Students choose a “woman of influence” and research her life. They then prepare a printed one-minute biography and share it with the rest of the class.

Standards
Social Studies
Grade 10

History, Benchmark F
The United States in the 20th Century
14. Analyze the origins, major developments, controversies and consequences of the civil rights movement with emphasis on:

b. the linkages between the civil rights movement and movements to gain justice for other minority groups.

Language Arts
Grade 10

Writing Applications
4. Write informational essays or reports, including research, that:

b. provide a clear and accurate perspective on the subject.

Research, Benchmark E
7. Use a variety of communication techniques, including oral, visual, written or multimedia reports, to present information that supports a clear position about the topic.

Procedure

1. Distribute the “Heroic Women of the Decades” activity sheet to the students.

2. Eighteen women are listed on this sheet. Assign each student or pair of students a name from the activity sheet. Have them go to http://www.WesternReservePublicMedia.org/decades and spend 10-15 minutes finding out something about the person.

3. After 10-15 minutes, go to the first question on the activity sheet. Have the students who researched those women tell a little bit about them. From the descriptions given, have the class decide who they think made the statement. (You might also pass the sheet out the day before and ask the students to take it home and ask their parents to offer their opinion as to who made the statements.) These are the correct answers:
   
       1. A, Geraldine Ferraro
       2. C, Dolores Huerla
       3. B, Betty Friedan
       4. C, Rachel Carson
       5. A, Dorothea Lange
       6. C, Claudia Kennedy

4. Brainstorm a list of heroic, influential women who have made a positive impact on the nation and who are familiar to the students.

5. Students will choose an influential woman of the decades for research and will create a presentation to share with the class. Students may choose their own method for the presentation — PowerPoint presentations, posters, written reports, monologues or any other acceptable choice.

6. The influential woman who they choose need not come from the student activity sheet. The woman should, however, be someone who has had national impact.

Materials

• Activity sheet
• Internet access or reference texts

Resources

Heroic Women of the Decades

• Artist Hero: Dorothea Lange — http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=d_lange

• A Biographical Sketch of Jane Addams — http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_margaret_sanger.htm

• A Biography of Madeleine Albright — http://www.whatsnew.neu.edu/albright000531.html

• Pearl S. Buck — http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/Buck

• Rachel Carson.org — http://www.rachelcarson.org

• Sandra Day O’Connor Biography — http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/102/biography

• Earthkeeper Hero: Dian Fossey — http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=dfossey

• Geraldine Ferraro — http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/womhst/gerald.htm

• Betty Friedan and the Radical Past of Liberal Feminism — http://www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue35/boucher35.htm

• Jane Fonda: Wish I Hadn’t — http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/31/60minutes/main684295.shtml

• Grace Hopper: Pioneer Computer Scientist — http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/hopper.html

• Dolores Huerta Biography — http://www.doloreshuerta.org/dolores_huerta_foundation.htm

• Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy — http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/102/biography

• Alice Paul — http://womenshistory.about.com/od/paulalice/p/alice_paul.htm

• Eleanor Roosevelt: 1884-1962 — http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/smahady/ercover.htm

• Margaret Sanger — http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_margaret_sanger.htm

• Gloria Steinem — http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/1995/11/gorney.html

• Oprah Winfrey — http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/win0bio-1

To look up quotations. try http://www.bartleby.com/quotations.

Evaluation
Presentation Rubric