Women’s Suffrage – Political Cartoons
Teacher: Wendy Hallock
Grade Level of Lesson: Middle School
Time Required: Several class periods
Topic: Women’s Suffrage
Context & Differentiation:
Students analyze political cartoons before designing their own. This lesson plan is designed for a one-hour block.
Necessary foundation precedes this lesson, and connected student work is assigned with a one-week deadline,
work that might be completed outside of class time or during a work period dedicated to the task. Prior to
implementing this lesson, students will need to have a basic understanding of how to interpret political cartoons
and context for the topic being satirized. This lesson is designed for students with a foundation in the historical
context of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. To establish this context, students define suffrage
vocabulary terms, explore a variety of primary sources, and view the documentary One Woman One Vote (One
Woman One Vote. Perf. Susan Sarandon. PBS Home Video; American Experience, 2006. DVD.)
for an overview of significant figures and events in the eighty year struggle for women's suffrage.
Content Standards:
VT H&SS 6.9 Students show understanding of how humans interpret history by identifying multiple perspectives
in the struggle for Women’s Suffrage.
Historical Processes:
Students will consider multiple perspectives to evaluate competing narratives and sets of evidence related to the
Women’s Suffrage Movement.
Common Core Standards:
Reading Standards for Informational Text 6-12 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 9) Students will analyze
multiple political cartoons that provide conflicting messages on the topic of women’s suffrage and identify how
these primary resources disagree on matters of interpretation.
Focus Question: How did various groups and individuals use political cartoons to attempt to persuade others to
their own way of thinking with respect to Women’s Suffrage?
Culminating Assessment:
Students will prepare an original political cartoon and write a reflective paragraph. The reflection will
identify the cartoon's message as well as the audience it is intended to persuade. The student will identify
symbolism and exaggeration, indicating how and why choices were made.
Formative Assessment:
 Facilitate whole-group discussion to model observation and interpretation of political cartoons.
 Circulate as students work with partners to observe and interpret cartoons; answer clarifying
questions and provide feedback and or prompts.
 As students share their interpretations with the group, identify misconceptions and provide
historical context as necessary.
Teaching and Learning Activities:
1) Whole Group:
 First image is displayed by projector. (Appendix A)
 Students take turns identifying the details.
 When details are exhausted, connect meaning to the symbols.
 Students identify and discuss the message and audience.
2) Individual / Partner:
 Students will examine four of the five remaining cartoons individually or with a partner. (Appendix A)
 Observations will be documented on a graphic organizer. (Appendix B)
3) Whole Group:
 Project remaining cartoons. (Appendix A)
 For each image, students share and compare observations.
 Read and review the instructions & rubric for designing a political cartoon. (Appendix C)
4) Individual:
 Students will have thinking time to design a preliminary sketch, message and audience for an original
political cartoon.
Resources:
Primary:
Appendix A – Images – Political Cartoons addressing Women’s Suffrage from a variety of perspectives
Materials:
Appendix B – Graphic Organizer for students to use when analyzing political cartoons
Appendix C – Instructions and rubric for students’ culminating assessment
Appendix D – Source information for political cartoons
Appendix A:
“The Struggle." TSLA: Remember the Ladies!: Women Struggle for an Equal Voice . Tennessee State Library and Archives. Web. 06
Apr. 2012. <http://www.state.tn.us/tsla/exhibits/suffrage/struggle.htm>.
“The Struggle." TSLA: Remember the Ladies!: Women Struggle for an Equal Voice . Tennessee State Library and Archives. Web. 06
Apr. 2012. <http://www.state.tn.us/tsla/exhibits/suffrage/struggle.htm>.
"Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911Arts & Humanities." Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911. Library of
Congress. Web. 06 Apr. 2012. <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/suffragescrapbooks/langarts.html>.
"By Popular Demand: "Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920." American Memory. Library of Congress. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwhome.html>.
"Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911." American Memory. Library of Congress. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/millerscrapbooks/index.html>.
"Weblinks-The Roaring 20s." Historyteacher.net Index. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/Weblinks/AHAP_Weblinks22.htm>.
Appendix B:
Name _________________________________________________
Date _______________________________
Political Cartoon Organizer
Details:
Significance:
Details:
Significance:
What is the message?
What is the message?
Who is the audience?
Who is the audience?
Details:
What is the message?
Who is the audience?
Significance:
Details:
Significance:
What is the message?
Who is the audience?
Now it is time to design your own cartoon. Take some time to think of a message and an audience. Then identify the details that will illustrate your
message. What will you exaggerate? Sketch the details and write your message on the back of this page.
Appendix C:
Political Cartoon – Instructions and Rubric
Together, we have examined a variety of political cartoons related to the eighty-year quest for women's suffrage.
Now it is your turn to design a cartoon of your own. You have one week to organize and create your cartoon, so
take the time to plan what you will say with your choice of images and symbols.
 Decide on an audience. (Do you want to target men, women, suffragists, anti-suffragists, or some other
segment of the population?)
 Identify a clear message.
 What symbols, historical characters, text, and images will help to make your point?
 What features, if any, will you exaggerate?
 Will you include any subtle messages or hidden details/ layers?
Reflection:
Write a reflection outlining what your message is. Who is your intended audience? What images did you choose
to include? What is the significance? What strategies did you use to persuade?
Basically, in a strong paragraph, you should share an overview of the planning process and finished product.
Rubric:
Needs Work
Approaching
the Standard
Meets the Standard Exceeds the
Standard
Message/ Audience There is no obvious
message.
There is a
focus, but the
message is
missing or
unclear.
There is a clear
message intended
to persuade a
targeted audience.
There is a
compound or
unique message to
a clear audience.
Images/ Symbols
Images lack any
connection to historical
context.
One or two
images
connect
loosely to the
suffrage
theme.
Image has a
minimum of three
symbols with a
clear connection to
historical contextsuffrage movement.
Image contains
multiple layers of
symbolism, with
great detail
connected to the
Suffrage movement
Reflection
Writing is not organized Paragraph
into a paragraph and/ or answers some
not a reflection.
or all of the
suggested
questions at
surface level
Coherent
paragraph reflects
process and
product with
specific detail.
Deep reflection
connects suffrage
themes with
individual
motivation for
project.
Appendix D:
Cartoon Source Information
Tennesse State Library:
1) Hope At Last!, 1920, Carrie Chapman Catt Papers
National Suffrage climbs the ratification cliff while grabbing a strong hold on Tennessee. The couny otry focused its
eyes on our state—this cartoon is from the Sacramento, California, Bee.
2) Lest We Forget, 1920, Carrie Chapman Catt Papers
Southern gentleman presents the vote to women as suffragists from the past look on: Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eliza Turner Wilkes, Inez Holland, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw and others.
Library of Congress:
3) I Wonder If It’s Really Becoming?' - 1891 American political cartoon. The image shows a stylish woman with
'Votes for women' hat with suffrage message on feathers. Author / Creator - Publisher: New York Press Credit
Line: Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collection Division, NAWSA Miller Scrapbook
Collection.
4) Election Day! Created by E.W. Gustin/Published: c1909.
A political cartoon showing a woman getting ready to leave the house while a man sits in chair with two crying
babies. The woman is standing next to a dining table with her back turned, apparently getting ready to leave
the house, and she looks back over her shoulder, down through her spectacles at her husband. She is wearing
a bowler hat with a long feather, and a coat and tie over her long skirt. She carries an umbrella over her
forearm. Her husband is seated on chair at the dining table, holding two wailing babies. He has a look of
worry or confusion on his face and an apron tied around his waist. A cat stands next to him with her fur
raised and her back arched. There are plates scattered on the table and one broken on the floor beneath. A
sign hangs on the wall that reads “Votes for Women.” Beneath the illustration is “Election Day!” On the sides
of this caption is a ballot and a ballot box.
5) O Save Us, Senators, From Ourselves!
A man labeled "Grady" is scratching his head or wiping his brow as he receives a woman's anti-suffrage
petition; cover of Harper's Weekly, Feb. 23rd 1907.
Historyteacher.net:
6) The Last Few Buttons Are Always The Hardest.
Literary Digest, 3/27/20. Originally from the St. Louis Star (Will E. Chapin).