Progressive Era

Biography

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly became a star journalist by going undercover as a patient at a New York City mental health asylum in 1887 and exposing its terrible conditions in the New York World.

Biography

Margaret Ives Abbott

Imagine being the first woman to win an Olympic event for the United States, but never knowing that you had done so. This is what happened to Margaret Ives Abbott.

Lesson Plan

Ida B. Wells: Suffragist and Anti-Lynching Activist

This mini lesson will introduce students to Ida B. Wells through a primary source and invite students to explore the geography of American lynchings through an interactive map.

Exhibit

Feminism: The First Wave

While many date the “first wave” of feminism to the Women’s Rights Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, the origins of the feminism movement lay much earlier.

Exhibit

Feminismo: La Primera Ola

Durante generaciones, el movimiento feminista ha avanzado notablemente en la defensa de los derechos de las mujeres.

Biography

Lillian Wald

Lillian D. Wald helped to bring health care to the residents of New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century.

Exhibit

Representación con Guión: Latinas en la Lucha por el Sufragio Femenino

Una historia del compromiso y la experiencia política bicultural de las latinas en los Estados Unidos

Video

Women's History Minute: Progressive Era

Short video on the Progressive Era

Lesson Plan

Helen Keller--Citizen and Socialist

Helen Keller is one of the most misinterpreted women of the early 20th century. This jigsaw lesson seeks to shine light on her labor activism and social justice, peace, and women’s reproductive rights.

Lesson Plan

Martha Hughes Cannon

Lesson plan on Martha Hughes Cannon, the first female state senator in U.S. history.

Lesson Plan

The Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), proposed in 1923, has never been ratified. Activists seeking gender equality have sought its ratification since its first proposal but have encountered resistance along the way.

Lesson Plan

African American Activists

Students will learn about Ida B Wells, Rosa Parks, and Fannie Lou Hammer; all female African American activists who fought for justice and equality.

Primary Source

Suffragists Picketing at the White House

Lesson Plan

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

With focus on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tragedy, this lesson is intended to broaden students’ understanding of the roots of effective female activism and the reactive nature of American labor laws.

Lesson Plan

Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin

Students will explore the life of Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin by critically reading primary and secondary sources to determine her worldview and perspective.

Lesson Plan