This lesson explores the most recent constitutional expansion of voting rights: extending them to people between 18 and 21 years of age. Students will read the 26th Amendment and learn about its history. They will view an NBC report from Nov. 5, 2008, that explains how important the youth vote was to the election of Barack Obama. Finally, they will examine the results of a recent study showing that young voters have very different concerns than older voters, and hypothesize about how young voters might affect elections in 2012 and beyond.

In this lesson students learn about the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th) that abolished slavery, guaranteed African American citizenship and secured men the right to vote.

This unit pulls from several collections in the Rockefeller Archive Center's holdings related to the history of voter education in America. The materials include documents that speak to female suffrage and combatting African-American voter suppression tactics in mid-century. 

This site offers photos of suffrage parades and pickets, cartoons commenting on the movement, and portraits of Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and others.

One of a number of highly racist posters issued as part of a smear campaign against Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee John White Geary by supporters of Democratic candidate Hiester Clymer. (See also nos. 1866-6, 1866-7, and 1866-8.) Indicative of Clymer's white-supremacy platform, the posters attack postwar Republican efforts to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising blacks. In "The Constitutional Amendment" a group of black men are shown crowding ahead of two white veterans and other whites toward a door marked "Polls." One veterans complains, "Surely, we did not fight for this." Another remarks, "I thought we fought for the Union." A straggly bearded man encourages the blacks, "Come on, my brave boys, you saved the Nation." The black response is, "Dat's so Brudder Yank, and you need our votes now. De poor White Trash must stand back." At right two more white men complain, "Negroes rule us now," and "We have no chance here." On the left is a column of text: "Geary Is for Negro Suffrage. Stevens [Pennsylvania representative Thaddeus Stevens] Advocates it. Forney [Pennsylvania senator John W. Forney] Howls for it, McClure [Alexander K. McClure, Pennsylvania Republican chairman] Speaks for it. Cameron [Pennsylvania Republican boss Simon Cameron] Wants it. The League Sustains it. They are rich, and want to make The Negro the Equal of the Poor White Man, and then rule them both." At right are the names of candidates for Congress that supported black voting rights. Below is the commentary: "The Radical Platform--ˆ_ăˆ_Óegro Suffrage the only Issue!' Every man who votes for Geary or for a Radical Candidate for Congress, votes as surely for Negro Suffrage and Negro Equality, as if they were printed on his ballot."|Block signed: Reynolds N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1866-5.

This collection uses primary sources to explore Fannie Lou Hamer and the civil rights movement in rural Mississippi. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Fifteenth Amendment. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Explore the history of voter suppression efforts in the U.S., from the Jim Crow era through the post-1965 Voting Rights Act era, in this video clip from Whose Vote Counts | FRONTLINE. Learn about the strategies that were legally implemented in southern states to disenfranchise Black people, the violent backlash that ensued when Black people challenged these policies, and the events that led up to the signing of the epic 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The artist charges the Republicans with electoral corruption and extremism in their efforts to defeat Democratic presidential nominee George B. McClellan. Oblique reference is also made to Lincoln's supposed advocacy of equal rights for blacks. A ragged black soldier points a bayonet at a maimed white Union veteran, preventing him from placing his vote for McClellan in an already stuffed ballot box. The former says, "Hallo dar! you cant put in dat you copperhead traitor, nor any oder 'cept for Massa Lincoln!!" McClellan ran on the Peace Democrat or Copperhead ticket. The one-legged, one-armed soldier replies, "I am an American citizen and did not think I had fought and bled for this. Alas my country!" A worried election worker wearing spectacles tells his heavy-set colleague, "Im afraid we shall have trouble if that soldier is not allowed to vote." But the second responds, "Gammon, Hem just turn round. you must pretend you see nothing of the kind going on, and keep on counting your votes." Two townsmen converse in the background beneath a sign "Vote Here."|Signed: J.E. Baker del. (Joseph E. Baker).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Lorant, p. 269.|Weitenkampf, p. 146.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1864-35.

This course provides a substantive overview of U.S. politics and an introduction to the discipline of political science. It surveys the institutional foundations of U.S. politics as well as the activities of political elites, organizations, and ordinary citizens. It explores the application of general political science concepts and analytic frameworks to specific episodes and phenomena in U.S. politics.

This collection uses primary sources to explore Jacksonian democracy. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Learn how Black women continue to lead the fight for suffrage rights, 100 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment and 55 years after the Voting Rights Act, in this digital video from The Vote | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Use this video when studying the women’s suffrage movement to explore the leadership role of African American women in the long struggle for voting rights and examine historic and contemporary efforts to suppress the African American vote.

This course explores the role of race and ethnicity in modern American politics. It focuses on social science approaches to measuring the effects of race, both at the individual level and more broadly. Topics include race and representation, measurement of racial and ethnic identities, voting rights and electoral districting, protest and other forms of political participation, and the meaning and measurement of racial attitudes.

A satire aimed at California Republican gubernatorial nominee George C. Gorham's espousal of voting rights for blacks and other minorities. Brother Jonathan (left) admonishes Gorham, "Young Man! read the history of your Country, and learn that this ballot box was dedicated to the white race alone. The load you are carrying will sink you in perdition, where you belong, or my name is not Jonathan." He holds his hand protectively over a glass ballot box, which sits on a pedestal before him. At center stands Gorham, whose shoulders support, one atop the other, a black man, a Chinese man, and an Indian warrior. The black man complains to Gorham, ". . . I spose we'se obliged to carry dese brudders, Kase des'se no stinkshun ob race or culler any more, for Kingdom cum." Gorham replies, "Shut your mouth Cuffy--you're as indiscreet as Bidwell [another gubernatorial nominee] and Dwinelle--here's the way I express it--Tอัhe war of opinion is not yet fought through. It must go on until national citizenship shall no longer be controlled by local authority, and "Manhood alone" shall be the test of the right to a voice in the Government.'"Chinese man: "Boss Gollam belly good man. He say chinaman vo-tee all same me1ican man--Ketch--ee mine all same--no pay taxee--belly good." Indian: "Chemue Walla! Ingen vote! plenty whisky all time--Gorom big ingin." At right a man in a top hat, holding a monkey on a leash, calls out mockingly, "Say, Gorham! put this Brother up."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|"Image of America," p. 83.|Weitenkampf, p. 154.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1867-3.

While the arrival of explorers and the beginning of the fur trade were going on in the American Northwest, a new nation was being born in the east. This is the teacher guide companion to The State We're In: Washington (Grade 3-5 Edition) Chapter 3. The resource is designed to engage students with a launch activity, focused notes, and a focused inquiry.

This site consists of 167 books, pamphlets, and other artifacts documenting the suffrage campaign. They are a subset of the Library's collection donated by Carrie Chapman Catt, longtime president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The collection includes works from the libraries of other members and officers of the organization, including, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Alice Stone Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Smith Miller, and Mary A. Livermore.

This lesson is the third in a series called Expanding Voting Rights. The overall goal of the series is for students to explore the complicated history of voting rights in this country. Two characteristics of that history stand out: First, in fits and starts, more and more Americans have gained the right to vote; and second, the federal government has played an increasing role over time in securing these rights.

In the Voting Rights and Voter ID Laws lesson, students interview family members or neighbors about their experiences voting, and then analyze real footage from polling locations in neighborhoods around the country. Students then learn about the history of voting rights in the United States, drilling deep into the modern controversies around Voter ID laws. Part of this lesson leverages materials from a great PBS lesson plan.

"Future Ready: Civics - The Good Citizen" provides an overview of civic responsibilities and the roles of a good American citizen. It emphasizes the importance of civic participation, media literacy, and logical inference. The material highlights citizen participation in maintaining order, providing services, and protecting freedoms at all levels of government. It encourages various methods of community involvement and showcases successful projects. The material addresses barriers to participation and introduces vocabulary related to civic engagement, bias, propaganda, political parties, and elections. It explains the concept of logical inferences, detecting bias, and evaluating propaganda. It also covers elections, the Electoral College, and the right to vote, promoting civic engagement and informed decision-making.

The Washington State Women's Commission is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. These two videos are intended for educational purposes and to spark discussion about the importance of voting - "A Seat at the Table; Women's Sacred Right to Vote" and "The Untold Stories of Black Women in the Suffrage Movement"