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The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

All documents and text associated with this activity are printed below, followed by a worksheet for student responses.

Introduction

The protest march was – and still is – a commonly used and effective means of enacting social change. Explore these two photographs. One is from the women's suffrage movement; and one is from the Civil Rights movement.

Identify similarities and differences between the images. Use the blue buttons at the bottom of the photographs to look more closely at each one.


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Worksheet

The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

Examine the documents included in this activity and write your response in the space provided.


  1. For each photograph, make a list of the people, objects, and activities shown.
  2. Based on the photographs, what are some of the similarities and differences between these two marches? Consider aspects such as the groups, facial expressions, signs, etc. in your answer.

Your Response




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Conclusion

The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

Answer the following:

  1. Based on your observations of similarities and differences, do these two photographs explain differences between the women's suffrage and Civil Rights movements?
  2. If so, what are the differences?
  3. What do you think was the biggest and most important difference between these two movements? Citing specific evidence from the primary sources, explain your opinion.


Your Response




Document

Bastille Day spells prison for sixteen suffragettes who picketed the White House. Miss Julia...

7/19/1917

The original caption for this photograph reads: Bastille Day spells prison for sixteen suffragettes who picketed the White House. Miss Julia Hurlbut of Morristown, New Jersey, leading the sixteen members of the National Womans Party who participated in the picketing demonstration in front of the White House, Washington, District of Columbia, July 14, 1917, which led to their arrest. These sixteen women were sent to the workhouse at Occoquan, on July 17, 1917, upon their refusal to pay fines of $25 each, but were pardoned on July 19, 1917.

The National Women’s Party (NWP), previously known as the Congressional Union, was led by Alice Paul and used civil disobedience tactics similar to those of British suffragists – such as hunger strikes and protesting at public events – to fight for women's suffrage.
This primary source comes from the Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs.
National Archives Identifier: 533766
Full Citation: Photograph 165-WW-(600A)2; Bastille Day spells prison for sixteen suffragettes who picketed the White House. Miss Julia...; 7/19/1917; American Unofficial Collection of World War I Photographs, 1917 - 1918; Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/suffragettes-picketing-bastille-day, December 13, 2024]


Bastille Day spells prison for sixteen suffragettes who picketed the White House. Miss Julia...

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Document

Photograph of Leaders at the Head of the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.

8/28/1963

Civil rights leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (front row, second from left), A. Philip Randolph (front row, far right), and Roy Wilkins (front row, second from right) lead the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Information Agency.
National Archives Identifier: 542002
Full Citation: Photograph of Leaders at the Head of the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.; 8/28/1963; Miscellaneous Subjects, Staff and Stringer Photographs, 1961–1974; Records of the U.S. Information Agency, ; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/photograph-of-leaders-at-the-head-of-the-civil-rights-march-on-washington-dc, December 13, 2024]


Photograph of Leaders at the Head of the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.

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