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Home , Cornelia Otis Skinner, Ida Husted Harper, Irene Dunne, Limberlost Swamp, May Wright Sewall

Her Stories: 10 Hoosier Women Students Should Know

Lesson Plan Grades 3 ––– 555

INFORMATION FOR EDUCATORS

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Background Text for Educators……p. 3 Biographies……………………….. pps. 4 – 13 Activities………………………….. pps. 14 – 18 Resource List………………………pps. 19 Evaluation………………………….p. 20

INTRODUCTION: Many fascinating women have made numerous contributions to our country’s heritage. Heighten your students’ awareness of the important role women have played in ’s history. This lesson plan highlights the accomplishments of ten Hoosier women students should know. Activities are designed to help convey the accomplishments of women such as author Gene Stratton-Porter (above) and the issues surrounding them. This lesson is intended for grades three through five and meets Indiana Academic Standards.

SETTING THE STAGE: To begin the lesson plan, you might want the environment of your entire classroom to reflect women in American or Indiana history. This can be achieved by incorporating themes in bulletin boards, learning centers, art projects, and whatever else you are doing in the classroom. When you set the tone of your classroom in this manner, learning becomes an all-encompassing experience for your students. We encourage you to use this lesson plan as a springboard to further knowledge about Hoosier women who have made a difference in this country.

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BACKGROUND TEXT FOR EDUCATORS

The importance of women’s role in American history is often obscured by the accomplishments of their male counterparts. Women have battled the perception that their job was to be leaders in the home, while men were to determine the direction of society. This barrier, however, did not keep women from stepping up to challenge this stereotype. The accomplishments of women in the past have made it possible for today’s women to be an integral part of the workforce, a strong political voice, and pioneers in various fields.

Since the beginning of civilization, women have been recognized as the source of human life. This view historically did not give women an equal footing when it came to individuality and decision-making power. Instead, they were deemed intellectually poor and susceptible to, or the source of, temptation. Women also were seen as the weaker sex, unable to challenge men physically when it came to heavy labor. That left women to deal only with those duties related to the care of home and children.

It was frequently ignored that being a mother and a housewife was a physical, mental, and emotional challenge. Work in the home was never done, and the mother often was the earliest to rise and the last to go to bed. From a very young age, girls were taught that their place was in the home. Rarely were they encouraged to obtain a formal education.

In the course of American history, women have risen to challenges in traditionally male and female spheres alike. Women were leaders in the temperance and labor movements. In the late twentieth century, they fought for the right to vote and became a voice in national and local governments. They worked in factories while their husbands were at war and are now an integral part of the military. And, when all-male colleges and universities denied them access, women created their own educational opportunities.

No complete study has been done of women’s history in the state of Indiana. But studies have begun, and the impact of Hoosier women is becoming clear.

Attached are biographies of ten Hoosier women who have left an indelible mark on their communities. Educators should feel free to use these biographies to introduce their students to these women throughout their history lessons. For instance, Polly Strong can be featured when discussing slavery, Madam C.J. Walker when teaching about the Golden Age of Indiana, and Albion Fellows Bacon when teaching about the Progressive Era. Activities featured in this lesson plan will help further student learning.

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IRENE DUNNE (1898 – 1990) Actress

From her humble beginnings to her stardom during Hollywood’s Golden Age, Irene Dunne always remained close to her roots. She was born in Louisville, , on December 20, 1898, but her family soon moved to Madison, Indiana. Dunne dreamed of being a music teacher and left Madison to study in . Before beginning a teaching position at East Public Schools, she decided to attend Chicago Music College on a scholarship to study as an singer. Afterward, Dunne went to City to pursue opera singing, but her dream failed and she became a singer on Broadway instead. Dunne soon became popular for her roles in Irene, Luckee Girl, and . In 1930, she left for Hollywood, . Soon, she had become known as one of Hollywood’s most resourceful actresses and earned the title of “Hollywood’s First Lady.” Her work includes the films , Magnificent Obsession, Show Boat, and Life with Father, among others. Dunne was nominated for five , but never won. She retired from acting in the 1950s.

Though Dunne’s accomplishments on the silver screen are legendary, she also was very active in private life. She married Francis Griffin in 1928 and raised one adopted daughter; they remained married until Griffin’s death in 1965. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Dunne a special delegate to the . A devoted Catholic, she also received the Laetare Medal from Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, for being “an example of talented Christian womanhood.”

Dunne stayed connected to Madison, Indiana, even though she was busy in Hollywood. She kept up on happenings there by reading local newspapers. In 1976, she donated ten thousand dollars to help restore the town fountain in the historic city. Her acting was recognized in 1985 when she received a Kennedy Center Honor for achievement in performing arts. Dunne died in in 1990. Today, a historical marker in Madison commemorates her and her Indiana heritage.

To see pictures of Irene Dunne, please use the following website: Internet Movie Database - www..com/name/nm0002050

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MAY WRIGHT SEWALL (1844 – 1920) Suffragist

May Wright was born in Milwaukee, , in 1844. She showed intelligence at a young age and spent her youth studying under her father, who encouraged her education. It was unusual for a woman of her time, but she pursued a college education and graduated from in 1866. She taught in Mississippi and , then took a position at the high school in Franklin, Indiana. She eventually married the principal of the school, Edwin Thompson. In the 1870s, the couple moved to Indianapolis, where they both taught at the old Indianapolis High School. Soon afterward, Edwin died of tuberculosis. May married Theodore Sewall in 1880.

Sewall started her career as a suffragist in the 1880s. Following her passion for education and women’s rights, she founded more than fifty organizations that promoted women’s rights and education. These included the International Council of Women, Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, the Girls’ Classical School, and the Indianapolis Women’s Club. Sewall also became a national leader in the fight for women’s suffrage. A friend of Susan B. Anthony’s and ’s, she led Indiana suffrage groups and was chairman of the executive committee charged with preparation and arrangements for the first national council of women in Washington in 1888. She also was a delegate to the Universal Congress of Women in and became president of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1889, and helped form the National Council of Women at The Hague in 1898. Sewall wrote three works: Higher Education of Women in the Western States of the U.S. , Neither Dead nor Sleeping, and History of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Indiana . Although her work took her away from Indiana beginning in about 1907, she returned the year before her death in 1920 at age seventy-six.

Suffragist has earned a place in history as a courageous and groundbreaking woman.

To see a picture of May Wright Sewall, please use the following website: Indianapolis Marion County Public Library – www.impcl.org/resources/digitallibrary maywrightsewall.html

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CAROLINE SCOTT HARRISON (1832 – 1892) First lady

Best known as the wife of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, Caroline Scott Harrison made a difference in many lives. Born in on October 1, 1832, she grew up under the tutelage of her mother and father, a Presbyterian minister who ran Oxford Female Institute in Oxford, Ohio. She met and fell in love with the future president while he was studying at Miami University in Oxford, and they wed in October 1853. They moved to Indianapolis when her husband started his career in law. Harrison settled into married life, participated at the Indianapolis Orphan’s Asylum and the First Presbyterian Church, and gave birth to two children, Russell and Mary.

While her husband’s political career blossomed, Harrison became part of the social elite of Indianapolis. Their home, built on Delaware Street in the 1870s, was the center of their social life, and they entertained such national figures as President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William Sherman. Harrison was unable to spend time in Washington due to bad health during her husband’s time as senator. But she moved to the White House when he was elected president in 1889.

In Harrison’s short time as first lady, she worked on numerous projects. She founded the largest patriotic association of women, Daughters of the American Revolution, and became its first president-general in 1890. She also convinced Johns Hopkins University Medical School to admit women by helping to raise funds for the program. The famous china collection in the White House as well as extensive renovations, including electrical wiring, became two of Caroline’s major projects as first lady. And, she still made time to host fabulous parties.

Aside from her responsibilities and duties as first lady, Harrison was an accomplished artist who loved to paint, especially china. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1892, her health failed rapidly and she died of tuberculosis at the White House that October. Upon her death, Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley wrote a tribute entitled Mrs. Harrison . Remembered for her “sweetness in womanhood” she left a great legacy. Today, Americans from all over the country visit the President Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis, and the commemorates the lives of both Harrisons.

To see pictures of Caroline Scott Harrison, please use the following websites: The White House – www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/ch23/html The Benjamin Harrison Home – www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org/Harrison/beninfo.html

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GENE (GENEVA) STRATTON-PORTER (1863 – 1924) Author

Born August 17, 1863 in Wabash County, Indiana, Gene (short for Geneva) Stratton was the youngest of twelve children. She grew up on a farm and loved to explore the countryside around her family’s home. As a girl, she liked collecting feathers, butterflies, and moths, and her love of the environment became a lifelong passion. These fond memories of family and life on the farm became the basis of her writings.

She moved to Wabash, Indiana, when she was about eleven, and continued in school until 1883 when she left to care for a sick sibling. She married Charles Porter, a druggist, on April 21, 1886. The couple moved around, eventually settling in Geneva, Indiana, where they designed and built Limberlost Cabin, named after the nearby Limberlost Swamp. The natural environment of the swamp fascinated Stratton-Porter, and she wrote about it, studied it and photographed it extensively. That led to her contributing to the magazines Recreation and Outing, and she eventually joined their staffs. She also spent four years as a specialist in natural history and photography at Photographic Times Annual Almanac . Her biggest success as an author came from her novels. Her most famous work, A Girl of the Limberlost (1909), was made into a motion picture in 1924; she also wrote the screenplay. In all, she wrote twenty-six books including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for adults and children.

After World War I, Stratton-Porter moved to California and continued to write. By this time, she was a world-famous author and had sold more than a million books. She founded the Gene Stratton-Porter Productions film company and wrote for McCall’s magazine. Unfortunately, Gene Stratton-Porter was fatally injured in California when her limousine was hit by a trolley car in 1924. Her husband and one daughter, Jeannette, survived her.

To see pictures of Gene Stratton-Porter, please use the following website: Gene Stratton-Porter House and Limberlost Swamp – www.genestrattonporter.net/

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IDA HUSTED HARPER (1851 – 1931) Journalist and suffragist

Ida Husted was born to John and Cassandra Husted in Fairfield, Indiana, on February 18, 1851. At the age of ten, Ida moved with her family to Muncie, where she remained until leaving to attend for one year. She married lawyer Thomas W. Harper of Terre Haute on December 28, 1871, and they had one daughter, Winnifred.

Harper began her writing career while working for newspapers in Terre Haute and Indianapolis. She spent twelve years at the Terre Haute Saturday Evening Mail writing her column, “A Woman’s Opinion,” served a short time as managing editor of the Terre Haute Daily News , wrote political articles for the Indianapolis News , and contributed to Fireman’s Locomotive Magazine . These assignments established Harper as a seasoned newspaperwoman. After divorcing her husband and moving to New York in 1890, she joined the staff of Harper’s Bazaar and The Sunday Sun as a department editor and contributed to newspapers in New York, Boston, , Washington, and Chicago.

Well-known by this time as a journalist and writer, Harper became involved in the women’s suffrage movement by writing books and articles, doing publicity, attending meetings to support the cause, and joining the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was commissioned by Susan B. Anthony to write her official biography, Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony , and to compile a multivolume work called History of Woman Suffrage (1887 – 1922). Harper went to in 1899 as a delegate and speaker at the International Council of Women and was in charge of publicity for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She also spoke at the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance.

Harper lived to see victory when the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was adopted in 1920. She spent her last few winters in Washington at the American Association of University Women and died in 1931 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Her ashes were interred in Muncie.

To see pictures of , please use the following website: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/ggbain/07000/07003v.jpg

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MADAM C.J. WALKER (1867 – 1919) Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist

Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in the Louisiana Delta on December 23, 1867, the daughter of two former slaves. Raised on a farm, Sarah was orphaned at age seven. When she was ten, she and her sister moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to work in the cotton fields. Sarah married Moses McWilliams four years later to get away from her abusive brother-in-law, and the couple had one daughter, Lelia (later known as A’Lelia, a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance).

Widowed at age twenty, Sarah moved to St. Louis and became a laundress. She also began experimenting with hair products as a way to control a scalp ailment. After encountering fellow entrepreneur Annie Malone, Sarah began selling Malone’s products when she moved to Denver in 1905. After a short second marriage to a John Davis, Sarah married Charles Joseph Walker in 1906.

Encouraged to start her own business, she changed her name to Madam C.J. Walker and started selling “Madam C.J. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower,” made from her own secret formula. Walker slowly expanded her business by traveling throughout the country and adding mail-order services. In Pittsburgh, she started a correspondence course in which anyone could earn a diploma from Lelia College for twenty-five dollars. By February 1910, Walker had settled in Indianapolis, a central location that allowed her business to flourish.

As a successful businesswoman, Walker concentrated on giving back to the communities in which she lived. She donated funds to establish a YMCA in Indianapolis. In 1916, made a final move to New York, where she became heavily involved in Harlem society and the NAACP anti-lynching campaign. She contributed financially to that campaign and traveled to the White House to discuss the passage of anti-lynching legislation. She also donated to the Tuskegee Institute and other African-American schools and began schools to teach her system of selling her company’s products, allowing many African- American women to be independent businesswomen.

By 1917, Walker was one of the best-known and wealthiest in the United States. On May 25, 1919, she passed away at her estate. Today, Madam C.J. Walker is remembered in Indianapolis at the Madame Walker Theatre, built in 1927 by her daughter A’Lelia to commemorate her contribution to the community.

To see pictures of Madam C.J. Walker, please use the following websites: Madam C.J. Walker official website – www.madamecjwalker.com/

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The Indiana State Museum Madam C.J. Walker Lesson Plan – http://www.indianamuseum.org/uploads/docs/LP_16_MWalker.pdf Madame Walker Theatre – www.walkertheater.com/

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ALBION FELLOWS BACON (1865 – 1933) Social welfare activist

Albion Fellows Bacon was a housewife-turned-activist who championed a broad range of social welfare causes, benefiting the working class on a local, state, and national level. The third daughter of Reverend Albion and Mary Fellows, of Evansville, Albion became interested in reading, writing, art, and music at an early age, and graduated as salutatorian of her high school class. Her family could not pay for further education, so she worked as an assistant to her great uncle after high school. She also toured Europe with her older sister Annie before marrying Hilary Bacon, a merchant, in 1888. Albion and her husband had four children – Margaret Gibson, Albion Mary, and twins Joy and Hilary Jr.

Initially, Bacon did not participate in social welfare causes because she thought that was better left to the experienced. The homemaker eventually established relationships with Evansville slum residents by calling on them with sweets and small gifts. With a group of women, Bacon began the Visiting Nurse’s Circle, which paid for a nurse to care for the sick and poor in their homes. She also helped found the Flower Mission, which delivered fresh-cut bouquets to the working class, and the Working Girls’ Association, which provided a lunchroom and boardinghouses for young working women.

Through her early social-welfare activities, Bacon adopted the philosophy that a city’s social, civic, and business problems could be cured by making its homes better. She drafted a proposal for a housing regulation bill that was passed in 1909. But Bacon’s efforts did not end there. The bill was amended so that the law did not apply to all dwellings, was not enforced by the State Board of Health, and affected only two Indiana cities. Bacon continued to lobby the state Legislature and helped get the 1913 State Tenement Law and the 1917 State Housing Law enacted. Biographer Robert G. Barrows writes: “These laws regulated the construction of multi-family dwellings and empowered state health officers to order corrective action when existing houses were deemed unfit.”

Besides organizing social-welfare groups and petitioning for laws, Bacon served in many high-profile state and national positions. She was a member of the State Commission on Child Welfare and Social Insurance, which regulated school attendance and the employment of minors, and was appointed by President Herbert Hoover’s administration to the Conference on Home Building. Bacon lectured across the country as a housing reform authority. She authored Beauty for Ashes , an autobiographical book that described her campaigns for housing reform, The Path to God , and Consolation . She continued her social welfare activities until her death.

To see a picture of Albion Fellows Bacon, please use the following website:

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Albion Fellows Bacon Center – www.albionfellowsbacon.org/index.html

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EMILY KIMBROUGH (1899 – 1989) Author and journalist

Author Emily Kimbrough was the first child of Hal Curry Kimbrough and Charlotte Wiles Kimbrough, of Muncie, Indiana. Her childhood was privileged, and her family was prominent in the town and state. Charles Mayberry “C.M.” Kimbrough, Emily’s grandfather, was president of the Indiana Bridge Company and a state senator. Her father and uncles each served as president of their father’s business. The Kimbrough family was involved in Muncie’s cultural, social, and political life and developed associations for art, music, and theater. Kimbrough absorbed this appreciation for the arts early.

Kimbrough carved out a career as a renowned author, but not before she held a series of jobs as a young adult. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1921, she and her friend Cornelia toured Europe. Upon return, Kimbrough, described by author and former Indianapolis Star reporter Nelson Price as “ambitious, but directionless,” landed work in Chicago, first as an advertising copywriter and later as an editor for Fashions of the Hour , a Marshall Field and Company publication. In 1926, she accepted a position in New York City as fashion editor of Ladies’ Home Journal. She later rose to managing editor. Kimbrough married John Wrench in 1928 and had twin daughters, Alis and Margaret. After divorcing her husband, Kimbrough contributed articles to national publications that included House and Garden and Country Life .

Kimbrough became a household name in the when she started writing and publishing stories about her experiences as a child and young adult. Most of her works employed a humorous, lighthearted tone. Kimbrough and Skinner recounted their European travels in the book Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1943), which was developed into a movie that was well-received by wartime audiences. In her memoir, How Dear to My Heart (1944), she reminisced about her early childhood in Muncie. Kimbrough described visits to her paternal grandparents’ stately house, day trips in her grandfather’s beloved automobile (which her grandmother loathed), and Fourth of July fireworks mishaps. Kimbrough’s work The Innocents from Indiana (1950) chronicled her family’s awkward adjustment to life in a big city when they relocated to Chicago in 1909.

Kimbrough shared her lecture-tour experiences in the book It Gives Me Great Pleasure (1948). Her last book, Better than Oceans, came out in 1976, and Kimbrough remained active until her death. Her hometown of Muncie has honored her by naming a section of her old neighborhood after her; today it is part of the East Central Neighborhood District.

Currently there is no picture available online.

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POLLY STRONG (ca. 1796 – ?) Freewoman

Polly Strong, a young mulatto woman, used the judicial system to challenge her status as a slave in the early days of Indiana statehood. She was born about 1796 to Jenny, a black slave seized by Native Americans and held prisoner at the age of fifteen, then sold at least twice – first to Isaac Williams of Detroit in 1795 and later to Antoine Lasselle. Lasselle’s nephew, prominent Vincennes, Indiana, resident Hyacinth Lasselle, purchased Polly Strong about 1806. Within a decade, Strong and Hyacinth Lasselle would become engaged in the multiyear legal battle known as State v. Lasselle to determine her freedom.

Three edicts affected the lives of Strong, her mother, her brother James, and, ultimately, the outcome of State v. Lasselle . In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, from which Indiana would be formed nearly thirty years later. In addition, the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, between the United States and Native Americans in the Northwest Territory, called for the release of prisoners on both sides. Strong’s mother, Jenny, was released and eventually sold into the Lasselle family. But, adhering to the Northwest Ordinance, Indiana’s 1816 Constitution prohibited slavery or involuntary servitude.

Despite these precedents, court documents show Strong’s bid for freedom was not resolved quickly. Sometime before 1816, Judge John Johnson of the General Court of the Indiana Territory gave the opinion that Strong and her brother, James, were slaves. A freedom suit was filed, and Lasselle was ordered to present Strong and her brother to the Knox Circuit Court in July 1818. The slave owner requested that the case be dismissed, while Strong and James argued for their freedom. In February and April 1820, witnesses were summoned for both Strong and Lasselle. Sometime before July 22 of that year, Knox County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Doty ruled in Lasselle’s favor, and Strong was obligated to remain Lasselle’s property.

On July 22, 1820, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Knox Circuit Court. The Court found that the 1816 Constitution banned slavery and that Lasselle had violated the law by enslaving Strong. Polly Strong was declared a free woman.

But Strong’s court battles did not end there. On March 2, 1822, a man named Joseph Huffman brought a case against Strong to recover money he had lent her during her trial, and the Knox County sheriff took her into custody. A jury later ruled in favor of Huffman and awarded him thirty-five dollars in damages.

Outside of these court records, little is known about Strong.

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To see a picture of Polly Strong, please use the following website: Indiana State Supreme Court – Courts in the Classroom: www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/special/ bound-for-freedom/index.html

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MARY JESSAMYN WEST (1902 – 1984) Author

Author Mary Jessamyn West was born near North Vernon, Indiana, to Eldo Roy and Grace Anna Milhous West. Her father came from a poor family while her mother was from a well-established Quaker family. West’s well-read maternal grandmother helped interest her in reading and writing at an early age. When she was six, West and her immediate family moved to Los Angeles County, California, and settled on an orange ranch that her father managed. Grandmother Milhous mailed books and magazines to West, whose favorite authors included fellow Hoosier Gene Stratton-Porter. Stratton- Porter’s literary technique and career would influence her own.

Growing up, West prepared for a career as an author. Biographer Alfred S. Shivers writes that reading became a passion for West when she was twelve. Besides reading, West wrote and studied daily vocabulary lists, jotted story ideas in a notebook, and kept a journal throughout her life. But classes, married life, and a job distracted her. West graduated from Whittier College in 1921 with a bachelor of arts degree. After marrying Harry Maxwell McPherson, a Quaker, in 1923, she worked as a secretary, then as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse. From 1929 to 1931, she completed the coursework for a doctorate in English at the University of California, yet fell short of obtaining her degree. In his biography, Shivers includes a letter West wrote in which she asks, “When am I ever going to write my stories?”

In 1931, West was diagnosed with tuberculosis and entered a sanatorium to recover. The illness weakened West, but she used it as a source of inspiration. She later wrote about her experiences in the sanatorium in Los Angeles.

West’s first stories were published when she was in her forties. Her most popular work, The Friendly Persuasion (1945), described the life of the Birdwells, a Quaker family living in Indiana during the Civil War. The Friendly Persuasion was adapted into a 1956 movie, which received an Academy Award Best Picture nomination. West described her experiences as the movie’s scriptwriter in her autobiographical book To See the Dream (1957) .

Although West’s career started late, it was prolific. Her books include A Mirror for the Sky (1948), The Witch Diggers (1951), Except for Me and Thee (the sequel to The Friendly Persuasion) ( 1969), The Massacre at Fall Creek (1975), and The Collected Stories of Jessamyn West (1986). She continued to write into the 1970s and died from a stroke at age eighty-two.

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To see a picture of Mary Jessamyn West, please use the following website: Jessamyn West Webpage – www.jessamyn.com/jessamyn/jess.html

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Ten Hoosier Women Students Should Know

Objectives:  Students will be introduced to ten women from Indiana they should know.  Students will create a mural highlighting one Hoosier woman.

Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies: 3.1.4, 3.1.5, 3.2.7; 4.1.6, 4.1.11, 4.1.13, 4.5.6, 5.2.10 Art: 3.3.2, 3.7.3, 3.8.1, 3.8.2, 3.9.2; 4.3.2, 4.7.1, 4.7.3, 4.8.1, 4.8.2, 4.9.2, 4.10.1; 5.3.2, 5.7.1, 5.7.2, 5.7.3, 5.8.1, 5.8.2, 5.9.2, 5.10.1

Supplies:  Biographies  Poster board  Markers  Scissors  Glue  Construction paper

Students will need computer lab time in order to complete this project.

Instructions: 1. Have students pick one Hoosier woman featured in this lesson plan. Explain that students are to create a mural picture featuring that woman. 2. Each mural should portray that woman’s life and accomplishments. Students should use the biographical information attached to this lesson plan as inspiration when creating their murals. 3. Students are encouraged to do additional research using library resources and the Internet. 4. After the posters are created, have students take time to study each mural. Using the attached worksheet, students should see whether they can figure out the message of each mural, and what each woman’s accomplishments were.

Tip: In order to help students visualize what they need to do, show examples of murals done by artists such as Diego Rivera and other Social Realist artists of the early 1900s.

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Activity 2: Women’s Suffrage in Indiana

Objectives:  Students will create a bulletin board highlighting the women’s suffrage movement in Indiana.

Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies: 3.1.4, 3.1.5, 3.2.7; 4.1.6, 4.1.11, 4.1.13, 4.2.7, 4.2.8, 4.5.6; 5.2.10

Supplies:  Bulletin board space  Large construction paper  Scissors  Staples  Markers

Students will need computer lab time in order to complete this project.

Instructions: 1. Explain to students that they are going to create a bulletin board presentation highlighting the women’s suffrage movement in Indiana. Tip: This bulletin board is a great way for students to highlight Women’s History Month in March. A classroom or school hallway bulletin board would work for this project. 2. Students should divide into teams to complete different parts of the bulletin board. Each team should oversee the creation of the following: a. A timeline tracking the beginning of the suffrage movement in the state to the point when women gained the right to vote. b. Short biographies of four suffragists from Indiana. This should include a picture of the suffragist (if obtainable). c. Placards, signs, buttons, etc. that focus on spreading the message of women’s right to vote. Students can base their signs on actual signs used by suffragists. 3. Students should use library resources and the Internet to research the information they need. The resources listed at the end of the lesson plan can be given to students who are struggling in their research. 4. After completing their research, students should create their section of the bulletin board. Students should use computer applications as well as any additional craft materials needed to complete the project.

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Activity 3: Celebrating National Women’s History Month

Objectives:  Students will learn how this celebration uses themes each year to commemorate the accomplishments of women in the United States.  Students will create a newspaper highlighting the year’s Women’s History Month theme.

Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies: 3.1.4; 4.1.6, 4.1.11, 4.5.6; 5.2.11 Language Arts: 3.4.1, 3.4.3, 3.4.4, 3.4.5, 3.4.6, 3.4.7, 3.4.8, 3.5.2, 3.5.4, 3.5.5, 3.6.2, 3.6.3, 3.6.4, 3.6.5, 3.6.6, 3.6.7, 3.6.8; 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.5, 4.4.7, 4.4.8, 4.4.9, 4.4.10, 4.4.11, 4.4.12, 4.5.3, 4.5.5, 4.5.6, 4.6.2, 4.6.3, 4.6.4, 4.6.5, 4.6.6, 4.6.7, 4.6.8; 5.4.3, 5.4.4, 5.4.6, 5.4.8, 5.4.9, 5.4.10, 5.5.5, 5.5.6, 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4, 5.6.5, 5.6.6, 5.6.7

Supplies: Students will need computer lab time in order to complete this project.

Instructions: 1. Before students begin the project, have them visit the website of the National Women’s History Project at http://www.nwhp.org to learn what the theme for Women’s History Month will be. Give them time to explore the website to learn what they can about the women who will be honored that year. 2. Next, explain that students will be creating a newspaper highlighting the year’s theme. A page of the newspaper should be dedicated to each of the following topics:  Page One: The year’s Women’s History Month theme with short articles emphasizing the important events the NWHP is remembering.  Page Two: Short articles emphasizing three of the NWHP’s honorees.  Page Three: Short articles emphasizing three Hoosier women whom students think deserve special recognition for their accomplishments. This can be a mix of women from Indiana’s past and present.  Page Four: Short articles on milestones achieved by Hoosier women. 3. Have students break up into four teams. Each team is responsible for creating one page. Students should feel free to use pictures, clip art, etc., to accent their newspaper. 4. Once all four pages are ready to go, the teacher should print the newspaper to share with other classes in that grade or the whole school, to spread the word about Women’s History Month. Those classes, or the school, can then vote on which Hoosier woman they think deserves special recognition.

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Activity 4: Honoring Women In Your Community

Objectives:  Students will nominate a woman from their community who they think deserves to be recognized by the Indiana Women’s History Trail.

Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies: 3.1.4; 4.1.6, 4.1.11, 4.5.6; 5.2.11

Supplies:  None

Instructions: 1. Introduce students to the Indiana Women’s History Trail. 2. Next, explain to students that they will work as a class to nominate a woman, organization, or site from the community who they think deserves to be part of the History Trail. 3. The class should work together to fill out the nomination form, which can be found at http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/activities/iwht.html

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111010 Hoosier Women You Should Know

Name: ______

Instructions: Look at each mural and tell in writing what its creator wants you to know. Be sure to tell the important things each woman did.

Irene Dunne ______

May Wright Sewell ______

Caroline Scott Harrison ______

Gene StrattonStratton----PorterPorter ______

Ida Husted Harper ______

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Madam CCC.C...J.J. Walker ______

Albion Fellows Bacon ______

Mary Jessamyn West ______

Emily Kimbrough ______

Polly Strong ______

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RESOURCES

Books: Feel free to introduce your students to any of the great authors and their books featured in this lesson plan.

The Indiana Historical Society has a variety of books featuring Hoosier women. Check out their website www.indianahistory.org/ .

Bundles, A’lelia, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker

Barrows, Robert G., Albion Fellows Bacon: Indiana’s Municipal Housekeeper

Videos/DVD: For the Sport of It: Female Athletics and Title IX can be purchased through the NCAA Hall of Champions.

Out of the Shadows: Portraits of Historic Hoosier Women Artists can be purchased through the Indiana Historical Society.

Websites: The World Wide Web is full of information on American and Hoosier women who have made history. Here are some sites that will help you and your students do further research. www.nwhp.org/ – National Women’s History Project. http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/social_studies/high-womensstudies.html – The Public Broadcasting Service offers a variety of resources for teachers dealing with women’s issues in American History. www.iwh.iupui.edu – Indiana Women’s History Association. This website also has a link to the Indiana Women’s History Trail. http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/publications/tihtop.html – The Indiana Historical Bureau’s The Indiana Junior Historian newsletter is available online. There is a specific section on Women’s History in Indiana. http://www.in.gov/icw/ – The Indiana Commission on Women’s website has a link to their archives, including a Power Point presentation celebrating Hoosier women’s role in the suffrage movement. http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/lessons/ – The Indiana Supreme Court’s Program Courts in the Classroom , features several lesson plans that focus on women’s issues and the courts, including the Polly Strong case. Under the link “The Trial of Susan B. Anthony,” there is a timeline of women’s suffrage in Indiana. http://www.in.gov/ism/ – The Indiana State Museum offers a lesson plan on Madam C.J. Walker.

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http://www.impcl.org/resources/digitallibrary/maywrightsewall.html – May Wright Sewall Papers. http://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/ – Indiana’s Division for Historic Preservation will be adding information on women’s history sometime in 2007.

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LESSON PLAN EVALUATION Your feedback is important to us. We welcome your comments to help us plan lessons in the future. Please check your responses and return to the Indiana State Museum. You may return the evaluation by mail, fax, or e-mail to: Attention: Joanna Hahn, Cultural History Education Specialist, [email protected]

1. Please indicate the lesson plan you received:  James Whitcomb Riley  Lick Creek African-American Settlement  Whitewater Canal State Historic Site  Indiana’s Ice Age Animals  Indiana Fossils  A World-Class Artist: The Life and Times of William Edouard Scott (1884-1964)  Her Stories: 10 Hoosier Women Students Should Know

2. Did you find the lesson plan easy to understand and use? Yes ___ No ___ Not sure ___ If “no,” what was the problem? ______

3. Were the connections to the state standards appropriate? Yes ___ No ___ Not sure ___ Comments: ______

4. Was the length of this lesson plan Too short? ___ Too long? ___ Just right? ___ Comments: ______

5. Was the lesson plan appropriate for the grade/ability level of your students? Yes ___ No ___ Not sure ___ Comments: ______

6. What activity did your students like the best? ______

7. What activity did your student like the least? ______Why? ______How could we improve it? ______

Additional comments: ______

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