Revolutionary Leaders
When does working for social change become revolution? In this lesson, accompanied by a the film clip adapted from ‘The Storm that Swept Mexico’, students will study key figures from the Mexican Revolution, including Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, and discuss what motivated them to take action and the broad range of ways that individuals stand up for their principles and beliefs. Students will also consider how contemporary revolutionaries are harnessing the power of digital media to achieve their goals and will develop and implement their own strategies to work for social change.
Revolutionary Women
Women constitute half of the world’s population yet their contributions to major social, cultural and political events are often overlooked, misunderstood, misrepresented, or undocumented. In this lesson accompanied by a film clip adapted from ‘The Storm that Swept Mexico’, students will discover why women’s participation was crucial to the Mexican Revolution, and how women’s ability to contribute to society changed during the revolutionary period. Through the multimedia extensions, students will explore how gender shapes our understanding of history and continues to impact expectations and opportunities for individuals in the present.
Revolutionary Art
Following the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican government supported the development of a new school of art to break with the dominance of the European tradition. This new movement sought to create a “real” Mexican art that would strengthen and reaffirm Mexican identity and the values of the Revolution. The Mexican Muralist movement was born as a means to provide a visual narrative of the post-Revolutionary vision of Mexican history and was driven by the ideal that art should be “by the public, for the public.” In this lesson accompanied by a film clip from the documentary ‘The Storm that Swept Mexico’, students will examine the use of art as historical narrative and social commentary, and create a mural inspired by the Mexican Muralist movement.
