Showing posts with label women in history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women in history. Show all posts

Sunday, September 06, 2020

Unlearning and Relearning History: A Text Set on Women's Suffrage


After reading Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram Kendi realized how much I don't know about history. So, I set out to learn more. Early this summer I picked up the book Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne thinking it would be a quick read. It is not long and meant for middle grade/middle school.

I thought I knew a lot about women's rights but realized immediately that this was not going to be a quick read.  I realized that what I knew was VERY limited and that there were so many women whose work I did not know.  

And then I started seeing so much about the 100th Anniversary of women's right to vote and so much of it left out the important fact that not all women were given the right to vote at that time. The fight for voting rights was not over.

I don't know enough about this but I know that there is a lot I have to learn. So, I decided I had to build my own text set and approach this a little differently. I needed a bit more background knowledge, some highlighters and lots of pieces to read and build understanding over time. 

One thing I have learned is that when I build a text set for myself, it also works well in the classroom and when I am working with teachers to plan. When I learn, I have better resources to share with students. And I must admit that so much of what I learn about history lately is from incredible books written for children. These are the kind of text sets we need to build--for ourselves AND for our students. 

There aren't a lot of books out there about people other than those we hear about often in the fight for women's right to vote. But there are several.

None of these books have all of the info or all of the voices so I will have to be a critical reader, asking myself these questions as I go. I need to really think about what is missing and who is included in each of these books. And I won't be finished learning when I finish this text set. It will be only the beginning but I am hoping it builds enough background knowledge for me to have a better sense of history.

Maybe if we build text sets like these, students today won't have to unlearn and relearn history the way that I have had to.

Here are the books I plan to read over the next several weeks or months. And then I'll go back to Lifting as We Climb.

Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America by Deborah Diesen

This picture book explains the sequence of the fight for voter's rights and that it is continued work. The simple text is great to show the events and battles fought for voter rights and there is information at the end of the book that adds more.

Finish the Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote by Veronica Chambers and the Staff at the New York Times is a 100-page book that is told in narrative. The book begins with the words..."Here are some suffragists you may have learned about..." (above images of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other white women). "...but there are lots more you should know!" above images of a much larger number of women who were part of this fight. This book is filled with information, artifacts and photos and is written for middle grade/middle school readers.

History Smashers: Women's Right to Vote by Kate Messner

If you don't know this new series by Kate Messner, it is a great series for middle grade, middle school and anyone who is relearning so much history. This one on the Women's Right to Vote is an important one for this topic.  These books are chapter book length (about 200 pages) and filled with information that we may not have learned. There are also many great resources that can be explore independently after reading.  The tone of this series is conversational and accessible. 

Voice of Freedom: Frannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford is a picture book biography. I am truly alarmed at how few picture books are out there about BIPOC women civil rights activists. And even few specific to women's right to vote. This one is a great one and I hope we get more published about important BIPOC women.

Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told by Walter Dean Myers is a picture book biography that tells about Ida B. Wells' life as an activist.  Although this book doesn't focus solely on the women's right to vote, it does include many of the causes Wells fought for as well as events in her personal life. 


How Women Won the Vote by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

This book focuses on the part of the story we know best but it does include information on the discrimination women of color faced in this fight.  The way this is embedded in the story is helpful to understand the way the events played out.  This book includes photos from the events from history. 

There are several good online resources that have been published recently so I started a Padlet for myself (and whoever else is interested) with recent publications on the topic. Teen Vogue is a great source for relearning history so there are some articles from that publication. I have also found some podcasts, etc. that look promising. I'll keep adding resources. I am looking specifically for the pieces of this story that I don't know, people who I haven't learned about.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Women in Politics Do Great Things

 


Friday, August 14, 2020 was the 85th anniversary of the Social Security Act, and for this, and more, we have Frances Perkins to thank!

Praise for Thanks to Frances Perkins
 
“Engaging… An informative portrait of an activist and advocate whose accomplishments are still evident today.” Kirkus Reviews
 
“Informative…guardians seeking a woman activist’s framework, with actionable steps that resonate today, will find this picture book attractive." —Publishers Weekly

“The lively text presents Perkins’ life and times, while emphasizing her significant contributions to society. Created using pleasant, subdued colors, the well-composed digital illustrations bring past eras into focus and show Perkins’ determined work on behalf of others. An informative picture-book biography of a notable American.” Booklist



If you want to incorporate early economics education in your classroom, check out this blog post, and this free teachers' guide from Peachtree Books.

Want to hear from author Deborah Hopkinson? She wrote a post for the Nerdy Book Club.

Need a nonfiction text with a unique lead/hook to use as a mentor text? This book is for you!

So many reasons to love this book!! Thank you to to publisher for the review copy!



Wednesday, June 05, 2019

When You Go to a Museum



Last Saturday, Hubby and I went to the Dayton Art Institute to see the special exhibit "For America" before it closed on Sunday. It was an amazing collection. A requirement for membership into the National Academy is a portrait, and these (often of prominent artists) were paired with another piece by the artist who painted the portrait, or by the artist who was the subject of the portrait. There were lots of familiar artists (ie: white men), but I learned about some I will want to explore more deeply: Juane Quick-to-See Smith, an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; Charles White, who painted "images of dignity" of African Americans; and Isabel Bishop, an Ohio native who was a leading member of the Fourteenth Street School of artists.

But it was what we found in the museum before we got the special exhibit that had the most profound impact on me. It was an exhibit of hats. Amazing hats. Over the top hats. So many hats owned by one woman.

One woman...and what a woman! Why had I never heard of Dorothy Height?

"This hat was worn on regular days to the office."

"Success depends on your stick-to-itiveness and the passion
with which you pursue your goals.
Give yourself a start and keep going." --Dorothy Height


"If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time." --Dorothy Height

"Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes,
but by the opposition he or she has to overcome to reach his goals."
--Dorothy Height

"We African American women seldom do just what we want to do,
but always do what we have to do. I am grateful to have been in a time and place
where I could be part of what was needed."
--Dorothy Height

The hat she wore when Obama kissed her.

"Giving unconditionally is not a hard concept to understand
but it is very difficult for most to apply.
You have to be willing to see giving unconditionally
as something that you can do
because you recognize that your beneficiaries are human beings."
--Dorothy Height

From the introduction placard:

"Called the "Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement" by President Barack Obama, Dr. Dorothy Irene Height (March 24, 1912 - April 20, 2010) was an educator, activist, and a leader in the struggles for equality.

...she was rarely seen without a hat.

The hats worn by Dr. Height became a symbol of her personality, determination and poise. Often called "crowns" in the African American community, the hats are artistic creations, fashion items that Height wore on ordinary days and during extraordinary events in American history."

Dorothy Height wrote a memoir, Open Wide the Freedom Gates.
She also wrote Living With Purpose
and The Core of America's Race Problem.

She is featured on The History Makers: The Nation's Largest African American Oral History Collection (a resource to explore more deeply...)

and on the National Visionary Leadership Project website (another resource to explore more deeply...).

Her eulogy by Barack Obama can be found on American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank (yet another site that needs a deep dive).

I couldn't find any clips from the Broadway musical, "If This Hat Could Talk," but I did find an interview with Julia Garrison, who played the young Dorothy Height.

Here is an hourlong documentary that I will watch, "The Life and Surprising Times of Dr. Dorothy Height."




Maybe I should be embarrassed to go public with my ignorance of this amazing woman, but instead  I'm going to bank on the possibility that I'm not the only one and make this a teachable moment about my own personal ongoing education in all of the aspects of American History that were not a part of my school curriculums (read BIPOC and LGBTQIA aspects).

I'll also make a plug for going to museums. Go to a museum and be as aware of the lenses with which you read the exhibits as you are the lenses with which you are reading books and the world. Ask questions about the curators of the exhibit to learn what their lenses were. Try on new lenses. Look for gaps in your education. Enjoy the art and the history...and LEARN.



Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Strong Girls Rock the World

Franki recently shared her love for Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World by Susan Hood. (Olivia of @Livbits loves it, too. If you haven't watched her video, take a couple of minutes to do so. I'd add her to the list as the 15th young woman who's changing the world!)

I have two more Strong Girl books to add to your TBR stack and to your library.


Marley Dias Gets It DONE: And So Can You!
Scholastic Press, 2018

Marley Dias, founder of the #1000BlackGirlsBooks movement has written a book that is part memoir and autobiography and a whole lot Girl Power. This full-color book is jam packed with advice, inspiration, and action steps for young social activists. My favorite chapter is "Be The Change You Want to See in the World: Get Woke." She identifies three levels of Wokeness: Awareness, Consciousness, and Wokeness, then illustrates the levels using Disney Princesses. Cinderella is aware, Jasmine is conscious, but Mulan and Belle are full-on woke. It wouldn't be Marley Dias if she didn't have several sections on books and reading (her section on How To Read is fabulous!), plus an extensive booklist of books that feature black girls as the protagonist.



What Would She Do?: 25 True Stories of Trailblazing Rebel Women
by Kay Woodward
Scholastic Press, February 27, 2018

This book features the stories of 25 women from all times in history and from all over the globe. For each woman, there is a short blurb, full-color illustrations, a single-page highly readable biography,  a quote...and a question that a modern girl might ask with an answer based on that woman's life and legacy. Because of all of these features, this book will be accessible to a wide range of readers, and will likely be one they go back to over and over again to dig more deeply into the lives of  these inspirational women.


Friday, February 10, 2017

Poetry Friday -- Girl Power


photo via unsplash


They Can't Shut Us All Up

They can shut me up
but they can't change the truth--
I'm Rosa and Hillary, Malala and Ruth.

They can silence my voice
but I'll lead and you'll follow--
I'm Keller and Earhart, Cleopatra and Kahlo.

We rivet and code,
we teach and we heal,
orbit Earth, win Nobels,
go to prison for ideals.

They can't shut us all up
and they can't change what's true--
we're here to write history in PINK, not in blue.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017




This is a poem for Laura Shovan's Annual February Writing Project. The words/phrases for this poem

they
can
shut
me
up
but
they
can't
change
the 
truth

originated here.


Katie has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at The Logonauts.


Thursday, March 06, 2014

Founding Mothers


Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies
by Cokie Roberts
illustrated by Diane Goode
Harper, 2014
review copy provided by the publisher

In 2005, NPR political commentator Cokie Roberts wrote a 384 page adult book, Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation This picture book version of her work gives ten famous (and not so famous) women a double-page spread, and highlights Women Writers and Women Warriors with paragraph-length blurbs. The ten ladies are Eliza Lucas Pinckney, who at 19, while running three large plantations while her father fought for England against Spain, succeeded in raising indigo for the first time; Deborah Read Franklin, Ben's wife, who ran all his businesses in the States while he was in England; Mercy Otis Warren, an influential writer; Phillis Wheatley, a poet and a slave; Abigail Adams, letter-writing wife of John; Martha Washington, who spent every winter of the eight years of the Revolutionary War in military camps with husband George; Esther DeBerdt Reed, writer and fundraiser for the Revolutionary War effort; Sarah Livingston Jay, wife of John Jay; Catharine Littlefield Greene, wife of General Nathaniel Greene who, when running the plantation after his death, helped Eli Whitney with his cotton gin invention; and Dolley Madison, brave wife of James.

As the review in the New York Times points out, this book would be a whole lot more useful with a table of contents and a more discernible organization.

That criticism aside, this book provides some nice short texts about historic women. I can imagine students being charged with placing each woman on a continuum of influence, based on the information given by Roberts in the text, and arguing for their placements. I can imagine students choosing a woman to research in more detail, and then debating with another student about whose woman was the most influential. Even just the conversation about what makes a person influential would be fascinating, as would a discussion of the problem of how to know historic women deeply when they often did not leave a trail of primary source material for historians to study.

This book would also be fascinating to use in a study of the art of calligraphy. Diane Goode's pen and sepia ink illustrations in the style of the period, and her reproductions of each woman's signature made me want to get out my pen nibs and resurrect the skill I learned in high school art class.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Women's History Month: Touch The Sky




Touch the Sky: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper
by Ann Malaspina
illustrations by Eric Velaszuez
Albert Whitman & Company, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

This biography of the first African American woman to win Olympic Gold is written as a series of free-verse poems. Malaspina does a fabulous job showing the reader how Alice the child became Alice the Olympian.

Alice's dream and her talent were jeopardized by the poverty of her family and the color of her skin. But all along the way, people believed in her and opened doors for her. She never let them down. She literally cleared every hurdle put before her.

Photographs, the author's note, and the bibliography (including several websites) help to bring the story into sharp focus.

Monday, April 04, 2011

Basketball Belles by Sue Macy

Basketball Belles: How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women's Hoops on the MapI am still looking for great picture books that are biography or fictionalized biographies of some sort.  I think so much can be done with great picture book biographies and the new ones being published let our kids in on some stories from history that weren't available when I was a child.  Biographies from my childhood all focused on presidents, inventors, etc.  Very famous people from history.  But lately, there have been biographies published about people who made contributions to the world in many different ways. Some went on to become famous and others did not. The fact that we now have these to share with our students is exciting.  Knowing how people throughout history made a difference is so important.

Last week, while visiting the Dublin Library, I noticed BASKETBALL BELLES:  HOW TWO TEAMS AND ONE SCRAPPY PLAYER PUT WOMEN'S HOOPS ON THE MAP by Sue Macy. This book was on the shelf of new children's books and I picked it up.  It is a great story of the first ever girls college basketball game.  The story is told through the eyes of Agnes Morley, a guard on Stanford's team that day.

This book is a great read. There is not a lot of text and it focuses almost exclusively on the actual game in 1896.  Readers quickly understand how big of a deal it was for women to play basketball and to realize how far we've come since then.  There are no men at the game because many believed it was not proper for women to perspire in front of men.  Even the janitors who had to come in during the game to fix a hoop were extremely uncomfortable.  In spite of all of this, the game was a huge success and this story tells about this important moment in women's sports.

The author's note at the end of the book includes more information about Agnes Morley as well as other information on women's basketball. Following the note, there is an interesting "Timeline of Women's Basketball". I was amazed as I studied it at how recently women's basketball has really been played officially.

This is a great book. Whether you are looking for books about women in history, great nonfiction read alouds or just great stories to share with kids, this is definitely a must have.