The Library of Congress
Title image from African-American Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection

EMBLEMATIC ILLUSTRATIONS:
Using Material Culture to Interpret African American Life

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Overview | Facilitator Framework | Exercise | Guide

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Material Culture Analysis Guide

Object or Document:

 

Observation

What do you see in the object? Describe everything you can about it-content, imagery, text, style, craftsmanship.

 

Analysis

Creator Who created the object? What can you infer from the object about the purpose for which it was created?

 

Audience Who was the object for? What can you infer from the object about its intended use?

 

African Americans What specific information about African Americans and their lives does the object convey?

 

Interpretation Based on the evidence of this object or document, what was it like to be African American in the years during and after the Civil War? How do you make sense of this document’s testimony alongside the other evidence you have?

 

Questions

What questions do you have? What other kinds of information would you like to see in order to understand the context more thoroughly? Whose voices would you like to hear?

 
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Last updated 09/26/2002