Resources for Teaching Women's History
Resources for Teaching Women's History
For Women's History Month, our editors have curated this selection of articles and resources from Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner and additional online resources from NCSS.
Supporting Curricular Promotion and Intersectional Valuing of Women in History and Current Events
A Position Statement of the National Council for the Social Studies
Social Education
Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Limitations of Past Perspectives
This 2020 issue of Social Education, marking the centennial anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, seeks to broaden understanding of the suffrage story in several ways: by considering the strategies and tactics used by the suffragists to foment their agitation; by acknowledging the ways in which further work was needed to secure voting and other rights for all women; by acknowledging the need for women in positions of political leadership and for stories about their accomplishments; and by placing the U.S. women’s suffrage story within the context of the larger struggle for women’s rights worldwide.
“Agitation by Symbol”: Iconography in the Teaching of the History of Women’s Suffrage
Investigating with students how women suffragists used images and symbols to influence public opinion can spark an engaging lesson on the Nineteenth Amendment.
“Too Strong for a Woman”: Title IX and Gender Equity in U.S. Schools
Teaching about Title IX presents rich opportunities to involve students in inquiry-based learning that examines the legacy of this groundbreaking legislation.
Working the Democracy: The Long Fight for the Ballot from Ida to Stacey
Learning the stories of Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Stacey Abrams can deepen students’ understanding of the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights in the United States.
On the (Shirley) Chisholm Trail: The Legacy of Suffrage and Citizenship Engagement
The exploration of the trajectory of Shirley Chisholm’s political life can be a springboard into a classroom lesson on suffrage that connects issues of race, class, and gender.
What Does it Look Like? Telling the Story of Global Women’s Political Participation through Photographs
Examining photographs of women participating in elections around the world can help students make important connections to the Nineteenth Amendment and prompt a fascinating comparative study of women’s voting rights worldwide.
The Fraught Relationship of Women’s Suffrage and Race in Picture Books
The 100th anniversary year of the Nineteenth Amendment offers an important opportunity to deepen student understanding of the women’s suffrage movement.
Nannie Helen Burroughs and Institution Building: Reclaiming the History of Black Women in the Social Studies Curriculum
Studying the school for young Black women founded by Nannie Burroughs can launch an engaging discussion on institution building as a tool for social justice.
Picturing Women: Gender, Images, and Representation in Social Studies
Photographs and drawings of nineteenth-century dress reformers provide an excellent jumping off point for studying images of women in history.
The Technology of Unequal Rights for Women: Patent Drawings of a Voting Machine
The featured voting machines patents can inspire thoughtful classroom discussion on voting rights, voting privacy, and the accuracy of voting machines.
Social Studies and the Young Learner
Women’s Suffrage: Teaching Voting Rights using Multiple Perspectives and Timelines
In order to promote inclusive social studies, this article describes how upper-level elementary students can learn about the Women’s Suffrage Movement and how it intersects with the experiences of other marginalized Americans persevering to obtain the right to vote.
Women are as Important as Men: Third Graders Investigate Diverse Women in U.S. History
Young children’s self-identification and self-identity are essentially a set of conscious and unconscious beliefs built from experiences.2 Students’ self-image, and their understanding of society, can change when they research how women contributed to our nation and to our daily lives. Such lessons can render these historical figures accessible and relevant.
We created a lesson based on inquiry activities as described in the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, introducing students to a compelling question: “Why do we celebrate Women’s History Month?”
The lesson described featured women who are mostly unknown and understudied. We hope it is part of a trend to enrich K-6 social studies and to bring inquiry methods into our teaching.
Beyond Pocahontas: Learning from Indigenous Women Changemakers
When Shirley Chisholm (in 1972) and then Hillary Clinton (in 2008, and again in 2016) ran for president, there was great excitement. Indeed, electing the “first woman” to the Office of the President would be an important milestone. Yet, ndigenous women have long held positions of leadership, including the position of President, Chairperson, or Chief, among other titles, within their Native nations.
In this unit of study, we describe how students in grades 3–5 can learn about and from Indigenous women changemakers and their professions, communities, and Native nations.
Where Are the Women? A Continuing Absence on U.S. Currency
Early in the semester, during a seemingly benign math lesson over money, one of the students in my second and third grade blended classroom halted the instruction to ask “Wait! Why are there no women on money? Is there any money with women on it?” Never one to miss an opportunity to get my students thinking critically, we took some time to discuss why that might be. In considering how to approach this topic in the classroom, I drew on several areas of research: the marginalization of women in history, the use of inquiry in the elementary classroom, and incorporating discussion in lessons.