Women's Rights

Lesson Plan

Defiance and Dignity, Mary Church Terrell

Students will examine a timeline of the life of Mary Church Terrell and complete a close reading of her speech, “The Progress of Colored Women” (1898)

Lesson Plan

The Legacy of Historical Sites featured in Black Feminist DC

In Spring 2023, the National Women's History Museum partnered with a class at Miss Hall's School, an independent high school for girls in Massachusetts, to create a discussion guide for select sites featured in "We Who Believe in Freedom."

Lesson Plan

Women, Education, Sports, and Title IX

How has Title IX impacted women in education and sports over the last 5 decades?

Biography

Ophelia Settle Egypt

Ophelia Settle Egypt was a medical social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is remembered for many things, including her work to make women’s and reproductive healthcare accessible to the Black communities in Southeast Washington, DC.

Biography

Bernice Johnson Reagon

Bernice Johnson Reagon is a renowned composer, historian, musician, and activist.

Biography

Loretta Ross

Loretta Ross is an academic and activist who has dedicated many years to advocating for women’s rights and reproductive justice.

Biography

Mary Treadwell

Mary Treadwell was a notable DC-based activist and community organizer. Treadwell is most noted for co-creating Youth Pride, Inc., a job-training program that assisted inner-city youth. She also advocated for the decriminalization of abortion.

Lesson Plan

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

This is a short thirty-minute lesson on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

Lesson Plan

Janet Yellen: The Progress of Women and Minorities in the Field of Economics

The students will discuss diversity within the economics profession and in the federal government, and the functions of the Federal Reserve System and U. S. monetary policy, by reviewing a historic timeline and analyzing the acts of Janet Yellen.

Biography

Zitkála-Šá ("Red Bird"/Gertrude Simmons Bonnin)

Zitkála-Šá (“Red Bird”), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Native American musician, writer and activist who fought for women's suffrage and Indigenous voting rights in the early 20th century.

Lesson Plan

The Janes

In this lesson, students will consider what life in America was like prior to Roe v. Wade.

Biography

Asieh Amini

Journalist and poet Asieh Amini is a leading voice in the campaign to end stoning and juvenile executions in Iran.

Biography

Liya Kebede

Harnessing her fame as a supermodel, and drawing on her experiences as a child in Ethiopia and as a mother in the United States, Liya Kebede has become a leading advocate for maternal, newborn, and child health around the world.

Biography

Matilda Joslyn Gage

Famously referred to as “the woman who was ahead of the women who were ahead of their time,” author, activist, and lecturer Matilda Joslyn Gage worked tirelessly to advocate for abolition, women’s rights, and Native American rights.

Biography

Nanfu Wang

A 2020 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant winner, Nanfu Wang uses film to explore the relationship between individuals and governments.

Biography

Elsie Robinson

Elsie Robinson was a journalist, fiction writer and poet. She was best known for her nationally syndicated column, Listen, World! which was read by more than 20 million Americans between 1921-1956.

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.

Biography

Elizabeth Packard

After defending her sanity at trial in 1864, Packard campaigned to ensure the rights of the mentally ill as well as those of married women.

Lesson Plan

Angela Davis, Feminist Solidarity

Students will explore Angela Davis’ call for intersectionality and a feminist solidarity for the 21st century.

Lesson Plan

How do we remember and honor the contributions of women in public space?

The objective of this lesson is to help students thinking critically about public history and the decision-making that goes into designing and advocating for public memorials to commemorate women in American history.