“Remember the ladies” is perhaps one of the most famous lines by a woman of the Revolutionary Era. Abagail Adams pleaded with her husband John that women be included in some way in the new government. Abigail’s station in life afforded her the privilege of being able to express her desire for rights as other women in the upper middle class who were educated were also doing in different ways. At a time when a new government was forming under the pretense of equality and liberty, women wanted to be included in those ideals once the political turmoil had subsided.
Women, however, were forgotten. John dismissed Abigail’s request as “saucy” and went on to help write the U.S. Constitution. Women had to continue to advocate for themselves amid inequality. As this inequality continued over time, it is important to me to make sure my students understand that the people who are invisible in our history books existed and had an impact during their time even if they weren’t “important” enough to be in the text. In this case, women during the Washington administration were the center of our study. We remembered the ladies in a carefully designed unit and the girls in my class were particularly pleased with having a mirror of themselves in American history. I also made sure that my students were aware that all kinds of women advocated for themselves. A woman did not have to be famous like Abigail to express herself.
We started our study with a reading. (You can see it here.) Not the most exciting for students, I know, but working on non-fiction reading skills is important! I constructed an essay (with citations because I can’t take credit for any of the research AND as modeling for my students) that included the beliefs of feminists of the era and discovered that women first advocated for education. Education for men at the time was far superior to that of women. Because women were supposed to stay in the home, they were taught basic reading and arithmetic as well as homemaking skills. Boys were encouraged to take their educations further by studying advanced mathematics, Greek, Latin, philosophy and other subjects. Some went off to colleges in the United States and the luckiest went to Europe to study. If men were running the government, they had to be educated, right?
What about when those men were small, though? If it is a woman’s job to be in charge of caring for children, at the very least shouldn’t she be educated enough to also begin the academic and character education of her sons who will be running the country? Nevermind the whole equality and valuable contributions women could make to the country thing…
After the reading, I put students into pairs to discuss the theories each of the feminists in the reading presented for why women deserved an education in the 18th century. They analyzed each by putting the theories into their own words in the chart and then wrote what they thought of each argument in another space in the chart. Lastly, they numbered each argument from what they thought was strongest to weakest. This gave students time to grapple with the material, wrestle with ideas they may not have understood, and think critically about what they read.
Lastly, we held a march! The Women’s March of 1792 took place around the school building. To prepare, students were required to make signs as well as write two paragraph belief statements using the arguments of the feminists they studied. The belief statements had to be well constructed and express why the student was marching for the issue at hand. I let my colleagues know in advance that there’d be a rally coming through and also asked them to stop the protesters and ask them questions. This was one of the best assessments I’ve done. The kids were psyched to show what they know in a different way and the entire community got in on it. Additionally, they got to “practice” civic action in a safe environment, which is another goal I try to accomplish in my class.
What do you do to make sure there are mirrors in your classroom for every student? How do you practice civic action in big and small ways? Let me know: follow me on Twitter (@camendola3) or tell me in the comments section below.
