Witness in a Box: Examples of Assemblage Boxes by Professional Artists

Here are some examples of Joseph Cornell and Betye Saar's work.  You can use these as models or inspirations for your own Witness in a Box project.

"Parrot for Juan Gris" by Joseph Cornell

"Cassiopeia 1" by Joseph Cornell

"We Was Mostly About Survival" by Betye Saar

"The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" by Betye Saar

Rules for your Witness in a Box project.

Must use: 

• a box provided by the teacher.
• images and shapes
• something that hangs or moves
• creativity

May not use:

• words.
• images of the person.
• photographs of the actual event.

May use and material in the classroom or at home.

This is a 75% project.*  Be creative. Take your time. Make your product look good.

*Final grade will include an artist statement and the essay.

BGD: Witness in a Box

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. 

How is where we come from important to who we are?

Much of Brown Girl Dreaming deals with the theme of how where we come from affects who we become.  This includes time as well as place.  The time period a child was born into, what was going on in history during your early life, affects the adult she grows up to become.

For this project you will research a person or event from the time period covered in Brown Girl Dreaming, the Civil Rights Era in American history.  You will then create a "Cornell Box" that illustrates your research as a visual metaphor.  You will also write up a short $1.50 account of your research.  Both your research and your Cornell Box will be presented to the class as a speech.   You will then write a first person poem based on your box which you might choose to  present at the class poetry slam.

You must select a topic/person from the list below.  As part of your research, you will use the audio/visual link attached to your topic, photographs of the event/person you can find online and one article that you locate on your own.

Here are the people/events you can choose from.  Be sure to let the teacher know what your selection is.  No more than two people may do the same topic.

1. Dorothy Mulkey (Fair housing advocate)
2. Shirley Chishom (First woman to run for president)
3. Ruby Bridges
4. The 16th Street Bombing
5. The Children's Crusade
6. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
7. Mississippi Burning
8. The Loving Decision (Mixed Race Marriage)
9. Greensboro Lunch Counter
10. Freedom Riders
11. James Brown's concert the day after M.L. King was killed
12. Muhammad Ali's decision to refuse the draft
13. Black Like Me
14. Petula Clark/Harry Belafonte (television controversy)
15. Dance Theatre of Harlem
16. Roots 
17. John F. Kennedy
18. Malcolm X 
19. Rosa Parks
20. United States Colored Troops 54th Regiment
21. Lena Horn
22. Black Panthers
23. James Baldwin (Author, Civil Rights Activist)

Each person is linked to an audio/visual program about them.  You are required to use this program as part of your research.  Listen to it once, then listen again while taking notes about it. 

Find a second article about that person or event and a few photographs to help you understand the importance of your selection.  You may print out a few photographs (1 to 3) to use as part of your Cornell Box.  However, you may not use a picture of the actual person or event.  Your Cornell Box must be a metaphor, not an exact representation.

You will use your research to create a box about your selection in class later this week.

National History Day Websites

Here are links to the National History Day websites made by students in  Mr. Chester's class at San Jose Middle School for 2019.  Scroll down to see them all.

The theme was Tragedy and Triumph in History.

Period 1/2

• Betsabe
• Fernando
• Isiaih
• Casey and Liam

Period 3/4

• Surabhi and Allie
• Amari

Period 5

• Amelia
• Alex
• Jose and Anthony
• Audrey and Daniela
• Will
• Ella

Students from other classes.

Individual

B-29 Bombers: Gabe http://39833147.nhd.weebly.com/triumph--and-tragedy.html

Pearl Harbor: Kian http://69934404.nhd.weebly.com/

The Jungle: Corin http://43559273.nhd.weebly.com/

Jutland: Zane http://46868192.nhd.weebly.com/

Industrial Workers: Megan http://11317378.nhd.weebly.com

Loving v. Virginia:  Noemie de Buren http://67710616.nhd.weebly.com/

First Crusade: Neil http://17631500.nhd.weebly.com/

McCarthyism McCabe: https://triumphandtradgedy-mccarthyism.weebly.com/

Loving v. Virginia: Olivia N. http://77322781.nhd.weebly.com/

Little Rock Nine: Milani A. http://67709519.nhd.weebly.com/

Gettysburg: Zachary http://history-day-battle-of-gettysburg.weebly.com/credits-and-sources.html

Atomic Bomb: Sam O. http://samonagbesan.weebly.com/

L.A. Riots: Natalia http://16809170.nhd.weebly.com/

Black Death: Oliviona (needs more quotes) http://58225713.nhd.weebly.com/

Atomic Bomb: Quinn http://qk-thecreationoftheatomicbomb.weebly.com/

Punic Wars: Eric T.  http://73254399.nhd.weebly.com/the-fall-of-carthage.html

Black Death:  Eleanor H: http://31609849.nhd.weebly.com/life-improved.html

Iwo Jima: Kristian L. http://41834893.nhd.weebly.com/quotes.html

Group Websites

Spanish Influenza: Daisy Angullo, Jazmin Cates-Jackson, and Ruby Colli http://65679271.nhd.weebly.com/

Harvey Milk Assassination: Bryan Maartinez Cuxim and Karlos Gama http://92681499.nhd.weebly.com/

The Battle of Britain: Beckham Reyes and Mukund Sundar http://55916755.nhd.weebly.com/

Treblinka: Casey and Liam  https://82746707.nhd.weebly.com/

Salem Witch Trials: Surabhi and Allie  http://26166709.nhd.weebly.com/

Atomic Bomb: Abby and Casey http://96416961.nhd.weebly.com/

Salem Witch Trials: Thanmila and Sahasra http://50830678.nhd.weebly.com/

Salem Witch Trials :Nithya and Johana http://73685616.nhd.weebly.com/

Atomic Bomb:  Brett B & Kai P  http://89365438.nhd.weebly.com

Bombing of Hiroshima: Taylor W and Grace B  http://57165302.nhd.weebly.com/the-aftermath.html

Women’s Rights Movement of 1960s, Ella and Bridget: http://12394960.nhd.weebly.com/triumph-and-tragedy.html

Martin Luther King of the Metaphor

This project is due on Friday, Feburary 8.  This project is for English classes only.

Students are to take one of the metaphors in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and turn it into a visual metaphor.  We began this assignment in class today.

Artwork should follow these rules:

1. cover the entire paper with other paper.
2. use the book page.
3. include the metaphor in writing.

Here are two samples from other classes.

Here is the video of the speech we watched in class today, just in case you'd like to watch it again.