#603 Progressive Reform: Women’s Suffrage and its Opponents

Women's suffrage activists picketing the White House, 1918.

Evaluating The Jungle discussion

• Complete the Google Forms survey to respond to the following questions, providing careful reasoning and evidence (to the extent possible) to support your reasoning:
  
  • On a 6-point scale, how would you evaluate your individual contribution to our class discussion? Why?
    
  • On a 6-point scale, how would you evaluate the class discussion as a whole? Why?
    

“The Women’s Era” (1890-1920)

• Based on our homework last night . . .
  
  • What were some of the new opportunities that emerged for women in the period?
    
  • What were some of the important social and political causes that women were involved with during this period?
    
• How might you explain the relationship between the opportunities and the activism mentioned above?
  
• How do you think non-activist Americans responded to the causes presented by women activists during this period? Why?
  

The Anti-Suffragists

• Together, read this selection from Molly Elliot Seawell (Google Doc).
  
• Together, discuss:
  
  • Sourcing:
    
    • Who wrote this?
      
    • When was it written?
      
    • What do you predict this person will say about suffrage?
      
  • Close reading:
    
    • What is her argument?
      
    • What evidence does she use to support her argument?
      
    • What words does she use to make her point stronger?
      
  • Contextualization:
    
    • What does this document suggest about the assumptions that people held about women in 1911?
      
• Next, read the anti-suffrage newspaper from New York and the remarks of Rep. John A. Moon individually and begin prepare for our class discussion by reviewing the following questions with a partner:
  
  • According to these documents, why were people opposed to woman suffrage?
    
  • Try to see things from the anti-suffragist perspective (i.e. assume that the were not simply mean-spirited). Why might women’s suffrage have been scary to them?
    
  • Are you surprised that many anti-suffragists were women? Why or why not?
    
  • Do you think the reasons for opposing suffrage were political (men did not want to lose their political positions) or social reasons (ideas about women’s place in society)?
    
  • What additional documents would you want to see to get a better picture of how people thought at that time?
    
  • After reviewing these alternative perspectives, what advice might you give to pro-suffrage activists?
    

Homework: Assignment #604