Women in American History
Women of the American Revolution
Students explore the varied roles of women in the Revolutionary movement. From a variety of contemporary accounts, they discover that the struggle for American independence drew upon extensive support of and participation by women. Students analyze documents including a 1768 poem, "Patriotic Poesy;" a 1770 Broadside; the 1775 cartoon "A Society of Patriotic Ladies;" letters giving different perceptions on an incident in which women attacked a coffee merchant accused of profiteering; the Abigail and John Adams correspondence regarding women's enfranchisement; and a short excerpt from Judith Sargent Murray's The Gleaner. Each of the lessons includes suggestions for activities to further the study of the active role of women in the events that led to the Revolution and the ways in which women participated in the war.
54 p. Grades 5–8
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[NH120-LA6] $14.95 Reproducible
The Antebellum Women's Movement, 1820 to 1860
Co-Published with the Organization of American Historians
This unit examines how the industrial revolution and the abolition movement led to changes in women's roles both within and outside the home. Letters of a young woman employed in Lowell, Massachusetts, interviews with former slaves, handbills, songs, and resolutions from abolitionist and women's rights conventions help students fathom the experiences women faced in laboring to achieve equal status in antebellum American society. Students analyze and evaluate the impact of the women's rights movement in the antebellum era and link past and present by drawing connections to contemporary society. 73 p. Grades 8–11
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[NH163-LA6] $16.95 Reproducible
Women in the Progressive Era
This unit provides students with the opportunity to examine women's efforts to reform American society between approximately 1890 and 1920. Students explore an array of Progressive reform movements including the women's club movement, efforts to increase women's educational and occupational opportunities, women's involvement in the labor movement, the promotion of birth control, and the struggle for women's suffrage. This diverse collection of documents reveals the passion and energy fueling these reform efforts and the cultural and institutional obstacles faced by female activists during the Progressive era. 101 p. Grades 9–12
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[NH129-LA6] $16.95 Reproducible
The Hardest Struggle: Women and Sweated Industrial Labor
Co-Published with the Organization of American Historians
The plight of women in the workplace is vividly illustrated in this unit with primary sources focusing on the reactions of women to the conditions imposed upon them by industrialization, and the attempts made by them to improve conditions through strikes, unionization, and the law, and why those attempts failed. Thought-provoking photographs and documents aid in the understanding of the struggle that ensued and that, in many ways, is still being fought today. 126 p. Grades 7 –12
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[NH177-LA6] $16.95 Reproducible
For this theme, see also:
Emma Goldman and the First Amendment
Women in World History
Muslim Women Through the Centuries
The Role of Women in Medieval Europe
Women at the Heart of War, 1939-1945
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