Lesson Plan American Women and World War I 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit :
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Map Proves It, ca. 1919 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Supporters of women’s rights used maps such as the one shown here to demonstrate where women were allowed to vote, when they won that right, and which elections they could vote in. The source of this map is unknown. Originally printed...
Spotlight on: Primary Source An appeal for suffrage support, 1871 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 The National Woman Suffrage and Educational Committee was formed in the spring of 1871. The Washington DC-based committee pledged to act as the “centre of all action upon Congress and the country.” The group was also dedicated to the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Diary of World War I nurse Ella Osborn, 1918–1919 World History 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 At the outbreak of World War I, Ella Jane Osborn was a surgical nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. In January 1918, she volunteered to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces as a member of the Red Cross’s nursing...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Emma Goldman on the restriction of civil liberties, 1919 Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Emma Goldman was born to a Jewish family in Kovno, Russia (present-day Lithuania). In 1885, at the age of sixteen, she emigrated to the United States, becoming a well-known author and lecturer promoting anarchism, workers’ rights,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The struggle for married women’s rights, circa 1880s Government and Civics In the early nineteenth century, married women in the US were legally subordinate to their husbands. Wives could not own their own property, keep their own wages, or enter into contracts. Beginning in 1839, states slowly began to...
Spotlight on: Primary Source John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, 1961 Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the thirty-fifth President of the United States. His short, fourteen-minute inaugural address is best remembered for a single line: "My fellow Americans: ask not what your country...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Barack Obama’s First Inaugural Address, 2009 The inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2009 was a historic moment not only because Obama was the first African American ever sworn into executive office but also because he entered the presidency at a...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Phillis Wheatley’s poem on tyranny and slavery, 1772 Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy Born in Africa, Phillis Wheatley was captured and sold into slavery as a child. She was purchased by John Wheatley of Boston in 1761. The Wheatleys soon recognized Phillis’s intelligence and taught her to read and write. She became...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Hamilton’s Report on the Subject of Manufactures, 1791 Economics, Government and Civics When George Washington became president in 1789, he appointed Alexander Hamilton as his secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton’s vision for the economic foundation of the United States included three main programs: 1) the federal...