March 2024: Women's History
This month at CHSSP we are celebrating Women’s History Month by highlighting teaching resources, recent scholarship, and children’s books on the topics of women’s and gender history. The use of gender as a tool of analysis in historical research and writing was a radical outgrowth of the late twentieth-century field of women’s history. In the selections below we are honoring both women in history and women historians by recognizing how this critical intervention shaped the field. In these selections, you’ll see not only historic “firsts” but also an emphasis on the rights, work, and intellectual and political lives of women in history. Women’s History Month is a great opportunity to teach students that understanding the experiences, perspectives, and histories of women is necessary for any study of the past.
To learn more about how CHSSP has furthered the study and development of resources on women's history through our 2022 History Lab led by Lisa G. Materson check this blog post. To learn more about how you can bring the resources that lab produced into your classroom read this article about the Nothing Less than Justice website that the team contributed to and the broader project to share the stories of the 1977 women's conference.
Featured Teaching Resources:
Roles of Women in the Revolution
This fifth-grade primary source set helps students consider women’s roles in the American Revolution. When we think of the historical agents involved in war, we initially think of the men who fought as Loyalists and Patriots. However, this inquiry set will ask students to consider how women were directly involved in the war effort through their participation as soldiers, partners, and assistants to their families and communities, and as symbols of independence and freedom.
American Revolution and Natural Rights
This eighth-grade source set introduces traditional documents of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution which focus on the idea of natural rights. It then provides primary document evidence to link American Revolutionary ideas to anti-slavery, women’s rights, and the French Revolution. Students will read primary sources such as Abigail Adam’s famous letter to her husband John Adams in 1776 and the 1791 French Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen.
During World War II, the Japanese military created a system of military sexual slavery that provided “comfort women” for Japanese troops throughout Asia and the Pacific. Women were recruited, usually by deception, from Japanese colonies, such as Korea, and lands occupied by Japanese troops, such as China, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Other women were kidnapped outright. In this primary source set, tenth-grade students examine the experiences of the “comfort women,” to further their understanding of World War II as a “total war.”
This inquiry set for eleventh-grade students is designed to provide context for students to be able to address with nuance and perspective the question: “Why did women want the right to vote, and how did they convince men to grant it to them?” Women in California won the right to vote in the 1911 election, nearly a decade before the national suffrage amendment passed. This inquiry set also contains an extended literacy activity in which students compare the foundational women’s rights text the Declaration of Sentiments from 1848 with the Declaration of Independence.
Recent Scholarship
In Her Hands: Women’s Fight Against AIDS in the United States, Emma Day (August 2023)
From UC Press:
In Her Hands examines the various strategies women have utilized to fight for recognition as individuals vulnerable to and living with HIV/AIDS across multiple settings since the 1980s. Taking a new chronological and thematic approach to the study of the US epidemic, it explores five arenas of women’s AIDS activism: transmission and recognition, reproductive justice, safer sex campaigns for queer women, the carceral state, and HIV prevention and treatment. In so doing, it moves the historical understanding of women’s experiences of AIDS beyond their exclusion from the initial medical response and the role women played as the supporters of gay men. Asking how and on what terms women succeeded in securing state support, In Her Hands argues that women protesting the neglect of their health-care needs always risked encountering punitive intervention on behalf of the symbolic needs of fetuses and children – as well as wider society – deemed to need protecting from them.
Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, Alex D. Ketchum, Distributed by Chicago University Press (November 2022)
From Concordia Press:
Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the trailblazing restaurant Mother Courage of New York City, Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses is the first history of the more than 230 feminist and lesbian-feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses that existed in the United States from 1972 to the present. As key sites of cultural and political significance, this volume shows the essential role these institutions served for multiple social justice movements including women’s liberation, LGBTQ equality, and food justice, as well as for training women workers and entrepreneurs.
Breaking the Gender Code: Women and Urban Public Space in the Twentieth Century United States, Georgina Hickey (December 2023)
From the University of Texas Press:
Historian Georgina Hickey investigates challenges to the code of urban gender segregation in the twentieth century, focusing on organized advocacy to make the public spaces of American cities accessible to women. She traces waves of activism from the Progressive Era, with its calls for public restrooms, safe and accessible transportation, and public accommodations, through and beyond second-wave feminism, and its focus on the creation of alternative, women-only spaces and extensive anti-violence efforts. In doing so, Hickey explores how gender segregation intertwined with other systems of social control, as well as how class, race, and sexuality shaped activists' agendas and women's experiences of urban space.
Surgery & Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940, by Elizabeth O’Brien (October 2023)
From UNC Press:
In this sweeping history of reproductive surgery in Mexico, Elizabeth O'Brien traces the interstices of religion, reproduction, and obstetric racism from the end of the Spanish empire through the post-revolutionary 1930s. Examining medical ideas about operations (including cesarean section, abortion, hysterectomy, and eugenic sterilization), Catholic theology, and notions of modernity and identity, O'Brien argues that present-day claims about fetal personhood are rooted in the use of surgical force against marginalized and racialized women. This history illuminates the theological, patriarchal, and epistemological roots of obstetric violence and racism today.
Earning Their Wings: The WASPS of World War II and the Fight for Veteran Recognition, Sarah Parry Meyers (September 2023)
From UNC Press:
Despite their highly developed skill set, rigorous training, and often dangerous work, the women of WASP were not granted military status until 1977, denied over three decades of Army Air Force benefits as well as the honor and respect given to male and female World War II veterans of other branches. Sarah Parry Myers not only offers a history of this short-lived program but considers its long-term consequences for the women who participated and subsequent generations of servicewomen and activists.
Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South, Sarah McNamara (April 2023)
From UNC Press:
Historian Sarah McNamara tells the story of immigrant and U.S.-born Latinas/os who organized strikes, marched against fascism, and criticized U.S. foreign policy. While many members of the immigrant generation maintained their dedication to progressive ideals for years to come, those who came of age in the wake of World War II distanced themselves from leftist politics amidst the Red Scare and the wrecking ball of urban renewal. This portrait of the political shifts that defined Ybor City highlights the underexplored role of women’s leadership within movements for social and economic justice as it illustrates how people, places, and politics become who and what they are.
Picture Books (#Kate'sBookClub)
Cantora: Mercedes Sosa, The Voice of Latin America by Melisa Fernandez Nitsche.
This book tells the story of Latin American icon Mercedes Sosa and how she became the voice of a people from exile to triumph. Mercedes Sosa sang about what it means to be human, and her songs of struggle always spoke the truth of the injustice that so many workers and families in Latin America faced. But not everyone loved her singing: a military dictatorship ruled over Argentina, and they saw the power of her voice. Even from exile, Mercedes Sosa was a beacon of freedom for her people, and when she returned to her homeland, she persisted in her work: to be the voice of the voiceless. Great title that highlights the intersectionality of social justice, the arts, and the culture of Latin America. Argentinian author and illustrator.
Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX by Jen Bryant.
Picture book biography about Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Asian American woman elected to Congress, and the history of Title IX. Patsy went to law school, ran for a seat in the United States Congress, and helped create Title IX, the law that requires federally funded schools to treat boys and girls equally. Many people tried to knock her down, but Patsy always got up again! A great way to introduce proverbs to students - fall down seven times, stand up eight. Another winner from Jen Bryant.
Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom by Connie Schofield-Morrison.
This picture book biography weaves together historical details, vibrant collages, and the words of her own journals to bring to light the life and beautiful work of Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, the seamstress who bought herself and her son out of slavery. Lizzy’s story of hardship and resilience offers an untold side of history during a time of great injustice and change. Beautifully illustrated with oil paint, cut paper and fabric collage and hand-embroidery that would make a fabulous art project. The backmatter includes a bibliography for further reading.
The Voice That Won the Vote: How One Woman’s Words Made History by Elisa Boxer.
Let's hear it for letter writing! In August of 1920, women's suffrage in America came down to the vote in Tennessee. If the Tennessee legislature approved the 19th amendment it would be ratified, giving all American women the right to vote. The historic moment came down to a single vote and the voter who tipped the scale toward equality did so because of a powerful letter his mother, Febb Burn, had written urging him to "Vote for suffrage and don't forget to be a good boy." A great example of the power of persuasive writing.
Virginia Wouldn’t Slow Down! The Unstoppable Dr. Apgar and Her Life-Saving Invention by Carrie A. Pearson.
A delightful and distinctive picture book biography about Dr. Virginia Apgar, who invented the test for evaluating the health of a newborn that’s used worldwide every day. The Apgar Score is known the world over: a test given to babies to determine their health moments after they are born. Less well-known is the story of the brilliant, pioneering woman who invented it. Virginia “Ginny” Apgar soared above what girls were expected to do—or not do. She wasn’t quiet, she wore all sorts of outfits, she played the sports she wanted to—and she pursued the career she chose, graduating near the top of her class at Columbia University and becoming only the second board-certified female anesthesiologist in the United States. The simple five-step test she created—scribbled on the back of a piece of paper in answer to a trainee’s question—became the standard and continues to impact countless newborn babies’ lives today. Fascinating story.
What Do You Do With a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton.
Biography of Barbara Jordan that highlights her political career, with special attention to the role she played as a member of the 1974 U.S. House Judiciary Committee and her televised speech to a national audience regarding the committee's recommendation to impeach President Nixon. Ms. Jordan had a strong, compelling voice, expressing her own beliefs or speaking out on behalf of others, she made sure that she was heard. Young students are encouraged to do the same. Features big and BOLD words with collage artwork incorporating print media from the era.
What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland’s Historic Inauguration by Alexis Bunten.
This beautiful, informative, Indigenous picture book provides both a tribute to Secretary Deb Haaland's achievements and a celebration of the urban Indigenous community through the eyes of a little girl. On March 18, 2021, children gathered to witness Secretary Deb Haaland in her ribbon skirt at the White House as she became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. Together with their parents and Elders, the children explore the values woven into their own regalia, land, community, and traditions. Nice back matter about the history and meaning of ribbon skirts as well as a note for students to take action and protect the world. Indigenous author and illustrator.
When the Schools Shut Down: A Young Girl’s Story of Virginia’s “Lost Generation” and the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Decision by Yolanda Gladden, as told to Dr. Tamara Pizzoli.
Most people think that the Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954 meant that all schools were immediately integrated. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, however, students of color were prohibited from attending formal schools for five years including Yolanda Gladden. What an interesting story to share with students. Would be a good title to pair with Separate is Never Equal to highlight school discrimination across the nation. Excellent back story, including a note from Yolanda Gladden.
Note: Not a picture book, but a fabulous resource for any classroom!
Troublemakers in Trousers: Women and What They Wore to Get Things Done by Sarah Albee.
One of my new favorites. Girls and women have historically been denied access to work, been blocked from the arts, refused the opportunity to lead and fight, and much more, simply because of their gender. From Hatshepsut to Joan of Arc to Frida Kahlo, Troublemakers in Trousers highlights twenty-one women who, for different reasons, wore men’s clothing, pretended to be men, and broke the rules in order to do something they wanted—or needed—to do. Would be a nice addition to any classroom as women in both world and US history are highlighted. Great historical backmatter provided for each woman.