Activity 1: Nineteenth-Century Women Activists

After students have familiarized themselves with the first five Mass Moments essays featured in this lesson and Documents HS II-7 through HS II-11, discuss as a class:

1. How did each of the women (Fuller, Stone, Foster, Grimké, Alcott, and Luscomb) contribute to the cause of woman’s rights?
2. What motivated them?
3. What preconceptions about women did they face?
4. What did they have in common? How were they different?
5. What conclusions can be drawn from the answers to questions #1 - 3?
6. What other reform movements were these women involved in? How might that have influenced their views on woman’s rights?