Southern women trailblazers

The resources on this page are designed to help educators teach about the changing role of women in American society, particularly in the south. By engaging in these activities, students will not only learn about women considered to be trailblazers in their time, but they will also think critically about traditional gender roles, women's roles in politics, academics, and professions, and the contributions of women to society.

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Related pages

• The long struggle for women's suffrage: The 19th Amendment not only gave women the right to enfranchisement in all elections, and thus a say in government, it also legitimized women's participation in all areas of society. This article tells the story of the suffrage movement from the mid-nineteenth century to the passing of the amendment in 1920.
• Lillian Exum Clement: Biography of Lillian Exum Clement, the first woman elected to the North Carolina General Assembly.
• Why We Oppose Votes for Men: Satirical column by Alice Duer Miller, challenging people opposed to women's suffrage. Includes historical commentary.

Related topics

• Learn more about American history, Documenting the American South, suffrage, women, and women's history.

Legal

The following resources and lesson plans have been provided by the University of North Carolina Libraries, unless otherwise noted. To learn more about this topic, read the Southern Women Trailblazers story from UNC Libraries.

Lesson plans

Suffrage: The changing role of women by Kristin Post

Grades 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies

This guide provides educators with oral histories, photographs, and a lesson plan to teach about the women’s suffrage movement in the United States as it relates to equality, rights and responsibilities. During the lesson, students will view photographs of suffragettes and listen to the oral history of Dr. Rosamonde Boyd, who attended college during the suffrage movement and advocated women’s equality throughout her life. Her perspective indicates the way women view themselves, each other, and their roles in society.

North Carolina women and the Progressive Movement by Meghan McGlinn

Grades 9–12 Social Studies

In this lesson, students read primary source documents from Documenting the American South specifically related to North Carolina women involved in reform movements characteristic of the Progressive era. For the most part, these documents detail women’s work in education-related reform and describe the creation of schools for women in the state. They also demonstrate that, as was true in the rest of the nation, the progressive, female reformers of North Carolina were segregated based on race and socio-economic status.

Women, then and now by Lisa Stamey

Grades 11–12 Social Studies

In this lesson, students will analyze images and a home demonstration pamphlet, a Cooperative Extension Work document from the Green ‘N’ Growing collection at Special Collections Research Center at North Carolina State University Libraries. The primary sources will help students assess the roles, opportunities, and achievements of women beginning in 1950.

Women of the South in a changing society by Cindy McPeters and Aletha Aldridge

Grades 9–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies

In this lesson, students examine the lives of women in the south during the Civil War and focus particular attention on analyzing the historical stereotypes of women of the 19th-century.

World War I and the changing face of gender roles by Lee Adcock

Grades 11–12 Social Studies

In this lesson, students analyze oral histories in order to learn more about Progressivism and the impact of World War I and World War II on the role of women in the United States.