Background:
Today’s students have an acute sense of fairness,
and they dislike inequality in their lives. As they learn
about our country’s history, they want to know why
people have been treated unfairly. Why was slavery allowed?
Why were Native Americans forced off their land? Why couldn’t
women vote? The answers to the first two questions are
rooted in economic forces of institutionalized greed.
The question about the hoarding of political power through
institutionalized gender discrimination is more difficult
to answer.
The United States Constitution originally identified
the electorate as white men. It took over 140 years
from the time that document was signed to the point
when American women gained equal suffrage rights with
men. During those first 140 years of our nation, women’s
role, with increasing exceptions, was restricted to
“the cult of domesticity.” Yet generations
of women persevered through wars, industrialization,
and political opposition to bring about a dramatic shift
of power in our government.
Since the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920,
American women have experienced a significant rise in
political voice and opportunity. Elementary school students
can examine the struggle to reach this turning point
in American history through primary documents such as
political cartoons, photographs, and newspaper accounts
from the time before the amendment passed. Secondary
sources, including timelines and biographical sketches,
indicate the breadth of the struggle as well as identify
some of the countless individual efforts that contributed
to the cause of fairness. Students can use these documents
to recognize the institutional discrimination practiced
against American women before 1920, and to understand
what some Americans did to bring about full citizenship
for women in the United States.
Materials:
Primary sources:
Objectives:
1. Students will interpret primary and secondary
sources in an effort to understand the struggle for
women’s suffrage in the U.S.
2. Students will demonstrate their understanding of
historical events by creating PowerPoint presentations
or writing individual essays.
Aim/Essential Question:
Why couldn’t women vote before 1920 and what changes
brought about women’s suffrage in the United States?
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