inquiry-based lesson plans

OVERVIEW

Important Influences on different women's lives:

• Class: one's wealth and status in society
• Race: your skin tone and the social expectations
• Colonialism: control by a military power
• Democracy: a government where citizens vote

Native American Women: 
Native women were active in community governance and activities. Many nations, perhaps one-fourth if not a majority, were organized matrilineally, where new husbands would come to live with the wife’s family and inheritance was passed down from the mother. Learn more.

Contact Between Cultures:
The English and the Dutch sought colonies in the New World, but did it in different ways. The Dutch sought to trade with their Indigenous neighbors, while the English encroached and expelled them. These models show us that our history always has a choice.  
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African peoples were brought to the Americas by force and it is their labor and sustenance that ensured the success of the colonies. But both they and the Indigenous peoples fought their treatment at every opportunity. Cultures had violent encounters in British America because of the choices the English made in their interactions. Learn more.
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American Revolution: 
​This period is such an important part of American History, but women’s roles are so often underrepresented in lieu of the images of tradesmen and farmers dropping the tools of the trade to take on mighty England. We have so much room for growth here! What ways did women contribute to the rebellion and war effort? How are women’s contributions rewarded or ignored after the war’s conclusion? How did women’s roles inspire future generations in their pursuit of greater rights and recognition from the government they helped form? Learn more.