Lesson 1: Women's Roles

Author: Lauren Cahill
Content Area/Grade Level: United States History I 
Time: 1 class period if a block schedule (roughly 88 minutes), 2 class periods if a roughly 48 minute class
Materials/Equipment: Images and Days in the Life print outs (Materials)

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PURPOSE: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the different types of lives women had in the antebellum American South. These experiences differed greatly, and plantation wives, slave women, and free women of color each faced challenges unique to their statuses. This material is important because the lives of ordinary women are left out of textbooks in favor of men's stories or political events that are collectively recognized has having a greater historical impact. By teaching this lesson, teachers can expose students to what ordinary life was like and connect them to experiences they would not have exposure to from the textbook.



OBJECTIVES: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:



1. ​Understand the differences in roles between the groups of women discussed.
2. Analyze the documents and draw their own opinions regarding the quality of life each group of women possessed.
3. Articulate the main themes of the documents.





STANDARDS: Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks:

USI.36  Summarize the critical developments leading to the Civil War





THE LESSON

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Activator: Think-Pair-Share (10-15 minutes)

Have students write down what they think life was like for women before the Civil War. Each student should come up with three or four points. Then have students break up into pairs (or small groups depending on the size of the class) and discuss what they came up with. Finally, have students share with the group as a whole. 

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Group Activity: (30 minutes)

1. Divide the class into three groups
2. Each group gets a packet of materials to analyze (see Lesson 1 Materials page)
3. Have students analyze each document. In their notes, they should identify: 1) What the document is (bio, photo, daily schedule, interview, etc.), 2) Who is featured in the document (plantation owner's wife, slave woman, free woman of color), 3) Summarize the document or describe the photograph, 4) What is important about it? What does it tell us? 5) What do all the documents together tell about life for that particular group?

Presentation: (20  minutes)

After analyzing the documents, each group will present their findings to the rest of the class. Student should start with their overall impression of what they think life was like for their group and then use examples from their documents to support their opinion. Each person in the group should speak at least once. Students not presenting should take notes on the information being given.



Discussion: (15-20 minutes)

Suggested Questions:

• What did you find most surprising about your documents?
• What did you find most surprising about the other documents?
• How does this fit with what you were taught in the past? Does it match?
• Why do you think slavery was accepted?
• Do you think women's stories were different from men's? Why/Why not?



Closure: (5-10 minutes)

The closure will be a ticket to leave.  Have students write a paragraph about what surprised them the most about antebellum women as a whole and why they were surprised. 



Assessment: The assessment for this lesson will be observations made during presentations and the class discussion, informal questions asked during the group work, and finally the responses for the ticket to leave.





LOGISTICS:

• Teachers may divide students however best suits the classroom climate.
• Teachers may wish to designate a group leader to keep each group on task.
• Teachers should additionally differentiate as needed based to student capabilities and learning needs.