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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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