Women’s Studies Curriculum - Eighth Grade Language Arts Lesson Plan
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Content/Theme:
Women’s Contributions
Grade Level:
Eighth Grade
Textbook Connection:
Literature, Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, Prentice Hall,
Silver Level, “Arguments in Favor of a Sixteenth Amendment”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pg. 405
Benchmarks
• LA.8.1.7.1 The student will use background knowledge of subject and related content
areas, prereading strategies, graphic representations, and knowledge of text structure to
make and confirm complex predictions of content, purpose, and organization of a reading
selection;
• LA.8.4.3.2 The student will include persuasive techniques (e.g., word choice, repetition,
emotional appeal, hyperbole, appeal to authority, celebrity endorsement, rhetorical
question, irony, symbols, glittering generalities, card stacking).
Time: 1-2 Class Periods
Objectives:
• Students will learn about Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s life and contributions to the
United States.
• Students will write a persuasive essay about rights in their school or community.
Teacher Preparation/materials:
• Multicultural Information
• Student Handout/Timeline
Activities:
1. Begin with a think-pair-share and discussion: have students think of the many
different ways which people have been or still are discriminated against. Have them
get together in pairs to discuss their feelings – have pairs write down a list. As a
large group, chart lists on the board and discuss:
• Ask students why they feel that certain groups of people are discriminated
against.
• Discuss how people throughout history have fought to be equal, and why.
Explain that all people have desires, passions, likes, dislikes, feelings, and
needs. Everyone wants and deserves to have the freedom to be their own person.
• Does anyone feel that women have ever been discriminated against? Why or
why not?
2. Read the information in the Prentice Hall Silver Series (pgs-404-407) about
persuasive speeches and read the speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a read aloud.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Tell students to listen and try to figure out what Ms. Cady is asking for. Teachers
may use the chart on pg. 404 to guide the students as they listen.
Have student pairs read the background about Elizabeth Cady Stanton (included)
and answer the questions. Discuss answers as a group.
Take students on a virtual tour of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s and Susan B. Anthony’s
lives on http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/ by clicking on the bottom bar or the
pictures of the ladies, you will enter a video/audio series which will take aprox. 3040 minutes to view (this video series can also be used a part of a center). Teachers
may also go to: “Historical Documents” and show students other speeches and
documents these women used to persuade congress and others for the right to vote.
Tell students they are going to take a stand about something they feel is important
to their school or community. Brainstorm with the class about things they feel are
inequitable, or changes that may need to occur within the community or school. To
start the conversation, ask students, “Do you think any change should occur with
parts of our school or community? Consider: transportation, dress code, field trips,
parent communication, ect.”
After brainstorming, choose a few topics to expand on. Ask students: Could you
make an argument for this using at least 3 different reasons why you believe this
change is important? Can you appeal to the emotion to the reader? Remember, you
are trying to convince the community and school leaders, not yourselves.
After modeling some pre-writing techniques, have students write their own
persuasive essay on a topic they choose. Have the class design a rubric for
assessing the writing assignment.
Students may choose to address the class with their issue as a persuasive speech.
Have the class design a rubric for assessing the speech.
Optional Activity: Show the film by PBS/Ken Burns: Not for ourselves alone: The story of
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
ESOL Strategies: Vocabulary in Context, Cooperative Learning
Assessment: Student Participation, Quiz, Writing Assignment, Speech
Resources:
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/
http://www.suffragist.com/default.htm
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/naw/nawstime.html
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the women's rights movement's
founding figures. Many different experiences in her lifetime attributed to
her passion for women’s rights. She was born November 12, 1815, in
Johnstown, New York. Many things were happening during these
early years of the United States. The U.S. was being flooded with new
immigrants, the south (and some of the north) was plagued with slavery,
and people had begun to speak up for human rights and equality for all.
Stanton was fortunate to be a part of a privileged family. Her mom stayed
home and took care of the kids while her father worked as a judge. Stanton had
four sisters and three brothers; but all of the brothers unfortunately died. She was
plagued by her father’s discontent of her. Although she pushed herself in school
to receive honors and accolades like a boy would, she never won the respect of
her father. She excelled in academics and attended the first all- women’s school
in the 1830’s.
Stanton had many friends who where reformists and abolitionists; and
would often speak against slavery. She married Henry Brewster Stanton, a lawyer
and abolitionist, in 1840. They moved to Seneca Falls, NY where in her
neighborhood and within her own family, she soon became aware of the
inequality of expectations that existed between men and women in her
generation. Stanton wanted to be a successful mother (she eventually had seven
children), but at the same time she wanted to be an advocate for women and
human rights. In 1848, she traveled with her husband to the World Anti-Slavery
Convention. There she met Lucretia Mott, a Quaker teacher who attended many
Anti-Slavery and Women's Rights organizations. She along with other women
attendees were denied seats with others at the convention, because they were
women. It was this last bit of inequality that sparked the fire in Elizabeth. It was
then that she and Mott sat down to a meeting with a few other women to discuss
a need for a convention on women's rights.
At this meeting the women decided to hold a Woman's Rights Convention at
Seneca Falls on July 19 and 20. They drew up a declaration of woman's rights
and modeled it after the Declaration of Independence. The list of their grievances
included the fact that women had no rights to property or wages earned; divorce
laws ignored women - only men had the power to divorce; physical and mental
abuse was not addressed as a legal issue; there were few choices for women’s
work and little pay; and unequal educational standards. Last of all, Elizabeth
wanted women to have the right to vote. This last demand was a radical one, even
for the other women at the meeting. They tried to talk her out of it, but she would
not back down on her conviction.
Many people attended the meeting in Seneca Falls; and on the second day,
when they had to vote on each item in the declaration, the only one that was
opposed was the one for women to vote. Frederick Douglas, an ex-abolitionist,
was instrumental in getting everyone to agree. Finally, sixty-eight women and
thirty-two men signed the declaration and promised to support women’s rights.
After the convention, Stanton and other key reformers concentrated on
abolishing slavery. It was clear that after the Civil War and amendments 14 and
15, African-American males would receive full citizenship, but not women. It
was at this time, in 1869, that Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a fellow suffragist,
formed the National Women's Suffrage Association, and for the next 20 years,
they spoke to and inspired suffrage societies all over America. Stanton would
continue her plight and at the same time be a mother and keep her household
together. When she would have to be at home, she would write the speeches and
have Anthony and her young energy deliver them. Anthony and Stanton were a
great team. People were surprised and irate at these women and the persuasive
speeches they would give. Most people still saw women as secondary, inferior,
and illogical, especially politically. The fact that they would consider themselves
equal, and also be able to vote, was shocking. Even in her later years, Stanton
would continue to campaign for women’s rights around the country. She sat as
president of women’s organization and published revolutionary books that would
continue the fire of women’s equal rights.
Even though Elizabeth was not alive to see women’s suffrage come about,
she was the spark that started the fire; and she was steadfast to see that the fire
would keep burning. Every time she or Susan or others gave a speech they were
recruiting other women into their membership. These women were young,
energetic, and they wanted to vote. It was important in Stanton’s life that she
stood up for what was right. In one speech, "The Solitude of Self," given in 1892,
she stated that, “One must be responsible for one's own actions, accept
consequences, create a moral life, and take a stand or not.”
• Why do you think the creators of the constitution used the word “men”
when they referred to equality?
• Why do you think the 14th and 15th amendment did not include women?
• What were some of the things within society that were unequal for women?
• Why do you think that Stanton wanted to be a good mother and a social activist?
• Why was it important that Stanton pushed the voting issue at Seneca Falls?
• Name at least three reasons/influences in Stanton’s life that lead her to be
so passionate about women’s rights.
1776 - John
Quincy Adams, at
the Continental
Congress, along
with others who
are writing the
constitution,
receives a note
from his wife
Abagail Adams,
asking him not to
“Forget the
Ladies” – he
responds with
humor.
1837 - The first
National Female
Anti-Slavery Society
convention meets in
New York City.
Eighty-one
delegates from
twelve states attend.
1837 - Mary Lyon
founds Mount
Holyoke College in
Massachusetts, the
first four-year college
for women in the
United States.
1916 - Lucy Burns and Alice Paul
form the National Women’s Party
Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from
Montana, is elected to the House of
Representatives and becomes the
first woman to serve in Congress.
President Woodrow Wilson
addresses the NAWSA.
1890 Wyoming
becomes a
state and is the
first to provide
suffrage for
women in its
constitution.
WOMEN’S RIGHT TO
EQUALITY AND VOTING
1848 - African Americans and
women still have no right to
vote.
1848 - The plight of women is
denounced by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott and
others at a gathering of 100
women’s rights advocates in
Seneca Falls, New York. The
convention passes several
resolutions which included
women being given the right to
vote.
1849 - Harriet Tubman
escapes from slavery. Over
the next ten years she leads
many slaves to freedom by the
Underground Railroad.
1913 - Alice Paul
organizes a suffrage
parade in Washington,
DC, the day of Woodrow
Wilson's inauguration.
1917 - Members of the National
Woman's Party picket the White
House. Alice Paul and Lucy
Burns are among the many
arrested and jailed for
"obstructing traffic." When they
go on a hunger strike to protest
their arrest and treatment, they
are force-fed.
1860 – Married
Women’s Property
Law: Anthony and
Stanton pushed this
law through
congress enabling
women gained the
right to own
property, engage in
business, manage
their wages and
other income, sue
and be sued, and
be joint guardian of
their children.
1870 - The 15th Amendment
to the Constitution is ratified,
providing African Americans
the right to vote and prohibiting
state and local governments
from denying that right.
1918 - House of
Representatives passes a
resolution in favor of a
woman suffrage
amendment.
The resolution is defeated
by the Senate.
1865 - The 13th Amendment
Abolishes Slavery
1868 - Lawmakers enact
the 14th Amendment to
the Constitution. It extends
to “all” citizens the
protections of the
Constitution against unjust
state laws. This
Amendment is the first to
define "citizens" and
"voters" as "male” only.
1869 – The radical, New York
based, National American
Women Suffrage Association
(NAWSA) is founded by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony
1920 - The 19th
Amendment to
the Constitution
finally guarantees
suffrage for
women.