Virginia SOL USII.5.e

Social Studies6th GradeIndustrialization and Growth

The Standard

examining the art, literature, and music of the 1920s and 1930s, including, but not limited to the Roaring Twenties and the Harlem Renaissance

Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students study paintings, poems, books, and music from the 1920s and 1930s. They explain how these works reflect changing culture, Black identity, racial pride, prosperity, and hardship.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can connect figures such as Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Georgia O’Keeffe to their art forms. They use details from a work to explain its historical setting and message.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat the Harlem Renaissance as a general economic boom rather than a Black cultural movement. They may assume the prosperity of the 1920s reached everyone or place all works from both decades in the same setting.
How to Assess It: Give students a painting, poem excerpt, or short recording from the period. Ask them to name one historical theme and cite two details that support their answer.

Lesson moves

Set up six source stations with printed paintings, poem excerpts, and audio clips; students label creator, medium, mood, and historical clue.
Ask, “How did Harlem Renaissance artists present Black life and identity?” Students answer with evidence from two works.
Play a matching game linking Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, and Georgia O’Keeffe to works, art forms, and themes.
Have students pair a period work with a current song, poem, or mural that addresses identity, change, or hardship.

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