Since the first group of Africans was brought to the New World, African-Americans have kept cultural traditions of the African continent alive through an awareness of their past. This is revealed in African-American crafts, folktales and storytelling, dance and music, and religious practices. Ranging over the decades, currents of African awareness have interacted and influenced one another. Minds have explored ancient black history and set down on canvas, stone, wood, and fabrics interpretations of an African heritage. Artworks range from depictions of ancient, mystical African masks to representations of modern urban life.

In the exhibit Black Art-Ancestral Legacy: The African Impusle in African-American Art, students will view examples of African-American art that trace the colorful history of Africa and the powerful journey of African-Americans in United States history. In the learning game,Adinkra, students will answer questions from the Black Art exhibit to discover symbols used in making Adinkra, a symbolic African cloth and art form.

Adinkra - type of hand-made cloth created by the Ashanti people of Ghana, Africa, which uses symbols to express meanings

ideograph - symbol representing an idea or concept

pictograph - symbol representing a plant, animal, or person

culture - way of life of a group of people

mystical - having a spiritual meaning not explained by reason or logic

folktales - old story, usually about a certain region, that is handed from one generation to the next

heritage - something, such as property or a right or privilege, belonging to one by inheritance or tradition

textile - woven or knit material

• Have students draw adinkra symbols from the "Adinkra Game" onto styrofoam blocks or potato halves. Cut around the designs to make adinkra stamps. Paint the stamps with black tempera paint, then print onto muslin or butcher paper. When dry, connect students' designs together to make a class adinkra. Hang completed adinkra cloth in the hall or classroom along with explanations of their symbols.
• Ask students work in small groups to create ideographs or pictographs to represent the following:
  
  

  a favorite pet	government
  good vs. bad	the ocean
  being kind to others	patience
  a best friend	trees
  difficulties in life	education

  
  
  

  Have students in each group draw and label their symbols on colored posterboard, using black markers. Then have each group share their symbols with the class. Display posters.




• Have students research the African country of Ghana and the Asante tribe.
• Ask students to create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting adinkra cloth to urban gang graffiti on city walls.

Meeting Curriculum Standards with "The Adinkra Ideograph Game"
This learning activity fits within the following National Voluntary Curriculum Standards:

Social Studies:
Culture
Time, Continuity & Change
People, Places & Environment
Individuals, Groups & Institutions
Global Connections

English Language Arts
Reading for Information
Synthesizing Data
Use of Technology and Informational Resources

Art
Develop and present basic analyses of works of art
Have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods
Be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines

This activity also meets the following standards from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for 10th grade and can be adapted to grade levels 5-12.

Social Studies (World History Studies)
World History 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 21, 25, 26
Culture 20, 21, 22

World Geography
1, 2, 5, 8,12

Fine Arts
Perception
Historical/Cultural Heritage
Response/Evaluation

English Language Arts & Reading (Level 1)
6, 7, 8, 9,10

Additional Related Websites:

Artnoir Showcase - Index of African American art and artists
http://www.artnoir.com

Alliance of African American Artists
http://www.artists4a.com

Adinkra : Social Fabric
http://www.du.edu/duma/africloth/adinkra.html
(includes many useful links & shows how adinkra cloth is made)

Adinkra Symbols
http://users.erols.com/kemet/adinkra.htm

Akan Cultural Symbols
http://www.marshall.edu/akanart/

Adinkraintro
http://www.adire.clara.net/adinkraintroduction.htm
Gallery of Adinkra and other African fabrics