students redesign their monument or add or subtract from the existing one.
and/or
Extension 2: Using information from one of the CBH Curriculum, or a topic of their choice, students can choose a contemporary or historical event occurring in Brooklyn and design a memorial to commemorate it.