History of Voting in the United States: Create a Virtual Exhibit

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

12

Overview

In this lesson, students watch a video and examine a collection of primary sources and curator interviews to gather information on the history of voting rights in the United States. Students use the information they gather to create a virtual exhibit. Additional voting resources and links are included.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 12 - United States Government

SS10.USG.6

Analyze the expansion of suffrage for its effect on the political system of the United States, including suffrage for non-property owners, women, African Americans, and persons eighteen years of age.

UP:SS10.USG.6

Vocabulary

  • suffrage
  • disenfranchisement
  • Seneca Falls Convention
  • suffragettes
  • 15th Amendment
  • 19th Amendment
  • 24th Amendment
  • 26th Amendment
  • Jim Crow
  • grandfather clause
  • literacy test
  • poll tax
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965
  • Motor Voter Law of 1995

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Plight of minority groups to gain suffrage rights, including women, African-Americans, non-property owners, and persons eighteen years of age.
  • Key constitutional amendments and laws that have allowed for the expansion of the right to vote.
  • Key obstacles imposed during the Jim Crow era to limit suffrage rights.
  • Key events in the Civil Rights Movement that led to the expansion of suffrage rights.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Place in chronological order the acquiring of suffrage rights for various minority groups.
  • Connect key amendments and laws to their impact on the expansion of suffrage.
  • Analyze charts and graphs of voter turnout by various minority groups over time and who these groups voted for.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The right to vote has not been guaranteed to all citizens throughout American history but has been gradually expanded to Americans over time and that the expansion of the right to vote has shifted party alliances and campaign strategies.

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

Smithsonian

License Type

Custom
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