Written By: Darleen Bailey Beard
Choosing the right candidate to vote for in a local election can be hard. You have to know what they stand for, what kind of people they are, and what plans they have for the issues you care about. But what if in the upcoming election you knew all theses things about two of the candidates? What if they were your parents? And what if one of them was keeping a secret? In a time when women were trying hard to play an active role in politics, Cornelius Sanwick must decide for himself just how important, and difficult, it is to stand up for what you believe in.
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Discussion/Project Ideas:
1. Make a timeline of voting rights in America. Include women, African-Americans, immigrants, voting age laws that came into affect, and anything else that you find to be significant.
2. Choose any other county that you want to know more about and make a timeline for it, just as you could (or did) for America. Compare this one with the one for our country.
3. Women’s suffrage didn’t happen all by itself. Choose three women that you think were major influences and describe the affect they had on women in politics. When you are finished, choose one of the women and pretend that they were not brave enough or did not have the opportunity to do the things they did to progress women’s rights. How would the absence of that person have changed the path of women voters and women politicians?
Here are some examples of women to research:
Abigail Adams
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Susan B. Anthony
Clarina Nichols
Sojourner Truth
Lucy Stone
Here a link to Darleen Bailey Beard’s website for more information! http://darleenbaileybeard.com/