Lesson of the day

19th Amendment Part 2 (Grades 6-12)

Listen: You can hear the episode here (Apple podcasts) on YouTube, or on our website. Feel free to take notes on our Graphic Organizer!

Do: 19th Amendment Quiz (click here)

Do: Visit the National Portrait Gallery

Early this year, the National Portrait Gallery hosted an exhibition of portraiture mixed with all sorts of ephemera of the women’s suffrage movement. The idea was to show what a complicated web of politics, societal expectations and race the movement — or, more accurately, movements — were. Though the exhibition is long-over, you can walk through it (so to speak) by clicking here or on the image below. You’ll meet the major players and get to know their roles in the fight for suffrage.

As you journey through the 80 years (and counting) in the fight for women’s suffrage, consider the myths you may have heard about these women and this movement versus the reality. You can also read this interview with Martha Jones and the curator of the exhibit, Kate Clarke Lemay, where they address the political power of these images and reexamine the legacy of the women’s suffrage movement. You can do a deeper dive on some of the figures who you may not know (or only think you know) by clicking their portraits below.