NaQuan Harding on:
The Women’s Rights Movement
I chose to focus on the women’s rights movement because it was, in all honesty, the first topic to pop in my head that didn’t actually sound boring. I was actually interested in this topic for two reasons. One, I really didn’t have that much knowledge about how the women’s rights movement came to be, what people were doing to support, or even how it eventually came to the signing of the 19th Amendment. Actually, I didn’t even know which Amendment gave women the right to vote, but that’s just my historical ineptitude coming into play. Two, the name “Susan B. Anthony” came into my head, and I knew she was involved with this movement somehow, but I just didn’t know what. I didn’t even know what she looked like. I thought she was black! Anyway, I picked that as my topic, then got to the research.
The research was actually one of the harder parts for me because at first, I had trouble finding enough appropriate primary documents to go with my project. After scouring the Internet for a long time, I was able to find about six different letters written by the NWSA, and a good number of photos and drawings from the time. I found an ungodly amount of secondary sources, so I was fine in that area, but I was still coming up short with my primaries. Then I was able to find a literal goldmine of written letters, all by Susan B. Anthony herself, all by complete and total luck. Needless to say, I was fine in my documents after that godsend.
Choosing the format of my presentation was a no-brainer. Being a one-ma group, I felt like trying to create a website or documentary would’ve been a bit too flustering for me, so I decided to go with a performance. Well, not so much a performance and more like an informative monologue, but they both required a script, so that was fine by me. The actual script writing wasn’t that difficult, but there was one thing that kept coming back to bit me no matter how many time I practiced: my slurring. Seriously, there were just some moments that I just couldn’t help but trip over, which didn’t help the quality, thought it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined it’d be. Overall, the actual creating of the project wasn’t all that bad.
In conclusion, the women’s rights movement was one of the most revolutionary…revolutions in United States history, granting women a right that they’ve spent over a century fighting for, and relates to National History Day in pretty much every way. It was a revolution because women decided that they were sick and tired of being looked down upon by men, the reaction caused a tidal wave of women to begin protesting about their rights, and the reform was clear as day: women gaining the right to vote.
- This source gives a short summary of certain points during the campaign for women’s suffrage. This could be useful in giving the short, sweet, and simple versions of what happened.
- This source gives a short history of the battle for suffrage, giving information that could be difficult to find otherwise. Again, this could be useful for writing the paper.
- These timelines list several events throughout the suffrage act, giving me several other things to refer to besides the primary sources I have on hand.
- A photograph of the U.S Declaration of Independence, which is what suffragists quoted from when explaining their rights.
- This site goes over the events behind the primary documents I found, giving me a bit more background and insight on the story behind those letters.
- This was a picture depicting the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, 1848
- This was another picture depicting a woman speaking at the women’s rights convention.
- This is a photograph of the National Woman Suffrage Association, showing all of its members, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
- This site gives an overview of how women were viewed and treated throughout history. This was one of the more helpful sources that I’ve found because it gave me a clearer view of what life was like for women back then.
- While not the original written document, this is a speech Susan B. Anthony gave, addressing the problem of women not having the same rights as men, and asking the provocative question, “Are women persons?” This was another source that helped me in my project because it gave me evidence that she spoke publicly about these kind of things, assuming there would be people who would say that she didn’t.
- This site gives a brief overview of Susan B. Anthony’s life. It listed her accomplishments, as well as he family background, a quote, and her cause of death. I was very appreciative of the list of accomplishments, because it gave me more material to talk about in my project.
- This site went into detail about how Susan B. Anthony’s trial went, which I wish I took more advantage of. It had quotes and went into detail about things that happened before and after the trial. I may have never found those details anywhere else.
- This was a photograph taken during the signing of the 19th Amendment, something I thought I wouldn’t be able to find.
- This is just a simple photograph depicting a horse-drawn carriage in the 19th century.
- This is a poster that was released to the public advertising Susan B. Anthony’s trial after she was arrested.
- This was another site that went over Susan B. Anthony’s trial in depth, but not as detailed as the first one. It did, at least, go over moments that the first one didn’t.
- This contains several letters written by Susan B. Anthony to various officials, each requesting different things, but most pertaining the women’s rights movement.