Who gets to vote? Learn more about struggles for suffrage throughout United States history with a lesson based on primary source documents. Middle schoolers debate the importance of women's suffrage and African American suffrage before creating a prioritized list of qualities for potential voters. They then write a letter to the editor of The New York Times about human rights and disenfranchisement.

Concepts

constitutional amendments, women's suffrage, the united states constitution, frederick douglass, elizabeth cady stanton, the suffrage movement, voting rights, the declaration of independence, human rights

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Use the extension ideas as unit assessments or group projects
• Include in a unit about Constitutional amendments or the civil rights movement

Classroom Considerations

• The debate between women's suffrage and suffrage for African Americans could become heated; be sure that the objectives for the activity align with your classroom norms and curriculum
• Second part of the lesson requires articles from newspapers; lesson specifies The New York Times, but any current newspaper or online article works

Pros

• Comes with all necessary materials, including voting cards and primary sources
• Encourages learners to think critically about the rights some take for granted

Cons

• None

Common Core

RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.2 RH.6-8.3 RH.6-8.4 RH.6-8.5 RH.6-8.6 RH.6-8.10