CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.3. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6. Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

NCSS. D1.5.6-8. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of views represented in the sources.

NCSS. D2.Civ.2.9-12. Analyze the role of citizens in the U.S. political system, with attention to various theories of democracy, changes in Americans’ participation over time, and alternative models from other countries, past and present.

NCSS. D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.

NCSS. D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS. D3.3.9-12. Identify evidence that draws information directly and substantively from multiple sources to detect inconsistencies in evidence in order to revise or strengthen claims.

NCSS. D4.6.9-12. Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities.

Activity 1. Who's missing?

• Read the 1776 letter written by Abigail Adams to John Adams when he is meeting with other state representatives to draft the Declaration of Independence. Why did Ms. Adams feel it necessary to address particulars about women if the men were meeting to discuss fair representation and independence?
• Analyze the painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence completed by John Trumbull in 1817 and respond to the question "Who's missing?"
• Review this collection of photos of suffragettes from the mid-19th century and respond to the question 'Who's missing?"
• Analyze this photo taken at the 60th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention and respond to the question "Who's missing?"

Offer an initial response to the scaffolding question Who did the women's suffrage movement include and represent during the 19th and 20th centuries?  based on your interpretations and the conclusions you have drawn from the texts about the women's suffrage movement. 

Based on a comparative analysis of texts produced over time, design inquiry questions to learn about women who were involved in the women's suffrage and equality movements, but who do not appear in most textbooks and encyclopedia entries.  The list below can be used as a starting point for research:

Elizabeth Freeman                       Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Harriett Forten Purvis                  Margaretta Forten
Sarah Parker Remond                 Fannie Barrier Williams
Ida B. Wells                                 Mary Church Terrell
Mary Ann Shadd Cary                 Coralie Franklin Cook                                

• For background information to assist with research, consult the following resources:
  • A History of the Movement from National Women's History Project, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1775–2000.
  • The timeline One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage: An Overview, particularly the section on the years 1851–1899, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory as part of the collection Votes for Women Suffrage Pictures, 1850–1920, which also contains images related to the Women's Suffrage Movement.
  • A complete First-hand report on the Women's Rights Convention of 1848 and other information from the National Park Service's in-depth feature on the Women's Rights National Historical Park, available via a link from the EDSITEment resource Links to the Past.
  • Interactive History of the Women's Movement, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website New Perspectives on the West.

Activity 2. Nominating Foremothers

In small groups, analyze the following documents to identify issues beyond voting that women were organizing around and compile names of potential Foremothers. The documents have been divided into six groups. 

Group 1: Looking for Foremothers in the Keystone Documents of the Women's Movement

We find the Forefathers in key documents they helped create and/or to which they affixed their signatures. What are some corresponding documents for the Women's Rights Movement?

• The 1776 letter Remember the Ladies from Abigail Adams to her husband, John, and his response, are available on the website of the National Park Service, from which the EDSITEment resource Links to the Past is an extension.
• The Declaration of Sentiments (1848), also available on the website of the National Park Service. Look at the Signers of the Declaration of Sentiments, which includes links to significant biographies, as well as the List of Participants, with links to other significant figures, including some who got involved with the movement as a result of the Women's Rights Convention—even though they did not attend.

Group 2: Looking for Foremothers in More Keystone Documents of the Women's Movement

We find the Forefathers in key documents they helped create and/or to which they affixed their signatures. What are some corresponding documents for the Women's Rights Movement?

• Protest of Taxation without Representation (January 18, 1858), a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830–1930 (Note the argument used to protest the tax bill; it references the American Revolution as did Stanton in the Declaration of Sentiments.)
• The Petition to the New Jersey Legislature (1868), available on the New Jersey Women's History Page, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830–1930 (NOTE: In what ways do the authors' requests resemble the Declaration of Sentiments?)
• Dress Reform, from The Lily (March 1853, pp. 2–3), available through the EDSITEment-reviewed website Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830–1930
• The original Equal Rights Amendment, first introduced in Congress in 1923, is available through the EDSITEment resource American Memory, go to the middle of the book page displayed to see the simply-worded amendment framed in quotes. One version of the ERA was submitted to the states in 1972; however, it failed to achieve ratification in 1982.

Group 3: Looking for Foremothers in Images

• Look through the online exhibit Votes for Women: The Struggle for Women's Suffrage—Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory, featuring a series of Portraits of women deemed important to the struggle for women's rights.
• View the Interactive History of the Women's Movement from Not For Ourselves Alone, a link from the EDSITEment resource New Perspectives on the West.

Group 4: Looking for Foremothers in Creative Writing

• Read through the play Failure Is Impossible.

Group 5: Looking for Foremothers in Essays by Scholars

• Scan the essay on the National Women's History Project, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1775–2000.

Group 6: Looking for Foremothers in the Histories

• One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage: An Overview, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory as part of the collection Votes for Women Suffrage Pictures, 1850–1920, also contains images related to the early Women's Suffrage Movement.
• The U.S. Suffrage Movement Timeline on The Anthony Center for Women's Leadership, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1775–2000
• The National Suffrage Timeline and Western New York Suffragists.

Activity 3. A Pool of Candidates

Based on the research compiled under Activity 1 and what emerged from the sources analyzed under Activity 2, create a nominating list of who should be considered a Foremother of women's suffrage and equality in U.S. history. Who and how many people to nominate can be based on any of the following:

• Create a new national monument based on Mt. Rushmore that will include 4-5 women. Provide a rational for each honoree and through GIS technology, determine where the monument will be erected.
• Construct a tournament bracket in which suffragettes are organized in sections (use geography, time period, or sub-topics within the movements to organize the sections). Students participate in a seminar to determine who would advance based on research and their persuasive writing and oration.
• Take on the role of one of the nominees (when there are fewer nominees than students, two students per nominee can be arranged based on available information) and present a campaign style speech (in person or as a recorded video) to earn votes. 

Activity 4. Revising Historic Images

Return to the "Who's missing?" question and identify photos, paintings, and illustrations from the history of the women's suffrage and equality movements that you want to "photo shop." Add one of the nominees (or someone who was not voted as a nominee, but who you supported) to the image (be sure time and place are as accurate as possible) and provide a rationale.   

Activity 5. Remember Today's Ladies

Who might students 100 years from now include on a women's equality nomination list? Examine news stories from the time you were born through today to identify people who you think will and/or should be taught about in 2120.

• The Women's Rights Movement was quite active during the 1960s. Students interested in studying that period and/or comparing it to the formative movement referenced in these lessons can start by exploring the Women's Studies Resources Home Page from the Duke Special Collections Library, from which the EDSITEment resource African-American Women is an extension.
• According to the essay Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848–1998, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1775–2000:

  "[Did you know that] 25 years ago married women were not issued credit cards in their own name? That most women could not get a bank loan without a male co-signer? That women working full time earned fifty-nine cents to every dollar earned by men?

  "Help-wanted ads in newspapers were segregated into 'Help wanted--women' and 'Help wanted--men.' Pages and pages of jobs were announced for which women could not even apply."

  —Bonnie Eisenberg and Mary Ruthsdotter, National Women's History Project

  Students can interview women with first-hand knowledge of these and similar inequities.
• Try some of the suggestions from Collection Connections on the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory.
  • Marriage laws were an important issue for the early suffragists. American marriage law was based on the English concept of coverture, in which a woman's legal status became subordinate to her husband. Interested students can explore the concept of coverture and the following documents:
  • "To Keep a Wife in Subjection," by Emily Collins, available through the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia
  • Broadside / Abolishing the Unjust Marriage Law, available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website American Memory
  • Declaration of Sentiments and the Declaration of Independence Side by Side, on Liberty Rhetoric and Nineteenth Century Women, a link from the EDSITEment resource History Matters, includes Elizabeth Cady Stanton's remarks about the marriage laws.