Activity: Making A Difference

Name: _______________________________________
Period: ________
Date: __________

Lesson Three:
Votes for Women, A Voice for All: Helen Keller, Suffragist

What Would You Do?

When trying to make a difference in your world, you’ll need to win over lawmakers, community leaders, or even family, friends, and neighbors to build momentum for your movement. Participants in the suffrage movement did just that, making speeches, writing letters and editorials, and creating art and music to promote their case. The letters, speeches, and articles by Helen Keller that you already analyzed are just a few examples of the many ways suffragists advocated for the right of women to vote.

Now, it is your turn: The year is 1918, and you are a suffragist. Using the guiding questions below, plan and produce a written or illustrated piece in support of women’s suffrage.

Directions: Answer the questions below to plan your persuasive piece. Write or draw your final piece in the space provided.

1. Select an audience. Who are you trying to persuade and why? If you are successful, what can your audience do to advance the struggle for women’s suffrage?

2. Select a medium. Will you write a letter? Publish an editorial? Draw a political cartoon? Compose a poem or a song? Deliver a speech? Explain why you think your chosen medium is the best way to reach your intended audience.

3. Use your persuasive toolkit. Whether you are trying to sway your audience with words, images, or sound, you need to use persuasive techniques like rhetorical devices to drive your point home. Are you trying to appeal to reason, for example, or tug on heartstrings? Brainstorm the techniques you plan to use.

4. Compose your Persuasive Piece. Write or draw your piece in the space below, or use a computer to create and submit your piece.