Browse

Gender

A large canoe with wooden rows and red detailing. The canoe sits amidst a museum with items from the collection surrounding it.

Source

Te Paranihi, or Maori War Canoe

Te Paranihi is a 17-meter (55 feet) war canoe, or waka taua, from the Maori culture indigenous to New Zealand.

A terracotta sculpture of a male figure with defined facial features, a hairstyle with multiple buns and caps over the ears, and numerous necklaces and other jewelry.

Source

Nok Terracotta Sculptures

Nok terracotta sculptures are the earliest-known sculptures from sub-Saharan Africa, created by the Nok culture of which little is known except their ironworking and terracotta sculptures that flourished circa 1500 BCE to 1 BCE.

Stepped platforms made from tan-colored adobe bricks located on the plaza at Huaca Pucllana

Source

Huaca Pucllana, Ancient Pyramid in Peru

Huaca Pucllana is a pyramid site built around 500 AD by the Lima culture of Peru. The pyramid was built with seven platforms made from adobe bricks and is around 82 feet (25 meters) high, and has a plaza surrounding it. The pyramid was a site of ceremonial and religious power.

The well-known portrait vessel called Huaco Retrato Mochica, which depicts a man's head wearing a turban with red detailing and a two headed bird on either side.

Source

Moche Portrait Vessels

Moche portrait vessels are ceramic vessels that often featured only heads, but some also have full human bodies as well, and most are representations of adult men.

A clay figure with two heads and two female torsos, along with one set of arms and legs. The heads have cap-like hair and slightly detailed faces.

Source

Ceramic Female Figure from Ecuador

This clay figure dates from the third millennium BCE and is evidence of the earliest known ceramic traditions of any ancient peoples in the Americas. This figure, and many others like it, are from the Valdivia culture of Ecuador.

Photo shows women working at sewing machines on both sides of 2 long tables.

Teaching

Short Teaching Module: Portraying Women Workers: Beyond Norma Rae

Starting at the turn of the twentieth century, U.S. and insular government offices and textile and garment businesses incorporated women of the New South and Puerto Rico into manufacturing in distinct yet interrelated ways.

Film still shows two women in a factory. One (portrayed by Sally Field) has her arm around the other.

Source

Norma Rae: Depicting Women's Labor History through Film

In this still shot from the movie Norma Rae, two pretty and petite white actors represent southern mill hands. Norma, portrayed by the famous actress Sally Field, stands with her mother (Barbara Baxley).

Source

Puerto Rican Needleworkers in a Factory, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1942

This government photograph provides an important contrast to the popular culture images of poor southern whites. During the 1940s and 1950s, U.S. government agencies hired photographers to travel the main island of Puerto Rico to capture the conditions of working people.

A detail of the Love Letter, showing two women. One holds a letter while the other stands next to her.

Source

The Love Letter by Jan Vermeer

Painted in the last phase of his career, Dutch artist Jan Vermeer’s The Love Letter is a work of oil on canvas that depict

A woodblock print from a scene in the Tale of Genji depicting a women looking down at a man from a balcony. Black ink on cream background.

Source

Yamamoto Shunshō’s The Tale of Genji

Largely considered the first novel, The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting du