A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

For many learners, knowledge of Black history is often restricted to the periods of American enslavement, the US Civil War, and the US Civil Rights Movement. Consequently, learners are rarely given opportunities to wrestle with accounts of Black history in other times and places, limiting their knowledge of Black history in its fullness. Despite this all-too-common curricular treatment, countless visuals related to the Black diaspora exist and offer untapped possibilities to enhance teaching and learning. Using exemplary visuals chronicling the Black experience, this article presents critical visual analysis strategies (i.e., Visual Thinking Strategies, See-Think-Wonder, Personal Responses Tour, and open-source materials from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress) designed to strengthen learners’ visual and historical literacies. The examples and approaches presented will also help equip and empower teachers to teach Black history to their students, providing a richer and more complete historical narrative.