Good Trouble: Women’s Suffrage

8-10 yrs old

11-13 yrs old

14-18 yrs old

Government and Politics

Leadership

Service Learning & Social Good

Join Emmeline Pankhurst in Victorian Britain to learn all about her journey and quest to fight for women to have the right to vote.

Submitted By: Felisa Ford, Ken Shelton, Natasha Rachell

March 30, 2021

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Skills

Character
Citizenship
Critical Thinking

External References

Women's Vote Centennial Inititiative

This website focuses on the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the right of women to vote in the United States.

The Women's Suffrage Movement

This Kids National Geographic Article focuses on the Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States.

History of the 19th Amendment

This Newsela article focuses on the 19th Amendment and the Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States.

Fight for the Vote

Seven things you might not know about the women's suffrage movement.

Woman in White: Hillary Clinton's Suffragette Tribute

The significance of white in the Women's Suffrage Movement.

Timeline of the 19th Amendment

19th Amendment: A Timeline of the Fight for All Women's Right to Vote

Emmeline Pankhurst: Little People, Big Dreams

Meet Emmeline Pankhurst, an inspiring women's rights activist who changed the world for future generations of women.

History VIPs: Emmeline Pankhurst

Votes for Women! This biography tells the story of Emmeline Pankhurst.

Suffragette: The Autobiography of Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst was a leader of the British suffrage movement in a critical era—the early 1900's—and helped women win the right to vote.

Supporting Files

Good Trouble: Women's Suffrage Movement

This is the full lesson plan for the Minecraft Good Trouble: Women's Suffrage Movement lesson.

Learning Objectives

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Students will develop an understanding of the women’s suffrage movement.
HEROIC CONTEXT: Students will research Victorian Britain and the history of how women gained the right to vote in various parts of the world.
HISTORICAL/POLITICAL AWARENESS: Students will develop a better understanding of how challenging the norms that existed lead to change so that women were able to take part in the voting process.
SOCIAL MOVEMENT: Students will develop a better understanding of how they can become advocates for supporting women’s movements throughout history.

Guiding Ideas

Historical Context:

What factors contributed to women not having the right to vote?
How was Emmeline Pankhurst instrumental in being a change agent for women having the right to vote?
How could the lack of women having the right to vote affect their lives, the community in which they live, and the world?

Heroic Context:

Why would Emmeline Pankhurst be considered one of the heroes in the movement for women to have the right to vote?
Who are some other activists serving as catalysts for change in the movement for women to have the right to vote?
This short list is by no means complete but serves as a starting point for research:
- Christabel Pankhurst
- Sylvia Pankhurst
- Sophia Duleep Singh
- Sarah Remond
- Millicent Fawcett
- Emily Davison
- Maud Arncliffe Sennett

Historical Awareness

How has this movement affected women in different regions of the world?
How does the history of the right to vote for women differ in your country versus other countries around the world?

Social Movement

Why is it important for women to have the right to vote?
How do women having the right to vote change the community in which they live?

Teacher Preparation for Lesson:

Select the video (Whole Class Activity) that you would like to share with your class. Please note that the BrainPOP video requires a subscription.
The teacher will go to Flipgrid.com and locate a lesson in the Discovery Library called “Women’s Suffrage and Racism” by ADL. Add the topic to your class and make adjustments as necessary so the lesson fits the needs of your class.
For the Student Reflection activity, create a Word Cloud presentation in Mentimeter with the option to collect 3 responses from each student. Need help getting started? Watch this quick video: https://youtu.be/gnGa7QFGfNM.

Student Activities

Whole Class Activity:

The teacher will open the lesson by sharing one of the videos below appropriate to the grade level they teach:

BrainPOP (Subscription required): Women’s Suffrage https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/womenssuffrage/
Who was Emmeline Pankhurst?

Whole Class Discussion:

Introductory Questions: Students will participate in a class discussion about Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women’s Suffrage movement. Within this discussion the teacher should include the following questions:

Who is Emmeline Pankhurst?
Why do you think women had to fight so hard to earn the right to vote?
Why is it important for men and women to have equal rights to vote?
What is gender bias?

Student Activities:

1. Flipgrid Activity:

Students will access the Flipgrid topic created by their teacher and individually think about/reflect upon the following questions:
- What do you know about women’s right to vote?
- Which women were included and which women were excluded?
Students will then watch the video located within the Flipgrid topic: What You Need to Know About Women’s Suffrage.
Students will respond to the Flipgrid topic via video with their responses to the following questions:
- What is something that you learned that you didn’t know before?
- What is positive and inspiring?
- What is concerning?
- Given what you know about racism and exclusion in the Suffrage movement, should we celebrate or critique the 19th Amendment? Explain why.

2. Minecraft EE: Women’s Suffragette Movement

Good Trouble World File

Teachers will have their students enter the Good Trouble world and click on Emmeline Pankhurst in the lobby to teleport to Victorian London. There they will join NPCs of Congressman John Lewis and Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the Women’s Suffragette movement as she serves as a catalyst for change through the fight for women’s rights to vote. Students will explore the area and search for 8 different women NPCs who need to know that their time to vote has come. Once the 8th woman is informed of her right to vote, the Victorian gates will open and the students will return back to Black Lives Matter Plaza to meet with Congressman John Lewis to further discuss Good Trouble.

3. Reflection

Students will share 3 words via Mentimeter that they would use to describe women during the Suffragette Movement that served as catalysts for change to ensure that all women had the right to vote. The teacher will project this Mentimeter and share it with the class and discuss the results with the class. Note: The larger the words appear in the Mentimeter, the more frequently the students mentioned that word.

Extension Activities: (see the full lesson plan for all extension activities)

Students will use Adobe Spark Video to engage in Video Storytelling about what a day in the life would have been like for Emmeline Pankhurst during the Women’s Suffragettes Movement while she served as a catalyst for change to ensure all women had the power to vote.

Performance Expectations

At the end of this lesson:

Students will understand their role as activists in matters of social justice.
Students will understand the importance of equitable voting rights for all.
Students will understand the effects of not being able to vote has on the community in which they live.
Students will understand how women having access to voting can change their future.