Mississippi History through the Arts: A Bicentennial Journey is a curriculum created by the Mississippi Arts Commission that guides students through Mississippi history while serving as a tool for arts education. It includes artworks that predate our statehood and pieces that will inspire generations long after Mississippi’s 200th birthday. The curriculum is appropriate for elementary, intermediate, and advanced grade levels and is aligned to Mississippi’s Social Studies, Arts, and Language Arts Standards.

Click the images below to download Elementary, Intermediate, or Advanced Lesson Plans for Mississippi History through the Arts: A Bicentennial Journey. 

Elementary Lesson Plans

Intermediate Lesson Plans

Advanced Lesson Plans

How to Use this Curriculum

This curriculum is based on select artworks from the Mississippi Museum of Art’s bicentennial exhibition, Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017; Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise and The Mississippi Story, an exhibit of artworks from the Museum’s permanent collection.

The curriculum is divided into six units, using landmark moments in history as a means of dividing the sections. The curriculum includes 20 lessons written at Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced levels, and aligns with the Mississippi Department of Education’s College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Visual Arts, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Dance, Music, and Theatre. In collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Education, these three levels target 4th grade, 9th grade, and 11th grade, respectively, as these are the grade levels where Mississippi History is explored. The curriculum has been designed so that small modifications can be made to support learning at all levels. In addition, groups and individuals outside traditional educational settings will find interest in the curriculum’s art and historical content.