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Lesson plan: The struggle for the right to vote

October 23, 2000
Web posted at: 12:36 PM EDT (1636 GMT)

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Editor's note: If you are planning to use the news story that this lesson plan is based on for a homework assignment, please write the URL on the board and have your students copy it. CNNfyi.com updates the site in the early evening, so students may have difficulty finding it without the URL. You can find the lesson plan by going to the Subject Areas page and clicking PREVIOUS in the square for Today's Lesson Plan.

Objectives

Students will:

• Identify historical figures who helped lead others in the voting rights movement.
• Develop a plan to involve young voters in the election process.
• Research historical struggles for voting rights.

Standards

National Council for the Social Studies
X. Civic Ideals and Practices

High school students increasingly recognize the rights and responsibilities of citizens in identifying societal needs, setting directions for public policies and working to support both individual dignity and the common good. They learn by experience how to participate in community service and political activities and how to use the democratic process to influence public policy.

Materials

CNNfyi.com article, "Saving the vote"
Internet access (optional)

Suggested time

One to two class periods

Procedures

1. Ask students if they are familiar with the following historical figures: Medgar Evers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Discuss students' familiarity with these figures and their knowledge of voting rights. Have students read the CNNfyi.com article "Saving the vote," then ask the following questions:

• What role did each of the persons mentioned in the article play in securing voting rights for those who were denied? What were some of the restrictions that kept many Americans from voting? What group of people was allowed to vote in the newly formed United States of America? Why do you believe that these persons were given that right? If you were alive during the struggle for voting rights, would you have considered the right to vote important?
• What reasons can you give for the decline of youth turnout at the polls? What do you think of the Bike for Youth Votes crusade? Would this type of effort encourage you to vote if you were an eligible, yet apathetic voter? Why do you think high schools are involved in this journey? Do you agree or disagree with the reasoning? Explain.

2. Have students choose a significant historical figure from either the civil rights or women's suffrage movements. Direct them to research print, media or online resources to find out about that particular figure's background, involvement in the movement, method of securing the right to vote and success in his or her endeavors. The research results may be used to create a monologue of that historical figure to share with the class.

3. Allow students to brainstorm with others to create a list of the interests of young citizens. Instruct students to use the lists to devise some sort of "crusade" to attract and involve students in the election process.

Accommodation

Logical-mathematical: Students can create a time line of the history of the country and the struggles for voting rights as well as human rights.

Assessment

Students may share either their monologue (two to three minutes) or plan to involve young voters with the class.

Bike for Youth Votes
Views of first-time voters
Federal Election Commission
Fighting voter apathy
Voting Rights Act Of 1965
African-American odyssey: The civil rights era
Woman suffrage movement
American experience: Suffrage history

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