Exploring Biography through Art, Images, and Artifacts: The Emma Smith DeVoe Story

Lesson Plans

by Gwen Perkins

Summary:
How did women in the United States, particularly New York and Washington States, achieve the right to vote? What struggles did ordinary Washington women face in their political and in their home lives?

Emma Smith DeVoe was a woman's rights activist who lived in the Pacific Northwest. As an organizer, DeVoe understood the importance of building the suffrage movement in conjunction with labor and men's groups. While her strategies were sometimes in conflict with others in the movement, DeVoe was one of the primary movers of obtaining the vote for Washington women.

Using her story, students will undertake an investigation into the life and times of early suffragists. Students will look at the issues surrounding women who attempted to obtain the vote for Northwestern states. Through analyzing and interpreting both cartoons and artifacts, students will begin to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by these women and use this evidence to develop a biographical scene of their own, to show the impact of the Woman Suffrage movement on the Pacific Northwest.

Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs):
This lesson plan satisfies Washington state standards in Social Studies, Civics, Reading, Writing, and Art. It may also be used to fulfill a Dig Deep Classroom-Based Assessment.

Essential Questions for Students:

What was Woman Suffrage?
What challenges did ordinary women face in their daily lives prior to the passage of the 1920 suffrage amendment? Why was it so important to women to have the vote?
What does art tell us about the struggle to obtain the vote?
How can we use art to explore the lives of individuals?

Primary Sources for Student Understanding:

Secondary Sources for Student Understanding:

What Happened?

What is Suffrage?

Materials:

Instructions for Teachers:
SESSION ONE

Part I.
Prepare yourself by getting familiar with the content of this lesson plan. Review all primary and secondary sources listed above. Use the reading What Happened? for a quick overview of women’s fight to vote in the 1800s and 1900s.

Part II.
Provide students with an overview of this lesson by explaining to them that they will be learning about how women got the vote in the United States. You may wish to share some of the details from "What Happened?" or read it out loud.

Using a blackboard or overhead projector, ask the class to brainstorm the names of famous American women. As they give the names, create a list of who those women are. Be prepared to hear mostly celebrity names!

After you have created the list, discuss the following:

What are these women famous for? (Politics/activism, the arts, science, etc.)
How have these women achieved their fame? How do we hear about any figure, be it political, social, or cultural, today? (You may hear answers like TV, newspapers, the internet.)
How do you think the movements of political figures were communicated at the beginning of the 19th century? What subjects do you think people discussed? Who became "famous"?

Part III.
Assign as homework or in class the "What is Suffrage?" reading. Explain to students that they will be using that as background for the next session where they will be looking at two sides of the Suffrage issue through illustrations.

SESSION TWO

Part I.
Bring the class together to discuss the readings from the previous sessions. Either as a class or by dividing students into smaller groups, hand out the Suffrage Cartoons. Ask them to fill out the Storyboard Organizer as they work, paying close attention to any of the symbols, people or ideas from their readings.

Using the internet, project the Cartoon Slideshow on the board. Alternately, you may use the images located here by printing them on transparencies and using on an overhead projector or as student handouts.

Select one image. With your students, discuss the following:

Who is the main "character" of this cartoon?
What is the story or problem? How does the character or author define it? Do you see a resolution in the cartoon? If so, what is it?
What is the setting? Why do you think that the scene was set in this place? Would this story be different if we moved the characters to Seattle, for instance? Why or how?
Why do you think the author chose to tell this story using pictures rather than just writing an essay? What symbols do you see here that are important?
Look at the cartoons that you have just been discussing. What themes or symbols do these pieces have in common?

Part II.
Pass out the Emma Smith DeVoe biography. Either in small groups or individually, ask students to read the material and, using the Storyboard Organizer, comment on pieces of the biography. Explain to them that they are looking for connections between DeVoe’s story and the larger suffrage movement. They will be using this story to create a biography of their own in the following session.

In class or as homework, assign the "Washington Leads the Way" reading. As they read it, suggest to students that they may wish to take notes on the women who were a part of the early movement in Washington.

SESSION THREE

Part I.
Explain to students that they will be examining some of the items and objects used by leaders of the suffrage movement in their daily lives. Pass out the Artifact Analysis Worksheet or allow students to access these collections online at collections.washingtonhistory.org.

Suggest to them that they think about what these artifacts could be used to represent. If they were telling a story, how could they use these objects to help communicate a message about the fight for woman suffrage. What questions do the artifacts lead them to? What stories do the artifacts reveal?

Either as individuals or in pairs, assign students a figure from the suffrage movement. Emma Smith DeVoe may be used or, optionally, you may suggest that they research and select their own individual. There are several biographies provided for student use in Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices. Using one of the options listed below, invite them to do some historical exploration of their own on these women.

OPTION I. Ask students to build a timeline of DeVoe’s life and the events of the early suffrage movement. Explain that they will need to use data not only from the readings provided but also from their own research.

Students should be encouraged to illustrate the timeline with the artifacts and images provided by the Washington State Historical Society and other institutions. Have them consider creative ways to use these objects as part of their project — looking beyond the use of the object itself to what it might have meant to the woman who used it.

OPTION II. Have students research a scene from the life of a suffragist and use that to create a 1-3 frame comic.

Emphasize the following:

Artistic ability is not important. Grading will be based on effort and the thought put into telling the story. (Optional: You may allow students the ability to do the work on a computer or as a scrapbook-style project.)
Use the "Storyboard Organizer" to outline the characters, setting, and conflict in your story.
Don’t forget: this story takes place in the early 1900s. Make sure that the objects that you show and the things that your figures say are accurate to the time period.
Remember: Space is tight so make sure to establish your story right away!

Part II.
Offer students the time needed to research their historical figure. After the assignment has been completed, consider having students share their suffragist stories as part of a classroom exhibit or a student-produced book.

POSSIBLE EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Use this classroom project as a springboard to inspire students to explore the ideas, people, and stories as part of National History Day. Visit the Washington History Day website at http://www.washingtonhistory.org/historyday to find out more about the program.
Consider scheduling a History Lab field trip for your students at the Washington State History Museum. Our curators have developed a "history mystery" to share the story of the woman suffrage movement with our students.