Lesson Module: Women’s Suffrage in the United States

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Perspective: We hear a lot about the “women’s vote” these days, although most young people take universal suffrage for granted and the fight for women’s right to vote is usually given scant attention in the classroom.   Since the late 20^th century, women have constituted the majority of the voting public. The number of female voters has exceeded the number of male voters in every presidential election since 1964. In every presidential election since 1980, the percentage of female voters has exceeded the percentage of male voters.   In this module, we offer resources, information, and ideas for examining the role of women in politics as voters and the history of their increased participation in the political sphere.

Goal: The goal of this module is to provide resources and information about the history of women’s vote in the U.S.  Looking at the women’s suffrage movement provides a framework for exploring the changing role of women in politics and society in the 19th and 20th centuries.  The history of suffrage offers an opportunity to examine women’s roles at critical points in the nation’s history, and to think about the impact of women’s voting behavior on politics in our time.

Content: We provide activities and discussion questions designed to explore the changing role of women in society and in politics. The module includes ideas for developing lessons on women’s suffrage and integrating the issue of suffrage into lessons on US history and politics, and to consider the impact of full suffrage on politics and society today.

Materials

Handouts

• Overview of Women’s Suffrage in the United States (Compiled by Center for American Women and Politics)
• Seneca Falls Convention
• Declaration of Sentiments
• Timeline of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the U.S.
• Suffrage and the U.S. Constitution
• Women’s Suffrage State by State
• Controversy over the Fourteenth Amendment
• “Ain’t I A Woman?” Sojourner Truth
• Black Women and the Suffrage Movement (article)
• Suffrage in Spanish: Hispanic Women and the Fight for the 19th Amendment in New Mexico (article) – by Cathleen D. Cahill, National Park Service
• Library of Congress: Teacher’s guide to primary source documents
• Ten Reasons Why the Great Majority of Women Do Not Want the Ballot
• Opposition to Women’s Suffrage
• Divisions Among the Suffragists
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Life in Seneca Falls – Women’s Rights National Historic Park

Short Bios

• Susan B. Anthony
• Carrie Chapman Catt
• Anna Julia Cooper
• Alice Paul
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Mary Church Terrill
• Ida B Wells-Barnett

CAWP Fact Sheets

• Gender Differences in Voter Turnout Data
• Gender Gap and the Women’s Vote in 2012
• 2012 National Presidential Exit Poll
• 2012 Gubernatorial Exit Polls
• 202o Presidental Gender Gap Poll Tracker
• Gender Gap: Attitude on Public Policy Issues
• Gender Gap: Partisan Identification and Presidential Performace Ratings (Fact Sheet)
• Gender Gap: Voting Choices in Presidental Elections (Fact Sheet)
• The Gender Gap

Online Resources

• Newseum Learning Classroom: Women, Their Rights, and Nothing Less (Newseum and AAUW)
• Interactive Timeline of Women’s right to Vote Globally 1890-2000 (The Guardian)
• Interactive Map of Women’s Suffrage in the United States (McGraw-Hill Higher Education)
• Teaching with Documents: Woman Suffrage and the 19^th Amendment (National Archives)
• Teachers Guide: Women’s Suffrage (Scholastic.com)
• Excerpts from Holland’s Magazine Essay Contest on Women’s Suffrage, March – May, 1913, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
• Library of Congress: Women’s Suffrage Teacher’s Guide
• National Park Service: Resources for Teaching Women’s Suffrage
• The Trial of Susan B. Anthony
• Alice Paul Institute
• Susan B. Anthony Museum and House
• Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership
• Friends of Women’s Rights National Park
• African American Women and Suffrage (National Women’s History Museum)
• Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” performed by Alfre Woodard. Part of a reading from Voices of a People’s History of the United States, February 1, 2007 at All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA.
• Abolitionists and Suffrage  (History.com)
• The U.S. Constitution
• Women Marchers Attacked at Inauguration / Black Women Sent to the Back of the March
• NAWSA Suffrage Parade, Washington, DC, March 3, 1913 (Woman Suffrage Demonstration in Pictures)
• They marched and battled for the ballot (Daily Kos)
• League of Women Voters: History
• Women’s Rights National Historic Park
• Carrie Chapman Catt Girlhood Home
• Teaching Tool: Applying Gender and Intersectional Lenses to U.S Elections
• Lesson Plan: Hazel Hunkins
• Doris Stevens
• Lucy Stone

Online Resources on Suffrage by State

• Alabama Equal Suffrage Association
• Alaska ” Women Gain the Right to Vote”
• Arizona Women’s Suffrage
• Arkansas Women’s Suffrage Movement
• History of Women’s Suffrage in California
  • California Women Suffrage Centennial
• Colorado Encyclopedia: Women’s Suffrage Movement
• Connecticut: 19th Amendment
• Georgia Encyclopedia: Woman Suffrage
• Illinois State Historical Society: A Brief History of Women’s Suffrage in Illinois
• Women’s Suffrage in Iowa
• Kansas Historical Society: Women’s Suffrage in Kansas
• Encyclopedia of Louisiana: Woman Suffrage
• Suffrage in Maine
• Minnesota Historical Society: Women’s Suffrage
• Mississippi Women and the Woman Suffrage Amendment
• Women’s History Matters: Montana Suffrage
• New Jersey and Women’s Suffrage
• New Mexico Women’s Suffrage
• North Carolina Women Suffrage
• North Dakota: Woman Suffrage at Statehood
• Ohio Woman Suffrage Assoication
• Oklahoma Historical Society: Oklahoma Woman’s Suffrage Association
• Oregon Encyclopedia: Woman Suffrage in Oregon
• Pennsylvania Women and the Quest for Women’s Suffrage
• Records of the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island
• South Carolina Encyclopedia: Women Suffrage
• Votes for Women! The Suffrage Movement in Texas
• Suffrage in South Dakota
• Tennessee Encyclopedia: Woman Suffrage Movement
• Texas State Historical Association: Woman Suffrage
• Receiving, Losing, and Winning Back the Vote: The Story of Utah Women’s Suffrage
• Encyclopedia Virginia: Woman Suffrage in Virginia
• Wisconsin History: The Woman’s Suffrage Movement
• Right Choice, Wrong Reasons: Wyoming Women Win the Right to Vote

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Discussion Questions

Recommended for elementary–aged (K-5) students K-5

1. Why is voting important? Do your parents vote? Who should be able to vote?
2. What do you think it would feel like to vote for the first time?
3. How different was it to be a child in the 1890s? How were boys and girls treated and expected to behave in the 19^th century?

Recommended for middle schooled-aged (6-8) students 6-8

1. What event is considered the beginning of the women’s rights movement?  How did the movement get started and what impact did it have?
2. Why did Stanton model her Declaration of Sentiments on the Declaration of Independence? (compare and contrast documents).
3. Which were the first states/territories to allow women to vote?
4. Pick a state to study, when did women get the vote? Why were women successful, or not, in getting the vote before 1920?
5. Which states allowed women’s suffrage before the 19th amendment?
6. When did your state first give women the right to vote? How does that compare with neighboring states?
7. How were black women involved in the fight for women’s suffrage? What additional challenges did they face?
8. Why did World War I change the kind of jobs and opportunities available to women?
9. How did the war influence the fight for suffrage?
10. What has been the impact of women’s suffrage in the 20th century? 

Recommended for high school aged (9-12) students  9-12

1. Compare women’s suffrage in the U.S with other countries.
2. What factors help explain the success of the women’s suffrage movement in the western states, and its relative lack of success in eastern and southern states?
3. Why did Stanton model her Declaration of Sentiments on the Declaration of Independence? (Compare and contrast documents).
4. We now take for granted universal suffrage (all U.S. Citizens over the age of 18 may vote). How was suffrage first defined in the Constitution and how has it expanded over time?
5. Who famously voted illegally in a presidential election? Why did she use this form of civil disobedience and what impact did it have
6. What implications did the Civil War and the succeeding constitutional amendments have on the women’s suffrage movement
7. Discuss the pros and cons of the state by state strategy vs. the movement for a constitutional amendment providing the right to vote.
8. What groups were opposed to suffrage and what reasons did they give?
9. What was the 19^th century view of a woman’s role and how did this ideal of womanhood influence attitudes about suffrage?
10. How were black women involved in the fight for women’s suffrage? What additional challenges did they face?
11. Why did President Wilson finally agree to support the 19th Amendment? What reasons did he give?
12. What other reasons might have influenced his decision to support women’s suffrage?
13. What has been the impact of women’s suffrage in the 20th century?

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Activities

Elementary K-5
Voting exercise: Have the class vote on something (an activity or pizza/snack) but only half the class gets to vote.  After the voting and the activity have a class discussion on the following questions:

• How does it feel to be excluded from the decision making?
• Why do you want to have a vote?
• Would the result have been different if everyone voted?

Review the suffrage parades and posters and have the class make their own suffrage posters. (see Library of Congress: Teacher’s guide to primary source documents)
Compare to actual posters. What kinds of messages/pictures would you use to persuade people?

Pick a state to study – when did women in that state get to vote?

• Women’s Suffrage State by State – List
• Women’s Suffrage State by State – Map

Middle 6-8

1. Review suffrage protests/ posters – Library of Congress primary data
2. Stage a protest or march for a cause in your school. Discuss how your protest/march is similar and different from those of the suffragists.
   1. How would you try to persuade people?
   2. What arguments did you come up against?
   3. Were some people more sympathetic to the cause than others?
3. Imagine you are a suffragist urging people to sign your petition for a statewide referendum on the issue. What arguments do you mobilize to influence people to sign your petition? What counter arguments do you hear from those passing by in the street who oppose women’s suffrage?
4. In 1913, Holland’s magazine sponsored an essay contest on the women’s suffrage. Have the students write an article in response to the magazine. What would you say about why women should have the vote?

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