Author Betsy Hearne entertains readers with stories about seven generations of women in her family, from the Revolutionary era to today. In the lives they built and the objects they left behind, the author finds a legacy of strength, courage, and wisdom that spans the link between mothers and daughters.
Women’s Role in the Civil War
Grade Range: 3-6
Resource Type(s): Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Duration: 45 minutes
Date Posted:
5/3/2010
Women served in the Civil War as nurses, spies, and vivandieres. Explore these stories with students through a video clip and close examination of two dresses and a woman's uniform.This lesson plan (which includes background information, guided analysis questions, and full-color primary sources) was produced to accompany the exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
National Standards
Historical Thinking Standards (Grades K-4)
United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)
World History Standards (Grades 5-12)
Era 7: An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914
1: The causes and consequences of political revolutions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
2: The causes and consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, 1700-1850
3: The transformation of Eurasian societies in an era of global trade and rising European power, 1750-1870
4: Patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas, 1830-1914
5: Patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic domination, 1800-1914
6: Major global trends from 1750-1914
2: The causes and consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, 1700-1850
3: The transformation of Eurasian societies in an era of global trade and rising European power, 1750-1870
4: Patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas, 1830-1914
5: Patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic domination, 1800-1914
6: Major global trends from 1750-1914
Historical Thinking Standards (Grades 5-12)
Common Core State Standards (Grades 6-8)
Literacy in History/Social Studies (Grades 6-8)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 (Key Ideas and Details): Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2 (Key Ideas and Details): Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.3 (Key Ideas and Details): Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.4 (Craft and Structure): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.5 (Craft and Structure): Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.6 (Craft and Structure): Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.8 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.9 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.10 (Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity): By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2 (Key Ideas and Details): Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.3 (Key Ideas and Details): Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.4 (Craft and Structure): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.5 (Craft and Structure): Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.6 (Craft and Structure): Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.8 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.9 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.10 (Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity): By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Common Core State Standards (Grades 11-12)
Literacy in History/Social Studies (Grades 11-12)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.1 (Key Ideas and Details): Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2 (Key Ideas and Details): Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.3 (Key Ideas and Details): Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4 (Craft and Structure): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.5 (Craft and Structure): Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6 (Craft and Structure): Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.10 (Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity): By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2 (Key Ideas and Details): Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.3 (Key Ideas and Details): Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4 (Craft and Structure): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.5 (Craft and Structure): Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6 (Craft and Structure): Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas): Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.10 (Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity): By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
