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Presenters: Taylor Smith & Tina Ellsworth

Title: Her Story Matters: Weaving the voices of freedom throughout American history

Abstract: Learn how students can investigate the intersectional differences that influenced
womens conceptions of freedom through the expansion of equality and the civic spaces they
occupied to secure equality, while exploring how societal factors influence how women defined
their freedom.

Compelling Questions:

What is her story, and why does it matter?


Has America fulfilled the quest of equality for women?
How has the conception of freedom evolved in the United States since the Declaration of
Independence?
OR
How do Americans define freedom and how have American conceptions of freedom changed for
different groups and for the American people?

Content:

In July of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, while leading the Womens Rights Convention at
Seneca Falls, read the Declaration of the Sentiments. Alluding to the liberal ideas of the
Declaration of independence written nearly 72 years prior, Stanton declares the rights of women,
as being equal to man, are inalienable, and thus governed by natural law. Within the
Sentiments, Stanton offers a vision of the American creed, freedom, but critiques the conditions
and structures that have usurped the power of women. Despite the fact that Stanton offers a
conception of freedom that, given the context of the time, serves white, middle class women,
thus limiting the reach of the message, it is the principle of freedom that is consistently
embedded into the struggles and triumphs of experiences throughout the history of the United
States. Whether being idealistic or critical of American progress, the movers and shakers of our
history consistently link their goals and struggles to their perception of freedom that lights the
glistening path from sea to shining sea. Although curricular standards push students towards
navigating particular groups and ideas through U.S history, they speak little of the differences
between how groups and individuals experience and define freedom within the context of their
time and social position. In this presentation we will discuss a curriculum that utilizes the
incorporation of primary sources from a variety of women, or historical arguments that bring
light to different narratives, provides an opportunity for students to develop a critical
understanding of the American creedfreedom. The second act will explore how specific groups
of women have defined the principle of freedom into their experiences and understandings
through the expansion of equality. This will lead to an understanding of how to construct a
narrative that includes a variety of perspectives for the purpose of analyzing the meaning of
Americas most prized ideal.

Objectives:

1. Participants will learn how students conduct historical analysis by contextualizing


womens conceptions of freedom.
2. Participants will learn how students compare and contrast how different groups
of women sought the expansion of freedom through the equality of women.
3. Participants will learn how to convey the ways that intersectionality played a role
in womens conceptions of freedom and the civic spaces they occupied.

Content:
1. The American Revolution- moving beyond the compass
2. Seneca Falls Convention
3. Women in the Progressive Era- Labor and the vote
4. WWII/organized labor
5. The speakers of March on Washington and southern African American womens
involvement in the Civil Rights Movement
6. Domesticity
7. My body

Skills:
1. Compare/Contrast
2. Analysis (visual and text)
3. Contextualizing/Inquiry
4. Application to Contemporary examples of freedom

Presentation/Strategies:

Presenters will begin with asking participants to analyze the speaker program for the March on
Washington (1963). Participants will identify who is included/not included, why they think this is,
and why it may be a problem. Participations may briefly discuss what this program suggests
about the quest for the equality of women throughout American history. Presenters will use the
participants comments to segue into an evolution of how intersectionality has played a role in
the understandings of and actions toward expanding freedom to women through gender
equality. Participants will analyze a variety of visual and written sources that demonstrate how
contextual factors and societal perceptions shaped the ways in which women throughout
American history expanded their freedom on their quest for equality. Participants will
demonstrate how high school students have worked through related sources and drawn
conclusions through the historical thinking process. The session will close with presenters
providing participants with instructional resources on how to guide students toward expanding
the narrative of American history with the inclusion of women and their conception of freedom
through the expansion of equality.

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