Artists today draw on a range of sources--newspapers, magazines, photographs, film, audio, and of course the Internet--to create artworks that serve as visual "texts" of a specific place and moment in time. Using artworks as sources and understanding how to decode them in the service of "drilling down" into difficult topics can create powerful learning experiences for all students. So, how can teachers effectively use artworks in their classroom to teach their students both core historical thinking skills and content--especially about potentially difficult topics? They can do this by examining a diverse group of artworks from the Smithsonian on one topic--the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy--as a case. In this article, the author describes suggested activities in general terms. Activities can be grouped to form a unit or can be selected individually to be used for a particular topic. (Contains 16 notes.)