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Explore Great Women in History
Celebrate the great achievements and discoveries made by women throughout history with lesson plans, activities and interactives from Thinkfinity.org.
Recommended Resources
More Lesson Plans
Cultural Change -- In this lesson from EDSITEment, students examine some of the arguments used to win the vote for American women and explore the cultural dimension of these arguments as reflected in their characterization of men and women.
Women's History: Great Women of Our Pasts -- This introductory resource for the "OurStory" module entitled Great Women of Our Pasts, includes links to hands-on activities and a list of recommended readings related to the topic of women's history.
Who Were the Foremothers of Women's Equality? - This lesson, from EDSITEment, introduces students to the achievements of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the "foremothers" of women's equality.
Women's Equality: Changing Attitudes and Beliefs -- In this EDSITEment lesson, students begin to appreciate the deeply entrenched opposition the early Women's Rights crusaders had to overcome.
Family and Friendship in Quilts
In this unit of three EDSITEment lessons, students recognize how people of different cultures and time periods have used cloth-based art forms to pass down their traditions and history. Quilting continues to be largely a home-based form of art, primarily engaged in by women. This unit heightens students' awareness of how quilts have reflected the lives of the people who create them, and of how quilts record the cultural history of a particular place and time.
Ladies, Contraband, and Spies: Women in the Civil War -- Students look at a series of document galleries to see the perspectives of slave women, plantation mistresses, female spies, and Union women during the Civil War. Ultimately, students understand the human consequences of this war for women.
Setting the Precedent: Four Women Who Excelled in Business
Meet four American women who succeeded in business during the twentieth century in this online exhibition from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Each woman-Freda Diamond, Estelle Ellis, Dorothy Shaver, and Brownie Wise-was exceptional in many respects.
The American Experience - Fly Girls
The video and resources on the Web site help students explore the many roles American women played during World War II, especially women aviators enlisted as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS).
The Women Writers Project
An effort to digitize texts by pre-Victorian women writers to make them accessible to a wider audience.
Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. Walker and J.C. Penney
This lesson features the life stories of two business people who lived the American Dream and who helped make that dream a reality for others in their communities. It tells how Walker, an African American woman, and Penney, a former tuberculosis patient, built from scratch their multi-million and billion dollar businesses.
Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During WWII -- Exhibit
Spotlights 8 out of over 100 American women who secured official military accreditation as war correspondents, if not actual front-line assignments during World War II.
Women in Medicine: Past and Future
The purpose of this lesson, from Science NetLinks, is to explore scientific enterprise in relation to the role of women in science as it has developed over the last 150 years. In this investigation, students compare the careers of two women, a century apart, involved in medical research. They also learn about xenotransplantation, the use of animal organs and tissues for transplant into human patients.
Women Writers Resource Project
This is a collection of edited and unedited texts by women writing in English from the 17th century through the 19th century. The project offers graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to edit texts. A complete list of unedited texts, suggestions for assignments, bibliographic resources, and examples of graduate student work are available.
Women's History Month
Showcases historic properties that illustrate contributions of women to our nation's history. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Eleanor Ford, Emelia Earhart, Mary McLeod Bethune, and are among those featured.
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Student Activities
Women In History -- What was life like for women in the late nineteenth century? Today you will compare the role of women in our society from different viewpoints.
Counting the Miles To Freedom -- Travel the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman as your guide in this NTTI lesson plan that introduces students to the Underground Railroad using two interactive Internet sites.
"Why oh Why…Nellie Bly?" -- This would probably be the question most asked when people in 1885 first heard of Nellie Bly. In the late 1800s, there were few career women, and a woman in the newsroom of a large newspaper was totally against all standards of the time!
A Ribbon Around a Bombshell - A Glimpse into the Life and Art of Frida Kahlo -- Explore how Frida Kahlo expressed her Mexican heritage and physical disabilities through her art and have your students create a PowerPoint presentation about their own heritage by using this lesson plan
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Video
Anna Ella Carol (Windows Media) and (RealVideo) --
Anna Ella Carol was a propagandist, writer, and military war strategist during the Civil War era. The daughter of Governor Thomas King Carol, she lived on Maryland's Eastern Shore. As an unofficial member of the U.S. Secret Service, operating under President Lincoln's orders, she slipped behind enemy lines and devised a plan to penetrate southern defenses. Historians hail Anna Ella Carol as a most distinguished Marylander.
Mary Garrett (Windows Media) and (Real Video) --
John W. Garrett, the man who captained the extensive growth of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad during the last half of the nineteenth century, left stocks, land, and five and a half million dollars to his heirs. Garret’s daughter, Mary, devoted her share of his fortune to the cause of women’s education. In this piece, learn how Mary and four close friends expanded opportunities for women’s education.
Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller, and Countrywoman -- Learn about the life of author and illustrator Beatrix Potter in this documentary film. Interesting facts about her life and times are presented against a backdrop of some of her beautiful watercolors.
Verda Freeman Welcome (Windows Media) and (RealVideo) -- This clip features Verda Freeman Welcome, a politician, civil rights crusader, and community activist from Baltimore. In 1959 Welcome became the first African-American woman elected to Maryland's House of Delegates. In 1962 she was elected as the country's first African-American state senator.
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