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Weekly Online LessonOnline Lesson ArchivesGrade Level: 8-12
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Securing the Right to Vote
Women played key roles in America's
history, and have had an enormous impact on our society,
our laws, and our culture. However, for the greater part
of America's history women were not allowed to
participate in the most basic and important of all civic
responsibilities: exercising the right to vote. 
Not until 1920 was
universal suffrage—the right of every adult citizen in
America to vote—passed in both houses, becoming the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Women's Rights movement did not begin with suffrage, nor did it end there, but women today mark the passage of this amendment as a milestone in the overall struggle for equality. In this lesson you will visit sites that will guide you through the suffrage movement.
Seeking the Right to Vote
Begin your investigation into the history of women's suffrage by visiting the World Book Online Special Report "Seeking the Right to Vote," the first in a four-part series of reports comprising The Quest for Equality. When the title page opens, use the navigation bar on the right to go to each of the four pages that make up the report (the Next and Previous buttons take you somewhere else).
After you read the introduction to Seeking
the Right to Vote, click The
History of Women's Suffrage to read about the
origins and growth of the suffrage movement in the U.S.
and in other countries. Next, click Institutions
Formed to Promote Women's Suffrage and read about
the formation of three influential women's organizations.
When you get to the page Women
Win the Right to Vote, note that the organization
has gone a bit awry, but you should be able to work
through it. Be sure to check out the link to "A
Woman Voter's Manual" a 1918 publication
that presumes 
to teach women about voting, assuming them
to know nothing about the political process. Finish your
reading with Leaders
in the Women's Suffrage Movement, a collection of
biographies of prominent suffragists.
As you have probably come to expect by now, there is an Interactive Quiz on Seeking the Right to Vote. Select your answers and click Answers at the bottom of the quiz page. And if you want to learn more about early women's movements, continue by reading "The Rise of Women's Movements," the next report in the series.
National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection
As you
study history, it's often worthwhile looking at primary (original)
sources of information rather than reading what somebody
else has to say. The Rare Book and Special Collections
Division of the Library of Congress is just the place to
find original works. If you want to learn about women's
suffrage, read through the online collection Votes
for Women, part of American Memory.
Of the 800 titles in the collection—most of it from the library of Carrie Chapman Catt, a former president of NAWSA—167 titles and numerous photographs are now online.
Immediately below the title you will find a Search feature if you would like to search the text of the collection. You can also browse by Subject or Author. Look for whatever selections interest you. Even trimmed to 167 online titles, this is an enormous collection.
American Memory also features a timeline of women's suffrage called One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage: An Overview. This is an excellent source for researching quick facts by date.
If you've done enough text work
for a while, browse to "Votes
for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920.
Here you will find a large collection of photographs of
the suffrage movement, including portraits,
parades,
picketing,
political
cartoons, and an anti-suffrage
display (yes, there were many men and women opposed to
the idea of women voting).
Women in Politics
The Nineteenth Amendment secured the right of all women in America to vote, but some women were allowed to vote before then. A few states had already granted women the right to vote in state elections, and a handful of women had been elected to public office.
Women in Politics, part of the University of Maryland's Project Glue, is a guide to women's participation in every aspect of government, from voting to holding office. For the purposes of this lesson, start with the History link and read about suffrage and the 1848 Women's Rights Convention. This is a summary of what you've already learned, but there are links to some interesting observations, such as attitudes of male politicians and anti-suffragist arguments. These essays are not entirely objective, but they're good reading.
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