1977 - 2001 End of the Twentieth Century Supplemental Materials

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Supplemental Materials

Art Activities

American Girl

Pleasant Rowland, a former teacher, founded the Pleasant Company in 1986 in Wisconsin and launched the first American Girl dolls that same year. The dolls were initially available only by mail-order catalog. The company earned over 1 million dollars in its first year of operation. 

The original line of American Girl dolls were historical characters. Each doll was accompanied by a series of books, through which girls could learn about the history of American girlhood, a topic often overlooked in history lessons. The American Girls faced challenges specific to the periods in which their stories were set, but also experienced childhood emotions that felt familiar to late 20th-century readers. The first three dolls, Samantha (1904), Kirsten (1854), and Molly (1944), were white. The company introduced its first doll of color, Addy (1864), in 1993. 

The American Girls were also unique in that they depicted children between the ages of 8 and 11. This age representation was a major departure from popular dolls like teenage Barbie. While Barbie’s physical appearance was an unrealistic aspiration for most girls, American Girls were designed to look like the children who played with them.

While the high price of owning a doll (the dolls cost $65 in 1986) put them out of reach for most, many girls connected to the brand by browsing catalogs, checking the books out of the library, and collecting cheaper items, such as trading cards.

Mattel purchased the Pleasant Company in 1998. Since then, the American Girl brand has expanded, continuing to release history-inspired dolls and books, as well as other doll lines and products.

To read and download the lesson plan for this art activity, click here.

MC Sha-Rock, Hip Hop Pioneer

Hip hop is an expressive subculture art form that was developed in the Bronx in the 1970’s and 1980s. Sprouting from creative Black and Latino youth, this genre of music helped communicate the social and economic conditions of the inner city as seen through the people who lived there. Hip hop was not the discovery of one single thing but a collection of elements: dj-ing, emceeing, breakdancing, graffiti, and knowledge. Hip-hop culture boomed in abandoned buildings, school yards and block parties. Some of the most important surviving documents from the early hip-hop period are party flyers. They helped to set the energy of the dance party they were advertising with the use of bold text, stylized graffiti, and images. 

The flyers of this time offer a glimpse into hip hop’s experimental stage, a period when it was difficult for rappers to get record deals.

To read and download the lesson plan for this art activity, click here.

Life Story: Lois Curtis

Lois Curtis was one of the plaintiffs in the L.C. v. Olmstead Supreme Court case.  The landmark Supreme Court decision paved the way for Lois Curtis and others with disabilities to live in the community rather than in institutions. While Lois Curtis’s contribution to disability and civil rights history is immeasurable, her life extends far beyond that seminal court case. She is a self-taught visual artist, known for her portraits. 

Portraiture has been a popular form of art for centuries because its primary focus is the human subject. A portrait can tell us both about the subject and the artist. Artists create portraiture to capture a person’s intense emotions. Lois Curtis does this with simple lines and bold colors. Her portraits are bold expressions of how deeply she values personal relationships. Lois does not limit herself to one medium; rather, her works consist of ballpoint pen, chalk pastels, and acrylic artworks.

To read and download the lesson plan for this art activity, click here.

Source Notes

A Conservative Turn, 1977-2001

Anti-LGBTQ+ Activism

  • Johnson, Emily Suzanne. This Is Our Message: Women’s Leadership in the New Christian Right. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).

Disability Rights

  • Fleischer, Doris, and Frieda Zames. The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2011).

Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President

  • “Geraldine Anne Ferraro.” History, Art, & Archives, United States House of Representatives. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/13081. Accessed June 2, 2022.
  • “Geraldine Anne Ferraro (1935–2011).” Peg A. Lamphier and Rosanne Welch, eds. Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Vol. 4 (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017). 

Iran Hostage Crisis

Latinas Fighting for Environmental Justice

  • Pardo, Mary S. Mexican American Women Activists: Identity and Resistance in Two Los Angeles Communities. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998).

MC Sha-Rock, Hip Hop Pioneer

  • Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005).
  • Keyes, Cheryl L. “‘Ain’t Nuthin’ but a She Thang’: Women in Hip Hop.” Issues in African American Music: Power, Gender, Race, Representation (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2016).
  • Shonk, Kenneth L., and Daniel Robert McClure. Historical Theory and Methods Through Popular Music, 1970-2000 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

Power Dressing

  • Delis Hill, Daniel. As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising (Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 2007).
  • DuBois, Ellen Carol, and Lynn Dumenil. Through Women’s Eyes: An American History with Documents (Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2018).

Preventing Nuclear Disaster

  • Culley, Marci R., and Holly L. Angelique. “Women’s Gendered Experiences as Long-Term Three Mile Island Activists.” Gender and Society 17, no. 3 (2003): 445-461.
  • Harvey, Kyle. American Anti-Nuclear Activism, 1975–1990: The Challenge of Peace (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2014).

Restricting Reproductive Rights

  • Ziegler, Mary. After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015).

Take Back the Night

  • Freedman, Estelle B. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women (New York: Ballantine Books, 2002).

Teacher in Space

  • Burgess, Colin, and Grace George Corrigan. Teacher in Space: Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Legacy (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).

Life Story: Audre Lorde

  • De Veaux, Alexis. Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004).

Life Story: Beverly LaHaye

  • Johnson, Emily Suzanne. This Is Our Message: Women’s Leadership in the New Christian Right. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).

Life Story: Byllye Avery

  • Avery, Byllye. Interview by Loretta Ross. Transcript of video recording, July 21 and 22, 2005. Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History at Smith College.
  • Nelson, Jennifer. More Than Medicine: A History of the Feminist Women’s Health Movement. (New York: New York University Press, 2015).
  • Silliman, Jael, Marlene Gerber Fried, Loretta Ross, and Elena R. Gutiérrez. Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Rights, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016). 

Life Story: Dolly Parton

  • Miller, Stephen. Smart Blonde: Dolly Parton. (New York, The Overlook Press, 2015).

Life Story: Maria Connie Villescas

Life Story: Patricia Locke

  • Kolstoe, John. Compassionate Woman: The Life and Legacy of Patricia Locke. (Wilmette, IL: Baha’í Publishing, 2011).

Life Story: Sandra Day O’Connor

Life Story: Sandra Kurtzig

  • Berlin, Leslie. Troublemakers: Silicon Valley’s Coming of Age (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017).
  • Kurtzig, Sandra. Interview by Gardner Hendrie. Transcript of video recording, September 29, 2017. Computer History Museum.
  • Kurtzig, Sandra, with Tom Parker. CEO: Building a $400 Million Company from the Ground Up (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991).

Life Story: Valentina Kozlova

  • New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center.

Life Story: Wilma Mankiller

  • Herda, D. J. Wilma Mankiller: How One Woman United the Cherokee Nation and Helped Change the Face of America. (Guilford, CT: Twodot, 2021).

Life Story: Yuri Kochiyama

  • Fujino, Diane C. Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005).
  • Kochiyama, Yuri. Passing It On: A Memoir. (Los Angeles: UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, 2004).

The Information Age, 1991-2001

American Girl

Anita Hill’s Testimony

  • Kerber, Linda K., Jane Sherron De Hart, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Karissa Haugeberg, eds. Women’s America: Refocusing the Past. Ninth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press (2020). 
  • Morrison, Toni, ed. Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992).

Fighting AIDS

  • Greene, Beverly, and Gregory M. Herek, eds. AIDS, Identity, and Community: The HIV Epidemic and Lesbians and Gay Men (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1995).
  • Schneider, Beth E., and Nancy E. Stoller. Women Resisting AIDS: Feminist Strategies of Empowerment (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995).

Government Aid for Families

  • Nadasen, Premilla, Jennifer Mittelstadt, and Marisa Chappell. Welfare in the United States: A History with Documents, 1935-1996 (New York: Routledge, 2009).

Immigrant Nurses

  • Choy, Catherine Ceniza. Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2003).

Media Treatment of Monica Lewinsky

Police Violence

Punk Feminism

  • Adebowale, Taiwo. “Sista Grrrl: The Feminist Mother of Afro-punk.” Catalyst. October 13, 2021. https://carvercentercatalyst.com/1619/entertainment/sista-grrrl-the-feminist-mother-of-afropunk/ 
  • Baumgardner, Jennifer, and Amy Richards. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).
  • Cobble, Dorothy Sue, Linda Gordon, and Astrid Henry. Feminism Unfinished: A Short, Surprising History of American Women’s Movements (New York, NY: Liveright Publishing, 2014).

September 11, 2001

US v. Virginia

  • Strum, Philippa. Women in the Barracks: The VMI Case and Equal Rights (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2002).

Women in Sports

  • Suggs, Welch. A Place on the Team: The Triumph and Tragedy of Title IX (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005).
  • Ware, Susan. Title IX: A Brief History with Documents (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007).

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

  • Kerber, Linda K., Jane Sherron De Hart, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Karissa Haugeberg, eds. Women’s America: Refocusing the Past. Ninth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press (2020). 

Year of the Woman

  • Congressional Research Service. Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview. Updated July 7, 2022. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R43244.pdf 
  • Delli Carpini, Michael X., and Ester R. Fuchs. “The Year of the Woman? Candidates, Voters, and the 1992 Elections.” Political Science Quarterly Vol. 108 No. 1 (Spring 1993), pp. 29-36.
  • Mikulski, Barbara, et al. Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate (New York: HarperCollins, 2000).

Life Story: Ann Bancroft

  • Arnesen, Liv, and Ann Bancroft. No Horizon Is Too Far: Two Women and Their Extraordinary Journey Across Antarctica (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2003).
  • “Success Stories: Ann Bancroft, Polar Explorer.” The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. Accessed July 20, 2022. https://dyslexia.yale.edu/story/ann-bancroft/. 

Life Story: Barbara Lee

  • Lee, Barbara. Renegade for Peace and Justice: A Memoir of Political and Personal Courage. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.

Life Story: Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott

  • Bernall, Misty. She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall (Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing House, 1999).
  • Cullen, David. Columbine (New York: Hachette Book Group, 2009).
  • Nimmo, Beth, and Darrell Scott with Steve Rabey. Rachel’s Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2000).
  • Wilkinson, Alyssa. “After Columbine, Martyrdom Became a Powerful Fantasy for Christian Teenagers.” Vox. Last modified April 17, 2019. https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/20/15369442/columbine-anniversary-cassie-bernall-rachel-scott-martyrdom. 

Life Story: Ellen Ochoa

Life Story: Lois Curtis

Life Story: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

  • Brooks, Adrian. The Right Side of History: 100 Years of LGBTQI Activism (New York, NY: Cleis Press, 2015).
  • Fleishman, Jane. The Stonewall Generation: LGBTQ Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging (Boston, MA: Skinner House Books, 2020).
  • Ophelian, Annalise, dir. Miss Major! (San Francisco, CA: Floating Ophelia Productions, 2015).

Suggested Reading

Books and Articles

  • Berlin, Leslie. Troublemakers: Silicon Valley’s Coming of Age (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017).
  • Brooks, Adrian. The Right Side of History: 100 Years of LGBTQI Activism (New York, NY: Cleis Press, 2015).
  • Cobble, Dorothy Sue, Linda Gordon, and Astrid Henry. Feminism Unfinished: A Short, Surprising History of American Women’s Movements (New York, NY: Liveright Publishing, 2014).
  • DuBois, Ellen Carol, and Lynn Dumenil. Through Women’s Eyes: An American History with Documents (Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2018).
  • Evans, Sara M. Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century’s End (New York: The Free Press, 2003).
  • Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (New York: Broadway Books, 1991).
  • Fleischer, Doris, and Frieda Zames. The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2011).
  • Freedman, Estelle B. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women (New York: Ballantine Books, 2002).
  • Friedan, Betty. The Second Stage (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981).
  • Johnson, Emily Suzanne. This Is Our Message: Women’s Leadership in the New Christian Right. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).
  • Kerber, Linda K., Jane Sherron De Hart, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Karissa Haugeberg, eds. Women’s America: Refocusing the Past. Ninth Edition. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020).
  • Morrison, Toni, ed. Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992).
  • Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America (New York: Penguin, 2000). 
  • Suggs, Welch. A Place on the Team: The Triumph and Tragedy of Title IX (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005).
  • Ware, Susan. Title IX: A Brief History with Documents (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007).
  • Ziegler, Mary. After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015).