Gold Rush Image Center
Directions
Researchers often study images as a way to better understand a place or time in history.
1. Pick one image to examine closely.
2. Study the image as a whole. What do you notice first?
3. Look at the foreground and background. Study the setting.
4. Think: Is this image trying to convey a mood or message?
5. Choose one way to respond in your notebook:
6. If you have extra time: Compare and Contrast 2 images at your center.
1. Pick one image to examine closely.
2. Study the image as a whole. What do you notice first?
3. Look at the foreground and background. Study the setting.
4. Think: Is this image trying to convey a mood or message?
5. Choose one way to respond in your notebook:
- I see…. This makes me think…. I wonder….
- I think the artist created this painting to show…
- I think the photographer took this photo to show…
- This image tells me that….
6. If you have extra time: Compare and Contrast 2 images at your center.
Advertisement: Clipper Ship to California, 1850s
Photograph: Mining for Gold
Photograph: African American miner in California
A black miner in gold rush California. Historians estimate that between 600 to 1000 enslaved African Americans were forcibly transported to California before the Civil War. Whether or not this particular miner was enslaved is unknown.