Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
Overview
Suffrage parade, New York City, May
6, 1912. Photo courtesy of the Library
of Congress.
Timelines are often dull laundry lists of events in
chronological order found on classroom walls or in
appendices of books. However, they are important tools
used by historians not only for organizing events, but also
for thinking about relationships and patterns. Timelines
come in a variety of forms and can be used for many
different purposes. Creating timelines offers students an
engaging and exciting way to do “hands-on history,” and
allows them to make observations, think critically, and
think historically.
Woman Suffrage offers many opportunities for timelines in the social studies classroom.
They may include national events and personalities, state activists, and local history,
allowing students an opportunity to discover historical connections to their own
neighborhoods. This lesson asks students to prioritize significant Illinois and national
history events from the woman’s suffrage movement, place them on timelines, analyze
differences, and express critical thoughts on the significance of selected timeline events
through an optional written homework assignment.
Grade(s):
K-12
Estimated Time:
30-60 minutes
Activity Objectives
Content: Students will learn the following historic content:
• Major national and Illinois events of the Woman Suffrage movement;
• How Illinois events of the Woman Suffrage movement interacted with national
events;
• Biographies of notable national and Illinois state suffragettes—i.e. Susan B. Athony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Willard; and the
• 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Historical Thinking: Students will learn the following historical thinking skills:
• Chronological thinking;
• Significance, and insignificance, of the past to their own lives;
• Prioritize historical facts and events in order to develop the “discerning memory”
needed for critical thinking and judgments;
• Change and continuity over time; and
• Historical analysis.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
Key Legal Concepts: Students will learn the following key legal concepts:
• Process of amending the U.S. Constitution;
• Rights of citizens to protest government policies, assemble, and advocate for change;
and
• Voting rights.
Suggested Preparations
Teacher:
• Introduction to Woman Suffrage and Woman Suffrage Movement, according to
curriculum;
• Introduction to voting rights, according to curriculum;
• Introduction to 19th Amendment, according to curriculum; and
• Decide what students will do—assemble timeline events, select events from larger
lists, or compile additional timeline or biographical events as needed. Compile lists,
cut events apart into strips, paste on card stock paper, possibly laminate for repeated
use—or simply compile the lists and have students cut into strips as part of the
activity.
Materials:
• Roll of butcher paper to cut, or chart paper for groups
• Tape
• Scissors
• Markers
• Space to hang large pieces of paper
• Copies of Timeline events for all groups, as well as extra copies for individual
students
• Copies of Timeline Assignment for individual students
Suggested Procedures
Activity:
1. Divide the class into small groups, approximately four students per group.
2. Distribute copies of the assignment, and Timeline Events handout to each student.
3. Present each group with an additional set of possible timeline events, using the
Timeline Events handout included in this packet. These will be used for the actual
timeline.
4. Distribute pieces of chart paper, or butcher paper cut to similar size, to each group.
5. Distribute scissors, tape, and markers to each group.
6. Distribute handout instructions to the groups, or simply explain the directions as you
go.
7. Students should title their timelines at the top of each of their papers—titles may be
“Woman Suffrage Movement,” or something similar.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
8. Ask students to choose the 25 most important events or dates from the Timeline
Events handout to include on their timelines—force groups to make choices.
9. Ask students to put their selected timeline items in chronological order on their
respective chart papers.
10. Ask groups to share their final timelines with the class by hanging timelines around
the classroom. Give students an opportunity to walk around and look at their fellow
classmates’ timelines.
11. Regroup, and ask groups to present their timelines to the class. Students should
explain the significance of their events, or the “so what” of their choices, rather than
simply reading the dates and events from their timelines. Students should “convince”
their classmates, or “defend” timeline choices. Since groups began with the same
pool of events, and presentations could get repetitive, limit groups to 5 minutes, and
suggest that they present “new” events that they may have included on their timeline
that other groups might not have thought important. This also forces groups to pay
attention to what the other groups are saying!
Debrief:
1. Students created different timelines using the same possible events—surely there are
differences! Discuss those differences. Make connections to historical
interpretations—just as different groups thought some events were important to the
timeline and other events less important, historians must decide what they will
include in history books.
Timeline Discussion Questions
• When did the campaign for women’s suffrage begin and end? Why? Do you
notice different starting and ending events on other groups’ timelines? Why do
you suppose they chose different events? Are they right or wrong? How easy or
difficult is it to pinpoint the start and end dates of the suffrage movement? What
does that mean for us as students of history?
• As you look at suffragists’ lives, what events do you find in common with many
of them? What differences do you notice? Were any of the suffragists active in
any other social movements? What does this tell us about them? What does this
tell us about the broader suffrage movement?
• How did individual citizens impact the rule of law and laws during the suffrage
movement? What other times in history have social activists successfully fought
for legal changes? What do we, as students of history, learn from this?
• What role did Illinois and the Illinois suffragettes play in the national woman’s
suffrage movement?
• How easy was it to select items for the timeline? Was it difficult to exclude
events?
• How would your group’s timeline change if it were being made for people outside
of Illinois?
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
2. Leave the timelines around the room so you may refer to events and people and make
historic connections in later lessons.
3. Students may complete the homework assignment of writing sentences summarizing
the historical significance of their timeline selections, as outlined on the handout.
Timeline Activity Variations:
• Add or subtract events, or expand or shrink timeline allowances to make the activity
more or less challenging for your students, according to your needs. For example,
instead of using a large list, shrink the list to 15 items, make them choose 10 items for
the timeline, or 5 items. The more items groups start with, and the smaller the final
number—or the more choices students are forced to make—the more challenging the
timeline project becomes.
• Cover content ground by having each small group teach the class about a new topic or
person. Assign each group a suffragette, for example, and use biographical facts as
possible timeline events. (A handy summary of Illinois suffragists is included in this
packet!)
• Add documents or photographs to the timeline to highlight specific events.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
19th Amendment
ratified.
Woman Suffrage History Timeline Activity
1920
You are a museum curator, and have to create an exhibit for your community about the
history of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the U.S. The American Bar Association has
been working with your boss to assemble some very important laws, cases, events, and
biographies related to the suffrage movement to include on the timeline. Unfortunately,
your museum can not afford to host an exhibit highlighting everything on your boss’ list.
Your job as curator is to select the most important items from the list, in order to best
educate your museum visitors about the Woman Suffrage Movement and its impact on
your community. What will you include? What you will leave out? Why?
Directions
1. Review the list of possible timeline exhibit events.
2. Cut the items apart into strips of paper.
3. Select 25 items from the list to include on your exhibit timeline.
As you create your exhibit, you’ll want to look for the most important
events, historically significant events, and the most relevant events for
your community. You want your exhibit viewers to be well-educated
about the history of Woman Suffrage in their community and throughout American history.
4. Use the large sheet of paper to create a timeline. Attach the events to the paper on the
timeline, in chronological order.
5. Once your timeline is assembled, go the copy of timeline events stapled to this sheet, and
mark all of the events that you used on your timeline so you have a record of them for later.
6. Share your final timeline exhibit with your classmates. Explain why you chose the events
that you did.
Homework Assignment
Using the list of possible timeline events, and the events that you marked as used
on your timeline, write 1-2 sentences for each event describing why it is important
enough to be part of your exhibit. In doing so, you should answer the following questions:
• Why should we know about the event?
• How does the event impact you today?
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• Why is it important for your community members viewing your exhibit to learn about the
event?
Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
Possible Suffrage Movement Timeline Events
1776
1792
1793
1812
1815
1818
1818
1820
1837
1838
1848
1848
1850
1853
1855
1855
1859
18611865
1864
1866
Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John, who is attending the Continental
Congress in Philadelphia, asking that he and the other men, who are at work
on the Declaration of Independence, “Remember the Ladies.”
Mary Wollstonecraft argues for the equality of the sexes in her book, The
Vindication of the Rights of Women.
Lucretia Mott born in Nantucket, MA.
Illinois becomes a territory, with suffrage for all white males over age 21
who pay taxes and have lived in the territory for at least one year.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton is born in Johnstown, NY.
Lucy Stone is born in West Brookfield, MA.
Illinois becomes the 21st state. The new state constitution gives the vote to
“white male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years.”
Susan B. Anthony is born in Adams, MA.
Young teacher Susan B. Anthony asks for equal pay for woman teachers.
Sarah Grimke publishes “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the
Condition of Women.” The Grimke sisters became active in both the
abolition and suffrage movements.
Three hundred people attend the first women’s rights convention in the U.S.
is held in Seneca Falls, NY. Participants sign a “Declaration of Sentiments
and Resolutions” that outlines the main issues and goals for the emerging
suffrage movement.
Illinois’ second constitution is drafted. Women are still excluded from the
vote.
Amelia Jenks Bloomer launches the dress reform movement. Bloomers were
later abandoned by many suffragists who feared it detracted attention from
more serious women’s rights issues.
During the World’s Fair in New York, suffragists hold a meeting, later
dubbed the “Mob Convention,” for the “hissing, yelling, and stamping.”
Suffrage leaders Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell marry. They forgo
celebration to campaign for suffrage.
The first suffrage meeting in Illinois is held in Earlville at the home of Susan
Hoxie Richardson, a cousin of Susan B. Anthony.
Carrie Chapman Catt is born in Ripon, WI.
The Civil War stalls suffrage activity as women divert their energies to “war
work.” The War offers women important organizational experience that they
will use following the conflict.
Grace Trout is born.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal
Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men
dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
1867
1868
1868
1869
1869
1870
1870
1870
1870
1871
1872
1874
1874
1875
1876
Lucy Stone leads suffragists to Kansas to campaign for women’s suffrage.
The suffragists are defeated on the ballot.
Congress ratifies the 14th Amendment, which extends to all citizens the
protections of the Constitution against unjust state laws.
Stanton and Anthony begin publishing The Revolution, a weekly newspaper
devoted to suffrage and other progressive causes.
The women’s rights movement splits into two factions as a result of
disagreements over the 14th and predicted 15th Amendments. Stanton and
Anthony organize the more radical National Woman Suffrage Association
(NWSA). Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe organize the
more conservative American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).
The Illinois Woman Suffrage Association is formed during the first Midwest
Suffrage Convention, and Mary Livermore is named president.
The 15th Amendment enfranchises black men. NWSA refuses to work for its
ratification, arguing, instead, for an amendment providing universal suffrage.
The AWSA begins publishing the Woman’s Journal.
The Illinois Woman Suffrage Association members, led by Francis Elizabeth
Willard, traveled to Springfield to convince the Illinois Constitutional
Convention to include universal suffrage in the proposed document. Willard
declared, “The idea that boys of 21 are fit to make laws for their mothers is
an insult to everyone.”
NAWSA begins publishing the National Suffrage Bulletin.
Victoria Woodhull addresses the Judiciary Committee of the House of
Representatives, arguing that women have the right to vote under the 14th
Amendment. The committee’s response is negative.
Susan B. Anthony registers and votes for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential
election in her home state of New York. She is arrested, tried, and convicted.
Her defense that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment entitled
her to vote does not fare well.
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is founded in Ohio by
Annie Wittenmeyer. The organization became an important force in the fight
for woman suffrage.
The case of Minor v. Happersett reaches the Supreme Court, where it is ruled
that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee women the right to vote.
Citizenship does not give women voting rights, and women’s political rights
are under individual states’ jurisdictions.
Michigan and Minnesota women get the right to vote in school, or municipal,
elections.
As the U.S. celebrates its centennial, Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes a
Declaration and Protest of the Women of the Unites States, which she
prepares to read at the formal celebration in Philadelphia. When the request
to present the Declaration is denied, Stanton and four other women charge
the speakers’ rostrum and thrust the document into the hands of Vice
President Thomas Ferry.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
1878
1879
1880
1887
1890
1891
1892
1893
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1900
1902
1903
1906
1910
The first Woman Suffrage Amendment is introduced in U.S. Congress by
California Senator A.A. Sargeant, and rejected.
180,000 Illinoisans sign petitions in favor of woman suffrage.
Lucretia Mott dies.
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Matilda Gage edit and
publish the first three volumes of The History of Woman Suffrage.
The NWSA and the AWSA are reunited as the National American Woman
Suffrage Association (NAWSA) under the leadership of Elizabeth Cady
Stanton.
Illinois women are granted voting rights in elections for school officials,
including college and university trustees. Many Illinois towns had additional
laws in place explicitly outlining full voting rights for males. In the town of
Lombard, however, the law stated that “all citizens above the age of 21 who
were residents shall be entitled to vote.” Lombard lawyer Ellen Martin and
fourteen other Lombard residents carried the law book to their polling place
and demanded a ballot. Polling officials refused. A county judge ruled in
their favor, and the first 15 female votes in Illinois were counted.
Susan B. Anthony assumes the presidency of NAWSA.
Colorado becomes the second state offering women full voting rights.
The World’s Columbian Exposition is held in Chicago. Susan B. Anthony
attends. State Senator Charles Bogarde claims that more people are for
suffrage than against it.
Lucy Flower is elected a trustee of the University of Illinois, the first woman
to be elected by voters state-wide.
Stanton publishes the Woman’s Bible. Many conservative suffragists
considered the publication too radical, thus potentially damaging to the
suffrage campaign, so they begin to distance themselves from Stanton.
NAWSA censures the work.
Idaho and Utah enfranchise women.
Chicago homemaker Caroline Fairfield Corbin founded the Illinois
Association Opposed to the Extension of Suffrage to Women. She believed
that women should stay in their “sphere” of home life and allow the men to
legislate.
Susan B. Anthony retires. Carrie Chapman Catt takes over as NAWSA.
Women from ten national meet in Washington, D.C. to plan international
efforts for women’s suffrage.
The Women’s Trade Union League of New York, an organization of middleclass working women dedicated to unionization to working women and to
woman suffrage, is established.
Susan B. Anthony dies.
Washington state women get the right to vote.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
1910
1911
1911
1912
1912
1912
1913
1913
1913
1913
1914
1914
1916
1916
1917
1917
1918
19181920
1919
Illinois suffrage leaders Catharine Waugh McCullough and Grace Wilbur
Trout led special automobile tours around the state speaking about the need
for women’s suffrage.
The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) is
organized. Members included wealthy, influential women, Catholics,
politicians, and corporate capitalists.
California women win the vote.
Alaska and Arizona grant women voting rights.
Presidential candidates court the female vote for the first time.
Suffragettes march up New York City’s Fifth Avenue, demanding the vote.
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize the Congressional Union. Members
participate in hunger strikes, picket the White House, and engage in other
forms of civil disobedience to publicize the suffrage cause. Eighty-five
Chicago women attend.
Kate Gordon organizes the Southern Woman Suffrage Conference to lobby
for laws that will enfranchise white women only.
Illinois allows women to vote in all elections. The suffrage bill was passed
after clever planning on the part of local suffragettes: With the help of new
representative William McKinley, the bill was introduced to a favorable
committee, and local suffragettes rallied callers, telegrams, and letters to
prove that public sentiment in favor of woman’s suffrage was abundant.
Ida Wells establishes the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago. It was the first
suffrage club for black women.
The National Federation of Women’s Clubs, which included over 2 million
women throughout the U.S., formally endorsed the suffrage campaign.
Nevada and Montana enfranchise women.
NAWSA unveils a “winning plan” for victory, as Presidential candidate
Woodrow Wilson promises that the Democratic Party Platform will endorse
suffrage.
Illinois women were among the 5,000 suffragettes who marched in Chicago,
in the rain, to the Republican National Convention hall, convincing delegates
to include a woman’s suffrage plank in the party platform, and got
presidential candidate Charles Evans Hughes to endorse the proposed
constitutional amendment.
Police arrest women picketing outside the White House. Some, like Paul and
Lucy Burns, go on hunger strikes while in jail, earning both sympathy and
disdain from others.
New York is the first east coast state to grant women suffrage.
President Wilson keeps his promise, and issues a statement supporting a
federal amendment granting woman’s suffrage.
World War I slows down suffrage campaigns, but NAWSA strategically
aligns itself with the war effort to gain more support.
Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Dakota allow all women to vote.
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Walking the Line to Woman Suffrage:
The Importance of Timelines
1919
1920
1923
1952
1955
1972
1982
1992
The 19th Amendment passes through Congress and goes to the states for
ratification.. Illinois was the first state to ratify.
The 19th Amendment is ratified after the deciding vote from Tennessee and
NAWSA finally accomplishes the goal of woman’s suffrage. The NAWSA
disbands and reorganizes as the League of Women Voters.
At the 75th anniversary of the Seneca Falls convention, Alice Paul proposes
and Equal Rights Amendment to remedy inequalities not addressed in the
19th Amendment.
The Democratic and Republican parties eliminate their women’s divisions,
thereby integrating women into the larger political process.
Grace Trout dies in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Equal Rights Amendment passes both houses of Congress and is signed
by President Richard Nixon. It must be ratified by ¾ of the states.
Deadline for ERA ratification expires three states short of adoption.
More women run for and are elected to public office than in any other year in
U.S. history.
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