Lesson Plan: Women's Rights After the Civil War (1860s-1880s)

Changing Roles During the Civil War

Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the new roles women assumed during the Civil War.

Description

This lesson plan explores the women's rights movement during the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s. Students will read an introductory overview article about the women's rights movement through the push for the 19th Amendment and will watch an introductory video clip about how women's roles changed during the Civil War. After defining and researching key vocabulary terms, phrases, and people, students will engage in a choice board activity focused on eight different topics relevant to the women's rights movement of the time. The lesson concludes with a closure prompt and offers two extension activities.

Procedures

  • SET UP

    This lesson offers several options for you to use with your students whether you are teaching in class, using a hybrid model, or engaging through distance learning. It can be completed in steps as a class or students can move at their own pace and complete the activities independently.

    You can post links to the videos in the lesson along with the related handouts and engage in discussion to share responses on a discussion board or learning management system.

    You can also save and share the following Google resource for students to use with this lesson.

    Handout: Graphic Organizer (Google Doc).

    Resource: Choice Board Activity (Google Slides).

    In Google, choose "File" then "Make a Copy" to get your own copy. You can make any needed adjustments in the instructions such as which activities students need to complete, when it is due, etc. and then make it available to them via Google.

  • WARM UP

    Pose the following brainstorming question to your students: "Name three famous women’s rights advocates from the past. What did each individual contribute?"

    Have students record their responses in their graphic organizer, share with a partner, and then with the class if they choose.

  • INTRODUCTION ARTICLE

    Provide this introductory article to your students. Direct your students to answer the following questions on their graphic organizer:

    • Based on the article, what was the first attempt to organize a national movement for women’s rights?
    • Describe the contributions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
    • According to the article, why didn’t the 14th Amendment extend the right to vote to women?
    • How did debate about the 15th Amendment cause racial divisions for women?
    • Why was the National American Woman Suffrage Association formed, and what success did it have?
  • INTRODUCTION CLIP

    Play this introductory video clip (3:45) for your students. Direct your students to answer the following questions on their graphic organizer:

    • What did women think would happen to their roles at the start of the Civil War? Was this perspective accurate? Why or why not?
    • According to Heather Cox Richardson, what types of roles did women have to take over during the Civil War?
    • How did the shift compare in the North versus the South?
    • How did women come to “literally own a piece of the American government?”
  • VOCABULARY

    Direct your students to their graphic organizers to view the vocabulary terms, phrases, and people that will appear in the choice board activity. The selected vocabulary words are also listed to the right on this webpage. Note: this is not an all-encompassing list of terms included in each video. We recommend you previewing the video to determine any necessary additions/subtractions to this list for your specific students.

    We recommend having your students define and present the terms in a jigsaw activity with a partner, a small group, or the whole class to save time. Depending on your available time and resources, you may consider having your students define and present the terms in a Frayer's Model activity, where each student takes one or two words. Students can then post their models around the room for reference throughout the lesson.

  • APPLICATION: CHOICE BOARD

    Direct students to their choice board activities and indicate that they can self-select (or the teacher can assign) three different topics of study. The topics, related video clips, and questions included on the choice board can be found below. Note: Clip #9, “Women in the West,” may not be appropriate in all teaching contexts and for all students. Please preview this clip before sharing with your students and make any necessary adjustments to the choice board.

    After viewing the videos and answering the questions for three topics, students should respond to the prompts on the final slide:

    • Which topics did you study?
    • Summarize the impact of each topic on women’s rights in one sentence.
    • How does the effect of each topic compare to the others?
    • In your opinion, which topic offered the greatest impact?
  • 14th Amendment [Clip #2] (3:45), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the suffrage movement immediately after the Civil War.

    • According to Heather Cox Richardson, what did women expect at the conclusion of the Civil War? What happens?
    • Based on the clip, what did Julia Ward Howe say about the 14th Amendment?
    • What two “really dramatic things happened” in 1868? What were they in response to?
    • How did the two associations differ?
  • 15th Amendment [Clip #3] (9:23), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the shift toward equal rights and the 15th Amendment.

    • In the era after the Civil War, what were legislators trying to accomplish?
    • According to Heather Cox Richardson, how did the women’s rights movement in the west compare with other areas of the country?
    • What happened in Wyoming in 1869 and why? How did Utah differ, and what was the effect?
    • What does Congress debate in 1870? Based on the clip, what do women in response?
    • What did suffragists do during the 1872 Presidential election? What happened?
    • Summarize what happens to Susan B. Anthony and its effects toward the 1880s.
  • Connection to Race [Clip #4] (6:19), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the connection between race and the women's rights movement after the Civil War.

    • What did the Supreme Court do in 1875? What does Heather Cox Richardson say the case decision said about citizenship and voting?
    • Based on the clip, what did the court’s decision allow to happen in the South?
    • Why does Richardson say “the idea of women voting is intimately connected to the question of who should have a say in American society?”
    • What did Edmonia Lewis come to symbolize?
    • What impact did Lewis and her work have on the women’s rights movement?
  • Connection to Writing [Clip #5] (5:16), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the impact that writing and novels had on the women's rights movement.

    • Why does Heather Cox Richardson say Augusta Jane Evans was important?
    • What context were Evans and other Southerners living in after the Civil War?
    • Describe the impact that romance novels had on the North and South.
    • What did Louisa May Alcott “pioneer?” What impact did her novel Little Women have?
    • Based on the clip, describe the role that Anna Dickinson had relative to the women’s rights movement.
  • Connection to Society [Clip #6] (6:10), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the new roles women assumed in society.

    • What does Heather Cox Richardson say Julie Ward Howe focused her attention on?
    • After the Franco-Prussian War, what view did Howe take? What does she do?
    • Based on the clip, describe the history of Mother’s Day.
    • What does Richardson mean when she said women in the 1870s began taking roles “because they’re different?” How did this compare with periods before?
    • What organization formed in 1874? What was the organization’s goal?
    • According to Richardson, what will be the next goal of women?
  • Connection to Education [Clip #7] (7:14), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about new educational opportunities and endeavors of women in the post Civil War period.

    • Why does Heather Cox Richardson say the concept began to rise that women needed educations?
    • What two women’s colleges does Richardson mention in the clip? What topics did women study?
    • What impact did the educational movement have on the social networks of middle class women?
    • Based on the clip, what did Jane Addams see during her tour through Europe? What issues do she and Ellen Gates Starr focus on?
    • What does Richardson mean when she said women wanted to “return the idea of an organic society to American?”
  • Connection to Social Work [Clip #8] (6:52), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the impact that women had via social work after the Civil War.

    • How does Heather Cox Richardson say women will “return the idea of an organic society to America?”
    • What did Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr use the Hull House for?
    • What impact did Hull House have on women’s social networks? How did these social networks build the concept of social work?
    • According to Richardson, what impact did Lillian Wald have on society?
    • Based on the clip, how did Florence Kelley and Josephine Shaw Lowell “take on industrialization?”
  • Women in the West [Clip #9] (6:14), Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson talked about the new roles women assumed in west.

    • According to Heather Cox Richardson, what two stereotypical roles were women seen as having in the west in the 1870s?
    • How does Richardson compare the realities for western women to those in the east?
    • What role did “good, American women” have during the late 19th century? How did the writing of Laura Ingalls Wilder impact this view?
    • Based on the clip, why were women seen as needing “a say in American society” in the 1880s?
    • Summarize the example that Richardson shares from the Idaho Constitutional Convention.
  • CLOSURE

    Direct your students to present their findings for each section in small groups or with the whole class, making sure to record the responses for other sections as students present. After your students are finished sharing their findings with the class, direct them to complete the final culminating writing prompt: "Having now learned about eight different topics central to women’s rights after the Civil War, respond to the following two questions. Make sure to use evidence from the lesson materials in your response. Which topic do you think had the greatest impact in promoting women’s rights, and why? Which woman do you think had the greatest impact on the movement, and why?" Direct your students to use evidence from the video clips to support their response. You can also provide the related articles linked below to your students to help them further support their arguments.

    Have students share their responses, comparing their perspectives with their classmates'.

  • OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS

    Option #1: Have your students return to the list of individuals in the vocabulary chart. Direct them to choose one individual to study. Have your students prepare a class presentation about the individual's life and accomplishments, linking back to information covered in this lesson.

    Option #2: Direct your students to choose another historical or contemporary social movement of interest or from this article. Ask your students to compare this movement with the women's rights movement of the 1860s-1880s based on the topical framework in this lesson.

Additional Resources

Vocabulary

  • 14th Amendment
  • 15th Amendment
  • Abolitionist Movement
  • Ameliorate
  • American Woman Suffrage Association
  • Anna Dickinson
  • Annie Wittenmyer
  • Augusta Jane Evans
  • Betty Wales Series
  • Bond
  • Brandeis Brief
  • Citizenship
  • Civil War
  • Clara Barton
  • Co-educational
  • Congress
  • Constitution
  • Daddy Long Legs
  • Edmonia Lewis
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  • Ellen Gates Starr
  • Enforcement Acts (1870-1871)
  • Florence Kelley
  • Franco Prussian War
  • Henry Street Settlement
  • Homesteader
  • Hull House
  • Industrialization
  • Jane Addams
  • Josephine Shaw Lowell
  • Julia Ward Howe
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • Lillian Wald
  • Louisa May Alcott
  • Lucy Stone
  • Minor V. Happersett (1874)
  • National Consumers Leagues
  • National Woman Suffrage Association
  • Pauline Cushman
  • Polygamy
  • Radcliffe Annex
  • Reconstruction
  • Referendum
  • Seminary
  • Seneca Falls Convention
  • Smith College
  • Suffrage
  • Supreme Court
  • Susan B. Anthony
  • Tenement
  • Urbanization
  • Womens Christian Temperance Union

Topics

U.S. History

Grades

University