In this activity, students will explore the struggle for universal suffrage long after both men and women constitutionally had the right to vote. Following a progressive timeline, primary sources highlight voting problems which arose for minority groups throughout the 20th century. Students will answer questions as they work through the documents to reflect on if and when universal suffrage was ultimately achieved.
Suggested Teaching Instructions
This activity can be used in a U.S. history course while learning about women's suffrage (or "woman suffrage") and the Nineteenth Amendment, or during a unit on Civil Rights or voting rights. For grades 8-12. Approximate time needed is 45 minutes. Students can work individually or in small groups.
Ask students to begin the activity by reading the introduction and directions, then clicking through the activity. Remind them to click “View Document Details” for each document to view it more closely and access contextual information.
The activity is organized in small groupings of documents. Each is preceded by questions and followed by a text box where students can answer those questions. Questions and possible answers for each grouping are:
What do these documents show about the push for women’s (universal) suffrage in the years leading up to the ratification of the 19th amendment? What do these documents display about race issues regarding universal suffrage?These documents show that despite women’s push for equality, racial segregation was very much present in the women’s suffrage movement, to the point where suffrage leaders were pushing for ratification on the basis of ensuring continued white supremacy. Generally speaking, prominent women suffragists were from the wealthy and educated class of white women. What do these documents demonstrate about who could now vote? Racial issues regarding voting rights extended to many other minority groups as well. Despite being U.S. citizens, American Indians and Asian Americans (as well as other groups) struggled to attain voting rights in Federal elections. Point out to students that these documents represent just a couple of groups of Americans who were not assured voting rights.
What do you notice in this photograph? Who is present? Are there other groups of Americans who are not represented? By 1965, African Americans gained support from the Federal Government regarding Civil Rights. Although the Voting Rights Act applied to any citizen of the United States regardless of race or color, the photo depicts only African American and white citizens surrounding the president. Native American tribes, Asian Americans, Alaska Natives, Latino citizen groups, and citizens of U.S. territories are not represented in the photograph.Look at the next two documents — compare the 1972 legal complaint document to the 1975 extension of the Voting Rights Act that was signed by President Ford. What problems persisted after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act? Reflect on who was not present in the 1965 photograph from above.Puerto Rican citizens, despite being registered to vote, could often not do so due to language barriers. The 1975 extension of the voting rights act explicitly addressed voting discrimination that occurred against Spanish-speaking Americans, American Indians, Alaskan natives, and Asian Americans—a decade after the passing of the civil rights act.
After students have worked through the documents, they should click “When You're Done.” Conduct a class discussion based on the questions provided. Questions and possible answers are:
1) What social problems and divisions were present during the women's suffrage movement?
Aside from gender inequality, racial segregation was extremely entrenched in American society. While black men were given the right to vote by the 15th Amendment, the racial divide persisted. The racial divide was not exclusive to black and white citizens, but extended to other minorities as well. Furthermore, the figureheads of the women’s suffrage movement were wealthy, educated, white women, who used their social status as a benefit for suffrage, while often isolating other social and minority groups.
2) According to these documents, what groups of Americans still struggled to obtain the right to vote even after the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920? These documents only highlighted some of these groups – can you think of others?
Many minority groups struggled to gain the right to vote, despite being U.S. citizens. Among these were Spanish-speaking citizens; Native American tribes; Alaska natives; citizens of U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa; and Asian Americans.
3) Do any of these issues come up in current events today? Have you heard of issues surrounding voting rights for certain groups of Americans in the news?
Unfortunately, problems surrounding voting rights still occur, often disproportionately affecting Americans of color and the poor. Election laws are constantly changing in the United States – and revisions to eligibility requirements have recently increased. Advocates of these changes argue they are needed to prevent election fraud. Critics assert that they are intended to suppress voter registration and participation.
