National Youth Summit - Woman Suffrage: The Ballot and Beyond

Grade Level: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12
Content Areas: Government, Civics, U.S. History
Type of Resource: Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Duration: 60-120 minutes
Instructional Strategies: Discussions and Deliberations

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Are the tactics used by suffragists to fight for political power still effective? 

Suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment marked an important moment in the progression of women’s participation in our democracy and civic life. Yet it was an imperfect victory, and one that stands neither as a beginning nor an end, but as an important milestone in the fight for equality, justice and representation. The 2019 National Youth Summit looked at woman suffrage as an example of how groups with limited political power have and continue to shape our democracy using strategies and tools, like the vote and public protest, to give voice to issues and galvanize fellow Americans into communal movements for change.

Speakers included: Caty Borum Chattoo, Dolores Huerta, Naomi Wadler, and Page Harrington.

Watch the recorded event here. After, guide a discussion with your students and tackle the essential question by using the conversation kit. For additional resources, watch four short videos on Lisa Kathleen Graddy, curator of political and military history, explaining the objects suffragists used in their cause.

National Standards

Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 (Comprehension and Collaboration): Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 (Key Ideas and Details): Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.9 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.1 (Key Ideas and Details): Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.1 (Key Ideas and Details): Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards

D2.Civ.14.6-8. (Civics): Compare historical and contemporary means of changing societies, and promoting the common good.

D2.His.15.6-8. (History): Evaluate the relative influence of various causes of events and developments in the past.

D2.His.16.6-8. (History): Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the past.

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

D2.His.15.9-12. (History): Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

D2.His.16.9-12. (History): Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.