In writing The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead relied on memoirs, archival interviews, and photo archives from the Dozier School. He never visited the school. This Gallery Walk activity uses an “I think, I see, I wonder” protocol to introduce students to the Dozier School, and to help them think critically about research as related to historical fiction.

Prior to the gallery walk, introduce students to the Dozier School. Information about the Dozier School can be found at the Digital Commons at the University of South Florida, found here.

“I think, I see, I wonder” is a simple activity to engage students in critical thinking, observation, and curiosity about visual sources. (Note that the photos for this activity can be shared in a gallery walk, at tables or digitally. The image links can be found below.)

• Instruct students to complete the “I think, I see, I wonder” table as they view the images. Debrief the gallery walk with students drawing ideas from their notes.
• After students complete the gallery walk, have them complete the follow-up writing activity. Here, students will write, storyboard, or outline a short story about one of the images to begin to think about writing historical fiction. 
• Ask students to share their short stories or outlines in a pair-share format.

Discuss with the students their short stories using the following quote from an interview with Colson Whitehead: “You can see the dormitories and the administration buildings. And it all looks very nice. It’s a very beautiful campus. And then once you hear about it, you know, your idea about it definitely changes.”

Discussion:

• What are the strengths of using photographs as a source? How do you think these photographs helped Colson Whitehead to write The Nickel Boys? How did the photographs inspire you?
• What are the limitations of relying on photographs as a source for interpreting history, and for writing historical fiction? What made the writing task challenging for you?

There are six curated images that can be used in the gallery walk. Additional images can be found at Florida Memory: State Library and Archives of Florida, located here. Use the search terms “Dozier” and “School.”