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Learning outcomes

  • Students will develop a better understanding of the impact of the Progressive Movement in North Carolina.
  • Students will uncover avenues of female empowerment and work outside of the home.
  • Students will learn more about women’s history.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 day

Technology resources

Internet Access, computer lab or individual copies of the four primary sources

Pre-activities

Students should already have some familiarity with the Progressive Movement in the U.S. prior to this lesson.

Activities

Students should read the following documents:

  1. The Women’s Association for the Betterment of Public School Houses in NC: pp. 1-19
  2. Mecklenburg Female College: all
  3. The Carolinian: introduction, especially p. 8 (rest can be skimmed)
  4. ”Some North Carolinians on Equal Pay“: Perhaps the most important part of this document is that it actually was written and shared in 1918. Student may wish to skim the various sections but there is no need to read in great detail.

Teachers may wish to divide students into four groups and, using the jigsaw method, allow students to “teach” each other about the documents. For these purposes, use the document chart.

Assessment

Students should write about or discuss the following prompt: To what extent do women in North Carolina mirror their national counterparts in terms of their work outside of the home and involved in progressive movements? Also, cite examples of the expected “women’s role” in these efforts and evidence of their success.

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson is designed for advanced history classes.

North Carolina curriculum alignment

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 11–12 — United States History

  • Goal 7: The Progressive Movement in the United States (1890-1914) -The learner will analyze the economic, political, and social reforms of the Progressive Period.
    • Objective 7.02: Analyze how different groups of Americans made economic and political gains in the Progressive Period.

  • North Carolina Essential Standards
    • Social Studies (2010)
      • American Humanities

        • 12.C.5 Understand how conflict and consensus influences American culture. 12.C.5.1 Analyze the relationship between conflict and consensus in American literature, philosophy, and the arts. 12.C.5.2 Explain the impact of American slavery on American culture....
      • United States History II

        • USH.H.1 Apply the four interconnected dimensions of historical thinking to the United States History Essential Standards in order to understand the creation and development of the United States over time. USH.H.1.1 Use Chronological thinking to: Identify the...
        • USH.H.4 Analyze how conflict and compromise have shaped politics, economics and culture in the United States. USH.H.4.1 Analyze the political issues and conflicts that impacted the United States since Reconstruction and the compromises that resulted (e.g.,...