The Suffrage Movement: Would You Have Joined?

By Deborah Stapleton

4^th-5^th grade (gifted)

AHTC Summer Institute 2008

Abstract:

Students will examine primary source documents from the years 1919-1920 examining various points of view regarding the suffrage movement. This lesson will result in a debate over the question, “If you were alive in 1920 would you have supported the women’s movement for the right to vote?”

Essential Questions:

• How were women perceived in the early 1900’s versus today?
• Who or what made the 19^th amendment happen?
• Is an equal rights amendment necessary in the 21^st century? How is the past similar to the present? How is it different?
• How is the women’s right to vote a civil rights issue?

Duration: 3 class periods

Background: Many women who led and/or supported the women’s right to vote movement were members of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Both Blacks and women termed their desired freedoms “emancipation.” Frederick Douglass, a former slave and abolitionist leader, stood with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader in the women’s rights movement, at the Seneca Falls Convention and argued for women's right to vote. One hundred people signed the "Declaration of Rights and Sentiments." The Declaration wasn't just about women getting the right to vote though. In it and throughout her life, Stanton argued for women's rights to higher education, to professional life, to the ownership of property, and to obtain a divorce. In 1920, nearly 50 years after Susan B. Anthony was arrested for trying to vote in a federal election, the 19th amendment was ratified by a close margin of the states. In fact, the last state to ratify the amendment was the southern state Tennessee whose final decision required a tie breaking vote.

Assessment:

Students will participate in document analysis and discussion. Then they will engage in or observe a student debate on whether or not they would support ratification of the 19^th amendment. Students will be able to support their particular argument with the given resource ocuments. Finally, each student will write one paragraph stating their position on the issue with at least one supporting document.

Setting the purpose:

This lesson is a segment of a larger unit on Opportunity and Equality during which students study the Bill of Rights and the legal histories of American Indians, African Americans, immigrants and women. Students will come to understand that many groups in American history have been denied certain rights.

Lesson Plan:

Day 1 – Pro-Suffrage

Day 2 – Anti-Suffrage

Day 3 – Debate

Resources

Document analysis sheet

Laptop with Internet connection; projection screen