Teaching Resources for
Election Day
Textual Connections:
Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone
Elizabeth Cady Stanton stood up and fought for what she believed in. From an early age, she knew that women were not given rights equal to men. But rather than accept her lesser status, Elizabeth went to college and later gathered other like-minded women to challenge the right to vote. This is the inspiring story of an extraordinary woman who changed America forever because she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
Papa’s Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert
Simms is always at Papa's side, and he eagerly awaits Papa's first opportunity, as an African-American, to vote. But Papa wants to sign his name, not an X, to get his ballot. He practices signing his name, Samuel T. Blow, and Simms helps him. While urging his fellows to go to town to vote, Simms listens to their fear of the townspeople's wrath, not all of whom are happy to see black men voting. But Simms sticks by his father, and when all the men choose to go to vote, the white shopkeeper in town goes in side-by-side with Samuel T. He signs his name, and he and Simms put the ballot in the box together.
The Day Gogo Went to Vote by ElinorSisulu
Thembi accompanies her hundred-year-old great-grandmother to the polling place in the first election in which black South Africans are allowed to vote. Infirm and housebound, Gogo is determined to vote and does so with a little help from her community.
Lesson Plans:
Elementary
Read, Write, Think: Voting! What's it all about?
Throughout the unit, students collect images, articles, and other things they can use to create a graffiti wall about voting. They create a chart listing what they know about the current election and how they know it, then examine the chart to determine which items are fact and which are opinion. They explore the history of voting and voting rights and create a timeline of voting history. Working in small groups, students explore election information from current sources and record information on sticky notes for the fact/opinion chart and the graffiti wall. Finally, students use the notes and materials they have collected to create the graffiti wall. They write about which candidate they would vote for, focusing on fact over opinion.
Secondary
iCivics: Voting Rights
Explore the evolution of voting rights in the Unites States through an interactive PowerPoint presentation highlighting landmark changes. Following the presentation and class discussion, students apply the new knowledge of voting legislation to individual scenarios through a class activity.
National Archives: Congress Protects the Right to Vote- The Voting Rights Act of 1965
By analyzing evidence reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee related to the Voting Rights Act, students must wrestle with the same issues faced by the committee as it created landmark civil rights legislation. Ten primary source documents allow students to see multiple perspectives which enable them to evaluate Congress's actions and assess whether the Federal Government should have taken over from the states the power to qualify and register voters.
Reading Like a Historian: Background on Woman Suffrage
When the 19thAmendment was passed in 1920, the fight for women’s suffrage had already gone on for decades. Many women had hoped that women would win suffrage at the same time as African Americans. However, the 15th amendment only extended suffrage to African-American men. In this lesson, students explore the broad context of the women’s suffrage movement through reading selections from Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Rock the Vote: Democracy Class
Democracy Class is a fun 45-minute lesson program that uses video, a discussion and a mock election exercise to equip young people with the skills they need to navigate the elections process and participate as active citizens.
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Websites
Baltimore City League of Women Voters
Find the Baltimore City General Election Voter’s Guide on this site. Hard copies are available from the Office of Humanities.
Rock the Vote
This website provides information about voter registration that appeals to young voters.
Office of HumanitiesBaltimore City Public Schools