Reform Movements

Lesson Plan

Elinor “Lin” Ostrom, Nobel Prize Economist

In this lesson, students will experience the tragedy of the commons through a team activity in which they compete for resources.

Biography

Sarah B. Cochran

Once called America's only Coal Queen, Sarah B. Cochran was a coal industry leader and philanthropist in an era when American women could not universally vote or serve on juries.

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.

Video

Women's History Minute: Sojourner Truth

Short video on Sojourner Truth

Biography

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was the first African American woman to publish a short story and was also an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and reformer.

Lesson Plan

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.

Biography

Florence Kelley

Florence Kelley dedicated her life to social reform. She worked to end many social problems, including labor and racial discrimination.

Lesson Plan

Country to City

Through exploring primary source materials and classroom discussion, students will gain a richer understanding of the Industrial Revolution’s impact on the evolving roles of women in 19th century America, with particular focus on New England.

Lesson Plan

The Power of Words and Activism

Students will read the assigned biography and quotes to explore connections between activism and the power of words and ideas.

Biography

Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix was an early 19th century activist who drastically changed the medical field during her lifetime.

Biography

Frances P. Bolton

US Rep Frances Bolton pursued a life of philanthropy, politics, and social reform, and was a lifelong advocate of education, healthcare, and civil rights.

Primary Source