Sea wall construction site, Galveston, Texas. Between 1909 and 1915. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/99472511/.
Students will be asked how the weather changed this landscape. They will examine the timeline associated with this event as well as coordinating events with it like the building of the Houston Ship Channel. They will examine how these separate parts of the picture function (cement mixer, scaffolds, forms), and they will discuss how technology has changed over time.
In 1900, a hurricane now named Isaac’s Storm hit Galveston, Texas. (Storms were not named until the 1950s.) At the time, Galveston was poised to become the economic epicenter of Texas. This hurricane changed the economic trajectory of the city.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/event/Galveston-hurricane-of-1900
- How does this photo show industry, invention, fear, and hope?
- Can you attach a specific item to any of the four nouns above?
- Can a photo show fear?
- Why is the wall sloped?
- What do you think is next to the sloped wall? What does it remind you of and why?
ELA Standard
4.9Diii. (D) recognize characteristics and structures of informational text, including: (iii) organizational patterns such as compare and contrast.
Social Studies standard
4.8A. Describe ways people have adapted to and modified their environment in Texas, past and present, such as timber clearing, agricultural production, wetlands drainage, energy production, and construction of dams.
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
- Start a primary source lesson with the questions above, and the first one will guide the discussion:
- How does this photo show industry, invention, fear, and hope?
- Why would a wall be a priority for a city with the most economic prosperity of the time period?
- What kinds of people would be doing work here around 1915 after a hurricane?
- Turn students loose to Google: Galveston, 1900, and Sea Wall. Ask students to build out a list of words and ideas associated with that city, that time period, and that object.
- Then, return to the photo and ask:
- What is missing from this photo?
- How is this photo related to the ideas you found in your research?
- How does this photo show both economic growth and economic failure? (Pair this question with their research.)
- Now ask students to locate the current population of Galveston. Have them keep a list from the last 8–10 years. Ask them to track whether it has gone up or down.
- Pairing this photograph with a novel setting that is similar helps the reader make a more visual connection.
- Use this photo to pair with an informational text. Any of the I Survived . . . series by Lauren Tarshis offer a strong historical fiction/informational text. These novels are fiction, but the research lends itself to informational, too. All novels below could be used in small-group book clubs, or they could be chosen for independent reading. While there is a Galveston 1900 book, some others that could be used for a strong compare/contrast include:
- I Survived the Great Molasses Flood (1919)
- I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake (1906)
- I Survived the Wellington Avalanche (1910)
Smith, Albert E., Vitagraph Company of America, Thomas A. Edison, Inc., and Paper Print Collection. “Panoramic view of Tremont Hotel, Galveston.” Library of Congress video, 1:10. 1900. https://www.loc.gov/item/00694277/.