Here is a curated collection of the classroom resources on women’s suffrage that can be found at CivicsRenewalNetwork.org. More resources will be added as we celebrate the 19th Amendment leading up to the anniversary of its ratification on August 18, 2020.
Why Did Women Want the Right to Vote?
Students will compare and contrast four petitions in favor of woman suffrage to identify reasons why women wanted the right to vote. Grades 9-12. National Archives and Records Administration
Extending Suffrage to Women
In this activity, students will analyze documents pertaining to the woman suffrage movement as it intensified following passage of the 15th Amendment that guaranteed the right to vote for African American males. Documents were chosen to call attention to the struggle’s length, the movement’s techniques, and the variety of arguments for and against giving women the vote. Grades 9-12. National Archives and Records Administration
Suffrage Strategies: Voices for Votes
Students examine a variety of primary source documents related to the women’s suffrage movement. They identify different methods people used to influence and change attitudes and beliefs about suffrage for women. Students then create original documents encouraging citizens to vote in current elections. Grades 3-8. Library of Congress
Women’s Suffrage Primary Source Set
Sound files, sheet music, photographs, letters and maps help students better understand women’s suffrage. Includes teachers guide. Grades 5-12. Library of Congress
The 19th Amendment: A Woman’s Right to Vote
Voting is the most basic right of a citizen and the most important right in a democracy. When you vote, you are choosing the people who will make the laws. For almost a century and a half of our nation’s history, women were barred from exercising this fundamental right. This is a film about their long, difficult struggle to win the right to vote. It’s about citizenship, the power of the vote, and why women had to change the Constitution with the 19th Amendment to get the vote. Grades 7-12. Annenberg Classroom
From Suffragist Sashes to Antiwar Armbands
In a 19th Amendment video, produced by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for use in classrooms, courtrooms, and the distance-learning space, an unlikely connection is made between two rights activists from different eras. Suffragette Virginia Minor and Vietnam War protester Mary Beth Tinker were separated by 100 years, but their passions came together in the legal history of the nation and of St. Louis, where they each worked through the courts to make social change. Both cases were decided – with different outcomes — by the Supreme Court of the United States. The video asks viewers to consider the role of the courts and the extraordinary impact that ordinary people can have on society. Grades 7-12. U.S. Courts
Women, Their Rights and Nothing Less: The First Amendment and the Women’s Suffrage Movement
Use this map to explore how the women’s suffrage movement — and the people who opposed it — tried to influence public opinion. Explore artifacts from billboards and cards to buttons and cartoons. You’ll uncover the wide array of tools and tactics each side used to spread its message, and you’ll see how geography and other factors shaped the form and content of their communication. Grades 6-12. NewseumED
Women’s Suffrage Webquest
This WebQuest provides structure to a historical investigation of the women’s suffrage movement by using the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s primary sources, including historical newspapers, books, pamphlets, manuscripts, photographs, maps, artwork, archived videos and audio records. Grades 9-12. Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Women as Citizens under the Constitution
This video traces the evolution of constitutional theory about women’s citizenship. The original Constitution is gender-neutral; women shared many rights enjoyed by men. However, as Dr. Rosemarie Zagarri points out, women’s rights evolved slowly, culminating in the passage of the 19th Amendment. Grades 9-12. James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Modern Women Persuading Modern Men: The Nineteenth Amendment and the Movement for Woman Suffrage, 1916-1920
In “Modern Women Persuading Modern Men: The Nineteenth Amendment Completes the Movement for Woman Suffrage,” Jonathan Soffer explains how Carrie Chapman Catt’s “Winning Plan” achieved what over half a century of struggle had failed to achieve: women’s full political citizenship. Free registration required. Grades 9-12. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Sisters of Suffrage: British and American Women Fight for the Vote
The dominant narrative of the entire women’s suffrage movement begins and ends with the United States and Britain. Hundreds of thousands of women petitioned, canvassed, lobbied, demonstrated, engaged in mass civil disobedience, went to jail, and engaged in hunger strikes in a seventy-five-year ongoing political and social struggle for the right to vote. Free registration required. Grades 9-12. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
How Women Won the Right to Vote
In 1848, a small group of visionaries started a movement to secure equal rights for women in the United States. But it took more than 70 years just to win the right for women to vote. Grades 9-12. Constitutional Rights Foundation
Who Were the Foremothers of the Women’s Suffrage and Equality Movements?
This lesson looks at the women’s suffrage movement that grew out of the failing of the Continental Congress by”remembering the ladies” who are too often overlooked when teaching about the “foremothers” of the movements for suffrage and women’s equality in U.S. history. Grounded in the critical inquiry question “Who’s missing?” and in the interest of bringing more perspectives to whom the suffrage movement included, this resource will help to ensure that students learn about some of the lesser-known activists who participated in the formative years of the women’s rights movement. Grades 8-12. NEH’s EDSITEment
Voting Rights in America
The history of the amendments to the Constitution is, in one sense, a history of the expansion of certain political freedoms, including voting. Almost a third of the amendments added to the Constitution after the Bill of Rights was ratified concern the ability to vote. The 19th Amendment gave the vote to women, while the 23rd, 24th, and 26th Amendments gave representation to the District of Columbia, forbid poll taxes, and lowered the voting age to 18, respectively. The passage of these amendments reflected a shift toward making voting a right of all citizens. Grades 9-12. Bill of Rights Institute
The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements
This short comparative analysis activity involves comparing and contrasting two images of marches for freedom: a 1917 Bastille Day march for women’s suffrage, and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Students will consider the similarities and differences between these two images and hypothesize what major differences these photos might imply about the two social reform movements. Grades 9-12. National Archives’ DocsTeach
The 19th Amendment and the Road to Universal Suffrage
In this activity, students will explore the struggle for universal suffrage long after both men and women constitutionally had the right to vote. Following a progressive timeline, primary sources highlight voting problems that arose for minority groups throughout the 20th century. Students will answer questions as they work through the documents to reflect on if and when universal suffrage was ultimately achieved. Grades 9-12. National Archives’ DocsTeach
The Amendment Process: Ratifying the 19th Amendment
In this activity, students will analyze historical records of Congress and the U.S. government to understand the sequence of steps in the amendment process. Students will study each document and match it to the step in the process that it illustrates. Then students will reflect on the process, and the roles that the people, president, Congress and the states play. Grades 9-12. National Archives’ DocsTeach
Interactive Constitution: 19th AmendmentThe Interactive Constitution is a nonpartisan tool that allows learners of all ages to engage with the text of the Constitution, discover how experts agree and disagree about its history and meaning, and explore arguments on all sides of constitutional debates. Explore its 19th Amendment resources. Grades 8-12. National Constitution Center