| Women's History
When the Constitution was written in 1787, it allowed each state to make
a decision as to who could vote in elections. Most states did not at first
give the right to vote to women or African Americans.
The Constitution gave men basic rights but did not mention women. In
fact, the Constitution gave men complete control over all their personal
property, which included their wives and children.
In 1868, a few years after the end of the Civil War, Congress passed
the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which gave all U.S. citizens "equal
protection of the laws" and was aimed at partially preventing the southern
states from trying to block former slaves from voting. But voters were
defined as males. Then in 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed that guaranteed
the right to vote to all voters, regardless of race or color--but it did
not mention women.
From the very beginning of America's history, women advocated for voting
rights. Abigail Adams, the wife of President John Adams, was a proponent
of women's rights. On July 19th and 20th of 1848, a group of women met
in Seneca Falls, New York. They issued a declaration of the rights of
women that included a demand for the vote. The leading supporters of the
early movement were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The women's
movement also supported an end to slavery and the prohibition of alcohol.
In 1869, a new women's group called the National Woman Suffrage Association
was formed. Its leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Some women's leaders wanted an amendment to the Constitution granting
women the vote. Others believed in working at the state level to achieve
their goal. By the early 1900s, women's groups had won the right to vote
in 12 states. But there was still no national right to vote. As women
began to win the right to vote at the state level, Congress passed a resolution
that eventually became the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and was
ratified in 1920. This amendment gave women the right to vote.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about women's political
history.
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
about women's political history.
Hull
House Museum
Visit Hull House in Chicago. It was one of the first social settlements
in the United States. It was founded by Jane
Addams and was based on the university settlements begun in England
by Samuel Barnett. Hull House served as a community center for the neighborhood
poor and also as a center for social reform activities. Jane
Addams received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her work for women's
rights and social reform.
Children's
Encyclopedia of Women
Virtually visit this elementary school in New York. Third and fourth graders
have created this website about famous women in history and their contributions.
Susan B.
Anthony House
Virtually visit the home where Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting
in 1872.
National Museum of Women's
History
Visit this online museum and learn about the first American women's rights
convention, held in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York.
National Women's
Hall of Fame
Travel to the National Women's Hall of Fame near Syracuse, New York. It
has an appropriate web address : www.greatwomen.org.
Library
of Congress : American Memory: Votes for Women Suffrage Pictures 1850-1920
Virtually visit the Library of Congress and see its exhibit of photographs
from the early women's suffrage movement.
Florence
Nightingale Museum
Visit the Florence Nightingale Museum in England. Florence
Nightingale was an English nurse and is considered to be the founder
of modern nursing. She became famous for her medical work in the Crimean
War. She was called the Lady with the Lamp because she believed that
a nurse's care was never ceasing--night or day.
Mount Holyoke College
Visit Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the
first women-only college in the United States and was founded by Mary Lyon in 1837. Women could study chemistry, geography, and math which were usually
male subject areas.
People To See
Amelia
Jenks Bloomer
Meet Amelia Jenks Bloomer and find out about her role in dress reform
movement for women.
Sojourner
Truth
Meet Sojourner Truth. Her original name was Isabella, and she was a freed
slave. She adopted the name Sojourner Truth and traveled throughout the
north preaching emancipation and women's rights. Read the text of her
famous "Ain't
I A Woman" speech.
4000
Years of Women in Science
Meet Elizabeth Blackwell, who received the first medical degree granted
to a women in the United States. Learn about Emily Noether. "She was a
mathematician in the first half of the 20th century. She developed the
basis for group theory. Group theory is the mathematics behind the representation
of all modern physics. She was not permitted to hold a paid position,
so she taught for no pay so that she could use the university facilities
for her work. At her death Einstein volunteered to write her obituary."
Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
Get to know Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was a leader of the woman-suffrage
movement in the last part of the 19th century. She worked for legal,
political, and industrial equality of women. Along with Susan B. Anthony,
she edited the feminist newspaper, The Revolution.
Women
of NASA
Get to know women who work for NASA. This website was developed to encourage
more young women to pursue careers in math, science, and technology. It
has a "Teaching Tips" section with ideas for integrating the information
into classroom curriculum.
Susan
B. Anthony
Meet Susan Brownell Anthony. Some of the issues that she worked for were equal pay for women teachers, for coeducation,
and for college training for girls in the 1800s. Read her speech on women's right to vote.
Jeannette
Rankin
Meet Jeannette Rankin. She was the first woman elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives.
Lucy
Hobbs Taylor
Shoot the breeze with Lucy Hobbs Taylor. She was the first
female dentist. She first taught school for ten years in the 1850s.
She was very interested in medicine but could not find a medical school
that would admit her. She was encouraged to study dentistry because that
was considered to be less demanding. She did so--on her own--and soon
practiced dentistry without a license. She eventually was accepted to
Ohio College of Dentistry, and she graduated in 1866 with the degree Doctor
of Dental Surgery.
Women
in History : Historical Figures
Spend time with dozens of significant women such as Mary
Fields. This site has great historical photographs.
Venus
Nomenclature
Meet the women (and men) whom they've named craters after on Venus. The
list includes a crater named Cather (Willa), a crater named Addams (Jane),
a crater named Alcott (Louisa May), a crater named Potter (Beatrix), a
crater named Truth (Sojourner), and many more.
Female
Nobel Prize Laureates
Spend time with Nobel Prize winners. These awards are given annually for
outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine,
peace, literature, and economics. Women have won Nobel Prizes in all categories
except for economics.
Women
in Technology
Meet 30 modern women who are involved in the world of technology.
Maria
Montessori
Get to know Maria Montessori. She became the first female physician in
Italy in 1894. She also worked with children and developed theories about
how they learn and methods to teach them. She basically felt that if children
were provided with a resource-rich environment and given advice and encouragement,
they would spontaneously educate themselves. Today, there are Montessori
schools around the world that use her educational methods.
Auto
Tours for Women's Suffrage: An Oral Memoir
Meet Laura Ellsworth Seiler. As a young woman, she started a suffrage
club while a student at Cornell. Read an interview conducted with her
in 1973 or listen to the audio of that interview.
Ellen
Swallow Richards
Meet Ellen Swallow Richards. She was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT). She got a BS from Vassar in 1870 and another
BS in chemistry from MIT in 1873. She also got a MS in chemistry from
Vassar. She continued to study chemistry at MIT but was not awarded the
Ph.D. degree because her professors did not want the first Ph.D. degree
in chemistry from MIT to be awarded to a woman. She is also considered
to be the founder of the field of home economics. She toured the country giving talks on
efficient, clean, and effective management of the home.
Ernestine
Rose: A Key Leader In The Women's Rights Struggle
Get to know spunky Ernestine
Rose. She was born in Poland in 1810. Her mother died when she was
16, and Ms. Rose inherited some property. Shortly after, her father made
arrangements for her to marry a man who was much older than she was. She
did not want to be married to this man, and she successfully petitioned
the Polish courts to allow her to remain single and to retain ownership
of her inheritance. During her life, she advocated for women's rights
in Europe and the United States. In 1848, she was instrumental in the
passing of a bill in New York that allowed married women to own property.
Lucretia
Mott
Meet Lucretia Mott. She was one of the leaders of the antislavery and
women's rights movements in America. With Elizabeth Cady Stanton she organized
the first women's rights convention in the United States at Seneca Falls,
New York in 1848.
Lucy
Stone
Spend time with Lucy
Stone. She was a leader in the women's rights movement. In 1870, she founded the Woman's Journal,
which was for nearly 50 years the official journal of the American Woman
Suffrage Association and, after 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage
Association. She is well known for being one of the first women to keep her own last name
after her marriage.
Sarah
and Angelina Grimké
Meet Sarah and Angelina Grimké. They were sisters from South Carolina,
members of the Quaker faith, and outspoken abolitionists.
Victoria
C. Woodhull
Make the acquaintance of Victoria
Clafin Woodhull. She was the first woman to run for president of the
United States. She and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, were eccentric journalists
and spiritualists. They published a newspaper called Woodhull and Claflin's
Weekly. It advocated for women's rights and other social issues. In 1872, Victoria became the
first woman candidate for president, running on the People's party ticket
with Frederick Douglass as her running mate.
Emma
Hart Willard
Meet Emma
Hart Willard. She was a pioneer in women's education. In 1814, she
opened a school in
her own home so that girls could study "male" subjects such as philosophy
and math that were not available to girls elsewhere. Throughout her life,
she continued to lobby with local and state legislatures to fund secondary
education for girls.
Things To Do
Woman
Suffrage and The 19th Amendment
Learn about the amendment that gave women the right to vote.
United
Nations : Women
From the United Nations, find information about the status of worldwide
women today. According to this site:
- Women have not achieved equality with men in any country.
- Of the world's 1.3 billion poor people, it is estimated that nearly
70 per cent are women.
- Between 75 and 80 per cent of the world's 27 million refugees are
women and children.
- Women's life expectancy, educational attainment, and income are highest
in Sweden, Canada, Norway, USA and Finland.
- The first country to grant women the right to vote was New Zealand
in 1893.
- In early 1995, Sweden formed the world's first cabinet to have equal
numbers of men and women.
- Of the world's nearly one billion illiterate adults, two-thirds are
women.
A Celebration
of Women Writers
Select a country from the menu to find information links to further resources
about women writers from that country. Find out about Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley, the original author of Frankenstein.
Stand
Up For Your Rights: Women and the Vote
Learn how Alice Paul, a suffragist in 1917, was sentenced to prison for
seven months for picketing in front of the White House on behalf of women's
right to vote.
A History
of the American Suffragist Movement
Learn about Anne
Hutchinson and Mary Dyer and their efforts for women's
rights in early American history.
Votes
for Women : Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association
Collection
From the Library of Congress, find a timeline of people and events that
have been instrumental in the women's rights movement.
Women's
Suffrage
Find out about how New Zealand, in 1893, became the first country to grant
women the right to vote in national elections.
Women
in BC History
Learn about Canadian women who energetically advocated for the rights
of women during the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the
twentieth century.
Contributions
of 20th Century Women to Physics
Learn about more than 80 twentieth century women who have made original
and important contributions to physics.
Women in
World History
Learn about great women rulers, female heroes, and more.
Distinguished
Women of Past and Present
Find biographies of women who contributed to our culture in many different
ways. There are writers, educators, scientists, heads of state, politicians,
civil rights crusaders, artists, entertainers, and others.
Women
In Science & Engineering
Learn about remarkable women. This site has a great Teacher's Notes section
where students can read about scientific principles and replicate experiments.
Students can also use the Ask An Expert portion of this site to send in
their questions about science and science careers.
National
Women's History Project : Test Your Women's History I.Q.
Take this online quiz about women's history. It's part of the National
Women's History Project.
Women's
History Month Quiz
Find out how much you know about women's history.
Not
for Ourselves Alone : The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.
Anthony
Learn about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, track key events
in the suffrage movement, delve into historic documents and essays, and
take a look at where women are today.
The
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was a labor union formed by Philadelphia tailors
in 1869. By 1883, this union had grown into a national labor organization
that was one of the first to include women and African-American workers.
Teacher Resources
Lesson
Plans/Webquests
Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan
Bibliography
- Ash, Maureen. The Story of the Women's Movement. Chicago : Children's
Press, 1989.
- Blumberg, Rhoda. Bloomers! New York : Bradbury Press ; Toronto : Maxwell
Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, c1993.
- Helmer, Diana Star. Women Suffragists. New York, NY : Facts on File,
c1998.
- Macdonald, Fiona. Women in 19th-Century America. New York : Peter
Bedrick Books, c1999.
- Mass, Wendy. Women's Rights. San Diego, CA : Lucent Books, c1998.
- Monroe, Judy. The Nineteenth Amendment : Women's Right to Vote. Springfield,
NJ : Enslow Publishers, c1998.
- Nash, Carol Rust. The Fight for Women's Right to Vote in American
History. Springfield, NJ : Enslow Publishers, c1998.
- Sigerman, Harriet. Laborers for Liberty : American Women, 1865-1890.
New York : Oxford University Press, c1994.
- Sullivan, George. The Day the Women Got the Vote : A Photo History
of the Women's Rights Movement. New York : Scholastic, c1994.
- Swain, Gwenyth. The Road to Seneca Falls : A Story About Elizabeth
Cady Stanton. Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, c1996.
- Wheaton, Elizabeth. Myra Bradwell, First Woman Lawyer. Greensboro,
N.C. : Morgan Reynolds, c1997.
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