Lesson plan for
THE 1900s
Introduction
This lesson is about the 1900s in the United States. In the 1900s, citizens worked together to
form movements to expand individual rights. This lesson will teach the nine questions from
the naturalization test relating to 1900s and reinforce what they learned in this theme and
others by reviewing three movements that worked to expand individual rights in the 1900s:
the women’s rights movement, the civil rights movement, and the youth rights movement.
Objectives
The student will be better able to
• Recall the answers to the nine USCIS test questions in the 1900s theme.
•
Recognize and describe three movements that expanded individual rights in the 1900s.
USCIS Questions
In the 1900s theme:
78.
Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
79.
Who was President during World War I?
80.
Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
81.
Who did the United States fight in World War II?
82.
Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
83.
During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
84.
What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
85.
What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?
86.
What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?
Related:
48.
55.
54.
57.
77.
There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe
one of them.
What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
When must all men register for the Selective Service?
What did Susan B. Anthony do?
Time
Theme: 30 minutes
Activity: 30 minutes
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Materials
•
Internet connectivity
•
EITHER classroom projector OR enough computers for students to use as individuals or
small groups
•
Preparing for the Oath website, the 1900s theme
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=10)
•
Expansion of Rights handout (attached)
Challenge Words
You can find all of the bold words in the vignettes in the word list
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Wordlist.pdf). Listed below are some of those
words that will come up often during the lesson.
Ally/Allies: a country that joins another country to fight a war
Communist/Communists/Communism: a political system in which the government
controls all the production of food and goods.
Stock Market: a financial system where people buy and trade stocks or parts of
companies
General: a person with a high rank in the Army, Air Force, or Marines
Terrorist/Terrorists/Terrorism: someone who uses bombs and violence to achieve
political goals
Teacher Tech Tips
To learn how to use Preparing for the Oath, visit the help page at
http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/help.html
Depending on your students’ proficiency level, you might want to offer a transcript of the
narration for students to read along while watching and listening, or to have as a reference.
You can find printable transcripts at
http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Transcript.pdf.
You may notice that the web address never changes as you navigate through Preparing for
the Oath. In order to go directly to a specific theme or question on the site, you can find a list
of links at http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Links.pdf. These links may be useful
for using your browser’s “bookmark” tool or assigning student work. The link to go directly to
the 1900s theme is http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=10.
Some learning environments will be conducive to the sound features, while others will not. It
is always possible to turn on and off the website’s audio feature by clicking on this symbol:
However, please keep in mind that the test itself is spoken aloud. Students will need to be
comfortable responding to spoken questions, and be able to respond orally.
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Don’t feel tied down by the structure of the themes. Once you are inside a theme, the image
tiles along the bottom represent the individual questions within that theme. You may click on
the tiles out of order to view the questions as you choose. Similarly, you may jump around
the three modes within each question: Learn, Practice, and Try.
Procedure
1. Lead the class through the 1900s theme, as presented on the Preparing for the Oath
website (http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/index.html?theme=10).
2. Review the theme’s vocabulary, in this document (above) or in the word list
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/pdf/Wordlist.pdf).
3. Distribute the Expansion of Rights handout (attached) to the class.
4. Depending on class level, complete the handout as a class, in groups, or individually.
5. Ask students to read the completed paragraphs aloud.
6. Review the USCIS questions (above) from this lesson.
7. Discussion Questions
a. Have the changes from the civil rights movement affected you?
b. Have the changes from the women’s suffrage movement affected you?
c. Have the changes from the youth movement affected you?
d. Are there issues you would protest and fight to change?
Learn More Links
Smithsonian’s History Explorer
(http://historyexplorer.americanhistory.si.edu)
Your gateway to innovative online resources for teaching and learning American history,
designed and developed by the National Museum of American History.
Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown)
This online exhibition accompanies an exhibit of the same name from National Museum of
American History. The exhibition discusses the history of the Brown v. Board court decision in
detail and highlights museum objects that relate to Jim Crow and Brown v. Board.
OurStory: Winning the Vote for Women
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/activities/suffrage)
“Winning the Vote for Women,” is a set of themed activities from the National Museum of
American History. Part of the OurStory website, these activities explore woman suffrage from
the 1900s to the present. Though designed for young learners (grades K through 4), the
background information and activity ideas could also enrich citizenship instruction.
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Background
•
•
•
•
The right to vote is the most basic right of citizenship in a democratic society.
The United States Constitution did not specify the voting process, including who
should have the right to vote. Instead, the Constitution left the matter up to the
individual states.
In the 1790s, most states extended voting rights only to white males who owned land.
By the 1820s, many of the property requirements were dropped and the majority of
white males were allowed to vote. Only after the Civil War did the federal government
enact laws specifying certain national standards. Slowly, suffrage was extended to all
citizens 18 years and older.
Controversy, discrimination, and conflict have often characterized the history of
voting, as the poor, women, minorities, and youth have had to fight to obtain this
basic right of citizenship.
Woman Suffrage
• For more than a century, women in the United States struggled to obtain the right to
vote. As they sought to claim their rights as citizens, they confronted deeply
entrenched prejudices against women’s participation in political life.
• In 1920, the suffrage movement finally achieved victory when the Nineteenth
Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
• Having won the right to vote, many women’s rights activists continued to work toward
a broader definition of social and political equality.
Civil Rights Movement
• Laws in the South separating African American and white residents proliferated during
the 1880s.
• The 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case created a national yardstick for these
statutes. Under this ruling, facilities provided for African Americans were to be
separate from but equal to those furnished for whites.
• In reality, African American facilities were rarely comparable. The Jim Crow system
dominated Southern society by creating separate hotels, restaurants, theaters,
barbershops, schools, and playgrounds for blacks.
• Trains, buses, and streetcars also segregated their passengers by race.
• Segregation ordinances adopted by some cities even demanded separate water
fountains and restrooms in public places.
• Jim Crow statues relegated blacks by law to second-class citizenship.
• The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s led to the passage of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination and segregation in voting, education, and
the use of public facilities.
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Youth Movement
• During the Vietnam War (1959-1973), young people became more active in politics,
civil rights, and antiwar movements.
• Historically, the age of maturity was 21, and most states fixed that age for voting.
• Men register for the Selective Service at 18 years old. The slogan “Old enough to fight,
old enough to vote” has a long precedent in British and American history. First
proposed in 1942, the 18-year-old vote gained growing support.
• Congress proposed the Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified June 30, 1971, lowering the
voting age to 18 and enfranchising 11 million new voters.
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Expansion of Rights in the 1900s
In the 1900s, people fought for more rights. They gave speeches and held protests. People
gained more rights.
Fill in the missing words below to find out more.
Women’s Rights Movement
Women fought for many years to get the right to vote. Women gave __________ and
protested for the right to vote. In 1920, the Nineteenth __________ changed the
Constitution. It gave women the right to __________. ____________________ is an
important leader from this movement.
Civil Rights Movement
The __________ Rights Movement tried to end racial discrimination. In many places,
African Americans were not __________ to vote. They had to go to separate
__________, and use separate public spaces. In the 1950s and 1960s, people of all
races worked for equal rights for all Americans. They demanded that the government
change its __________ and protect the rights of all Americans.
____________________ is an important leader from this time.
Youth Rights Movement
The youth movement started because many young people disagreed with the
Vietnam __________. Men ages 18 to 26 must register for the Selective __________.
The United States used the Selective Service to choose people to fight the war.
Sometimes, men that were sent to war were too young to vote. Young people
protested. In 1971, the Twenty-sixth Amendment changed the __________ to lower
the minimum voting age to 18.
Word Bank
allowed
Amendment
Civil
Constitution
laws
speeches
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Susan B. Anthony
schools
vote
Service
war
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