Developing Assignments in the Etta Hulme Political Cartoon Archive

The first step for a successful lesson plan based on the Hulme Cartoons is to curate a set of cartoons for the students to work with. See the "Searching the Collection" tab for more information on how to do this. 

In Person vs. Virtual

If you are able to bring a class in to Special Collections, please reach out to Evan Spencer (evan.spencer@uta.edu) as early as possible with your ideas, and preferably a list of cartoons you would like to work with.

If you are unable to bring a class to Special Collections, you can also download and/or print any cartoons from the Hulme Archive, totally free of charge!

Example Cartoon Set

For Dr. Alma Garza's Social Research class in Fall 2022, we curated a set of cartoons specifically related to Immigration. 

1. To engage with primary sources in Special Collections and learn valuable critical thinking skills through experiential learning
2. To engage in sociological analysis methods by identifying specific and broad themes within individual cartoons and across multiple cartoons and decades
3. To connect class discussions with historical primary sources

For this activity, we chose to set up the cartoons on four tables, split up into decades. 

Step One: 

• Students walk around the four tables, getting an idea of the overall themes and messages present
• After 10 minutes, students choose one cartoon to conduct their analysis activity

Step Two: 

• Working with their group, students select a cartoon to analyze further. 
• Students were instructed to develop a working hypothesis and research question based on the cartoon of their choosing. 
• Students were provided with specific questions for their analysis of the cartoon:
  • What is depicted on the cartoon?
  • What societal issues does the cartoon appear to address?
  • What questions does it raise?

After their visit to Special Collections, students had to complete a research assignment to help place the cartoon in a larger context. Students were instructed to:

• Gather data that sheds light on the events that led up to how the characters in the cartoon are depicted. What significant social events happened prior to the cartoon’s publication? Does the cartoon appear to be capturing public opinion, media narratives, government actions or something else?
• Design and deliver a 12-15 minute presentation in which you present a sociological understanding of the cartoon. In other words, what events led the cartoon artist to feature the social phenomena in a particular way? As part of your presentation, a) Develop an introduction in which you analyze your cartoon and describe the historical context. b) State your working hypothesis and research question. c) Explain the method you used as well as your strategy for gathering and analyzing data. c) Summarize your findings. d) Discuss challenges that surfaced.