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Teach Women's History Through People's Movements
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In March, we observe International Women's Day and Women's History Month. The tradition of recognizing women this time of year can be traced back to the labor movement in the early 20th century, when in 1909 the Socialist Party of America designated February 28 as International Women's Day to honor the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York.
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Shirley Chisholm
Queen Lili'uokalani
Courtney Love
Angelina Grimké
Ava DuVernay
Several years ago, three Portland high school students approached their teacher to address a problem: the dearth of women in the curriculum. The meeting led to a women's studies course that named and appreciated women. Their teacher, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, recalls her experience in
Rethinking Schools
:
I decided each class would start with a Woman of the Day. I imagined quick introductions to a compelling and wide variety of women. About half of the women of the day were selected and presented by me, the other half by students. My only instruction to students was: Choose a woman of historical, social, political, economic, environmental, legal, artistic, religious, scientific, or personal interest. She can be from any place or time.
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Women's History Lessons and Articles
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In this mixer lesson, students learn the names and stories of dozens of climate justice activists, many of whom are women organizing for justice in the face of the climate emergency.
A teacher's reflections about a women's rights curriculum unit that contextualizes the history of the feminist movement within the broader struggle of people working for greater equality.
Students meet advocates and recipients of reparations from different historical eras to grapple with the possibility of reparations now and in the future. Among the many women included are early champions of the demand for Reparations for African Americans, Callie House and Queen Mother Moore.
This role play allows students to examine issues of race and class when exploring both the accomplishments and limitations of the Seneca Falls Convention.
A teacher describes how to introduce students to the classic, banned 1953 film,
Salt of the Earth
, about a miners' strike in New Mexico.
Gender is one of the crucial variables determining how the
climate crisis affects us.
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Profiles of U.S. women active in the fight for labor rights. |
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This Day in (Women's) History
Highlights for March
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Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old inspired by her Black History Month school lessons, refused to give up her seat to a white woman while riding the bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
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Frances Perkins was the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the United States. She became Secretary of Labor in 1933 and served through the Great Depression and WWII.
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The U.S. Supreme Court delivered the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. Harriet Scott,
Dred's wife,
filed her own petition for freedom at the same time as her husband.
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The United Nations observed March 8, 1975, as the first official International Women's Day as a celebration of women's achievements, as well as a time to reflect on the exploitation and discrimination women experience.
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Disability rights activists made the "Capitol Crawl," and Jennifer Keelan, a young girl, became the face of their protest to push the Americans with Disabilities Act through Congress in 1990.
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Textile workers, many of them women, claimed victory at the end of the Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, when they pressured factories to meet their demands.
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Sister Joann Malone and Catherine Melville were members of a group of Catholic anti-war activists arrested for destruction of a Dow Chemical office in D.C. in protest of Dow's production of napalm and nerve gas.
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Mary Ann Shadd Cary, abolitionist and suffragist, published the first edition of
The Provincial Freeman, Canada's first anti-slavery paper, making her the first Black woman in North America to edit and publish a newspaper.
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PO BOX 73038, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20056
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