Louisiana Governors: Huey Long
Lesson Plan for Grades 9-12
Topics:
Huey Long, Populism, Progressivism, Symbolism Lesson
Overview:
This lesson will look at the painting of Huey Long by Louisiana artist George Rodrigue to develop critical observation skills and introduce students to the life and career of the infamous Louisiana governor. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to not only recount his ideas and actions, but also categorize them as either radical or reformist based on the politics and societal trends of the time period. To conclude, students will be asked to take a stand on this divide and create a paragraph explaining where they would have stood and why. Students also will create a portrait of a contemporary politician of their choice, incorporating at least three symbolic elements to represent his/her life and career. These portraits will be presented to the class in an oral report in which the figure is introduced, the symbols discussed, and the political stance of the politician is compared to that of Huey Long. George Rodrigue, The Kingfish, 1982, oil on canvas, 60 x 36 inches, Private Collection Objectives:
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Students will learn about the life of Huey Long and understand his policies •
Students will be able to associate progressive and populist ideas and actions to Huey Long •
Students will be able to defend one of two positions on Huey Long. •
Students will critically observe the painting of Huey Long by George Rodrigue. •
Students will discuss symbolism and identify symbols contained within the portrait. •
Students will compare past political viewpoints to contemporary viewpoints. •
Students will be able to relate their knowledge to the class through the creation of an artwork and oral presentation. Materials:
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Handout and exhibits included with lesson plan Visual aid of The Kingfish by George Rodrigue (digital image available at www.rodriguefoundation.org) Computer with Internet access and/or library resources Pen / Paper Art-­‐making materials Procedure:
1. Students are given the Huey Long life summary and asked to answer the reading comprehension questions. 2. The educator will give a lecture focusing on the question of whether Huey Long was a needed reformer, or a dangerous radical. Interesting talking points include: Radical Tendencies •
Long told his wife about all of his political ambitions before they ever unfolded. •
Long spend his early career as a salesman, where he learned to sell his ideas. •
Long used patronage jobs to garner loyalty. •
Long expected state employees to contribute from their salaries to his campaign fund. •
Long was shot by Dr. Weiss, the son of a judge who was a political enemy of Long. 2 •
At the time that Dr. Weiss shot Long, Long was attempting to discredit his father. •
When Long did not like the media coverage that the newspapers were giving him, he started his own newspaper •
When the LSU student newspaper was about to publish a story damaging to Long, he ordered state employees to seize all copies of the newspaper. Progressive, Populist, and Reformist Tendencies •
Long contributed to the expansion of Charity Hospital which provided medical care to the poor. •
Long built thousands of miles of roadways in Louisiana, transforming it into a state with the best highway system in America at the time. •
Long advocated a progressive tax system that would limit all earnings in a year to $1million dollars and all inheritances to just $5 million dollars. •
Long abolished the poll tax in Louisiana, an act that allowed poor whites and blacks to vote. •
Long consistently did not exclude African Americans from his social aid programs. •
Long was the first governor to give all school children in Louisiana free textbooks regardless of race. 3. Students will use the Internet and library to research different controversial topics in Huey’s long political career such as: o Huey Long provides free textbooks to students regardless of race. o Huey Long proposes an oil tax to fund projects such as new schools, roads and hospitals for the residents of Louisiana. o Huey Long develops the Share Our Wealth program in which the federal government would confiscate funds from the wealthy to provide a $5000 annual income to every family. o Huey Long attracted thousands of people when he talked. He identified himself as a country man who grew up in a log cabin. He often quoted from the bible as justification for what he was saying. 4. Students will categorize issues as reformist or radical using the Venn diagram classroom worksheet. 3 5. Students will use the Venn diagram to write a constructed response of their opinion of Huey Long. The response will include a thesis statement and at least three supporting reasons. 6. Students will study the image of George Rodrigue’s portrait, The Kingfish, and discuss the meaning of symbolism. They will identify the symbols identifying Huey Long in the artwork and consider why George Rodrigue chose to include those particular symbols. The class will discuss the types of symbolism present in many George Rodrigue paintings. 7. Students will identify a contemporary political figure of their choice to research. After identifying the political party, viewpoint and actions of the politician, students will create a portrait that includes at least three symbols of the person and/or career. 8. Students will present their artwork to the class and explain the identity of their politician, the symbolism of the images, and compare and contrast their contemporary politician to Huey Long. Assessment:
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Students will complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting Huey Long as a reformer or a radical. •
Students will write a paragraph arguing whether Huey Long was (1) a needed reformer who fought for the people or (2) a radical who was dangerous to the state. •
Students will create an artwork to present to the class. Standards and Benchmarks:
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(C-­‐1D-­‐H4) Compare and evaluate characteristics, style, and effectiveness of state and national leaders, past and present •
(C-­‐1D-­‐H3) Evaluate current and past political choices that individuals, groups, and nations have made, taking into account historical context •
(CE-­‐1VA-­‐M1) Demonstrate art methods and techniques in visual representations based on research of imagery •
(CE-­‐1VA-­‐M6) Identify the relationships between the arts and other disciplines through art production •
(CA-­‐4VA-­‐M2) Work individually/collectively to analyze/interpret symbols and images for meaning, purpose, and value in art and other core curricula 4