Campaign for Women’s Suffrage

1840s to 1920

The news media played a key role in covering the women’s suffrage movement from the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 to passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Looking back at this seventy-year period, how did the news media cover the campaign for women’s suffrage?

Create Your Own Story

Suffragists in each state worked to make sure their state legislatures ratified the Nineteenth Amendment. In this final activity, you will have the opportunity to create your own front-page news story on the suffrage movement in your state.

Directions:

  1. Check out the story of ratification in your own state using the National Park Service’s “19th Amendment By State” article and note the year of ratification.
  2. Read two or three more articles from history websites that you have used before in class or your teacher recommends.
  3. Write a short summary on your state’s story of ratification along with a few facts about suffrage you have learned in this case study.
  4. Review the images in the carousel and decide which image will best accompany your piece—be creative!

As you write your article, keep the following in mind:

  1. Length: 2–3 paragraphs.
  2. Include basic facts (who, what, where, when, why, how).
  3. Tie your piece back to a specific idea from one of the images provided in the carousel below.
  4. Decide which news format you would like to use, newspaper or website.
  5. Give your article a title and add a headline (a good headline catches the reader’s attention in some way).


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Volume IIV
December 18, 2024
Issue 001

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Supported by a grant from the Library of Congress