Women's History Month - Web Resources
Educational Materials to Celebrate Women's History and Contributions
Since 1910, March 8 has been observed as International Women's Day by people around the world. Thus, March was chosen for National Women's History Month in the United States.
In celebrating Women's History, the goal is not to rewrite history, but rather to add very different perspectives about what is historically significant. Before the 1980s, history focused primarily on political, military, and economic leaders and events. That approach has virtually excluded women, both leaders and ordinary citizens, from history books.
Here are some resources to help you integrate the celebration of Women's History Month into your curriculum. You'll find annotated resources for Web sites and recommended lesson plans and activity ideas.
Recommended Web Sites
National Women’s History Project
On this Web site you'll find official information, a downloadable poster, and other resources about National History Month celebration. See the 2006 nominees for women in history -- women creating community and sustaining dreams in countless ways and in myriad venues. See "The Learning Place" section for useful resources for teachers, students, and parents alike.
http://www.nwhp.org/index.html
Thomson-Gale Free Resources
This site offers a brief history of Women's History Month, biographies of significant women throughout time, a quiz based on women and their achievements, a time line of significant events in women's history, a downloadable calendar, and some activities to celebrate women's history.
http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/index.htm
"Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920 | Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has extensive and varied resources related to the campaign for woman suffrage in the United States. This selection of 38 pictures includes portraits of many individuals who have been frequently requested from the holdings of the Prints and Photographs Division and the Manuscript Division. Also featured are photographs of suffrage parades, picketing suffragists, and an anti-suffrage display, as well as cartoons commenting on the movement.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwhome.html
Women's History Resources | Library of Congress
This area of the Web site was developed in conjunction with the chapter on the Prints and Photographs Division in American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States. It is a starting point for pursuing research in various topic areas that broadly reflect aspects of American women's lives.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/237_path.html
U.S. Women’s History Workshop
The Women's History Workshop is a collaborative effort of Massachusetts teachers -- middle school through college -- which seeks to make available primary sources in pedagogically imaginative formats for teachers who wish to use such materials in their own classrooms.
http://www.assumption.edu/whw/
Women Pioneers in American Memory | Library of Congress
This "Feature Presentation" explores the stories of women who have forged ahead to make a better life for themselves, their families, and their societies. This presentation begins with examining women's experiences of the California Gold Rush and goes on to explore issues such as suffrage, the struggle for equality and women at work. From the Learning Page section of the American Memory Web site.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/ features/women/women.html
Women and the Social Movements in the United States, 1775-2000
This Web site contains mini-monographs that interpret documents. Each mini-monograph poses an interpretive question and provides a collection of documents that address the question. The "Teachers Corner" contains comprehensive lesson plans and ideas and Document-Based Question units.
http://womhist.binghamton.edu/
March 8, International Women’s Day and Women's History Month | NEA
Issues in Education area offers information on the gains, the challenges, and history of Women’s Day and Women's History Month.
http://www.nea.org/international/intlwomen.html#challenges
Profiles
Women of NASA
This resource was developed to encourage more young women to pursue careers in math, science, and technology. The Women of NASA interactive project showcases outstanding women who are enjoying successful careers and demonstrates how these women balance personal and professional responsibilities. The main components of the project are the interactive events, which include live chats, forums, and Webcasts and offer participants the opportunity to dialogue with the featured mentor.
http://questdb.arc.nasa.gov/content_search_women.htm
Women’s Intellectual Contributions to the Study of the Mind and Society
This Web site is designed to place women into the history of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and social work. There are dozens of resources available about the lives of these women, their intellectual contributions, and the unique impact and special problems that being female had on their careers.
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/women.html
Topical Resources
National Women’s History Museum
This site's educational resources include a self-guided tour of the museum, biographies of famous women, lesson plans, quizzes and quotes, and women's history events by state.
http://www.nmwh.org/
Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848-1998
Sponsored by the National Women’s History Project, this Web site was conceived in order to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Movement, which began in 1848. Most useful on the site are the full history of the women's rights movement and a detailed time line of the 150 years of the movement.
http://www.legacy98.org/
The History Channel: Women’s History Month
HistoryChannel.com includes profiles of numerous famous women, a Hall of Fame, a History of Women’s Suffrage in America, a time line, Women's Firsts, and other resources.
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/womenhist/
The National Women's Hall of Fame
This Web site from the Seneca Falls, New York, National Women's Hall of Fame houses biographies of famous American women.
http://www.greatwomen.org/
Recommended Books, Women’s Studies | PBS TeacherSource
Each month, PBS recommends a select number of books for teachers and students of all grade levels. Here you'll find an archived list of all books recommended over the past several years relevant to Women's History Month. Each recommendation is annotated and includes title, author, and publication date.
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/recommended/ social_studies/bk_womensstudies.shtm
Research Tools, Women's History | Scholastic
An excellent resources for students, this site contains student-friendly essays on the history of Women's History Month, the women's suffrage movement, and women in the U.S. today, and profiles of civil rights activists, artists, athletes, political women, journalists, scientists, and others.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/womhst/
Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony | PBS
An online companion to the PBS documentary, this site includes a collection of resources that may be used in the classroom. Experience the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony -- at home or in the classroom. Track key events in the suffrage movement, delve into historic documents and essays, and take a look at where women are today.
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/
Women in Alaska’s History | ThinkQuest
This site, developed by students for the ThinkQuest competition, helps students learn about a diverse group of women who helped shape the Alaska we know today. On the site, you'll find information about these women and their roles in early Alaskan history, the gold rush, the Iditarod, and other aspects of Alaskan history and culture. A search engine and time line allows you to search for a specific woman or time period in Alaskan history. An activities section includes teaching ideas and fun projects to supplement this site.
http://library.thinkquest.org/11313/
What Did You Do In The War, Grandma?
This site is an excellent example of a community oral history project. The site is produced by students at South Kingstown High School in Rhode Island and contains 26 oral histories of women's memories of World War II, an introduction explaining how English teachers might approach oral histories, a WWII time line, a bibliography, and two scholarly prefaces. http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html
True-Hearted Vixens | PBS: P.O.V.
True-Hearted Vixens is the story of two players who make the cut for the Women's Professional Football League's (WPFL's) first exhibition tour. Jane Bolin is a political consultant turned linebacker, and Kertia 'Moochie' Lofton is a single mother and a professional women's basketball hopeful. The film also documents the challenges the WPFL faces in developing an audience for a sport that is traditionally regarded as male terrain. Explore the world of girls' and women's sports, and brush up on your history of U.S. women in team sports.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/trueheartedvixens/
Eleanor Roosevelt | PBS: The American Experience
For more than thirty years, she was the most powerful woman in America. Niece of one president and wife of another, Eleanor Roosevelt was at the center of much of this century's history -- a charismatic woman of charm and of contradictions. Aristocratic in voice and manner, she was also "tough as nails," says historian Geoffrey Ward. "In fact, she was one of the best politicians of the twentieth century." As this PBS film and Web site explore her life and works, you'll have an opportunity to discover her influence on the changing role of women in the United States.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/filmmore/index.html
Fly Girls | PBS: The American Experience
During WWII, more than a thousand women signed up to fly with the U.S. military. Wives, mothers, actresses, and debutantes who joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) test-piloted aircraft, ferried planes and logged 60 million miles in the air. Thirty-eight women died in service. But the opportunity to play a critical role in the war effort was abruptly canceled by politics and resentment, and it would be 30 years before women would again break the sex barrier in the skies. As women's place in the US military continues to evolve -- including conducting bombing missions for the first time during the recent Desert Fox campaign -- the story of these female pioneers is more relevant than ever.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/index.html
Iran on the Verge | PBS: Adventure Divas
Iranian women in particular feel the rumblings as the country's political and cultural landscape shifts. Their lives are racked with contradictions. They must hide their bodies, yet their voices are starting to be heard. http://www.pbs.org/adventuredivas/iran/groundwork/
Lesson Plans
Resources: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony | PBS
Subjects: Social Studies, History, Civics, Government, Language Arts
Grades: 6-8, 9-12
Incorporating women's history into your curriculum is easy with these lesson ideas. Write editorials about women's rights around the world today; interview senior citizens about how women's roles have changed in the 20th century; investigate women's legal rights over 200 years of American history through primary documents; and explore the connections and conflicts between the suffrage and abolition movements in 19th century America.
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/resources/index.html
Lessons include:
Miss America | PBS: The American Experience
Subjects: History, Economics, Geography, Civics
Grades: 6-8, 9-12
"Miss America" offers insights into American history topics including the Jazz Age, the Depression, World War II, the Baby Boom, feminist and civil rights activism of the 1960s, the women's liberation movement, and more.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/tguide/index.html
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