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  • About
    • WAMS in Your Classroom
    • Upcoming Workshops
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  • Curriculum
      • 1492-1734 Early Encounters
          • Nicolás Enríquez de Vargas (artist), Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, ca. 1750. Oil on canvas. Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Dutch Colonies
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • English Colonies
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Spanish Colonies
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • French Colonies
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1692-1783 Settler Colonialism and the Revolution
          • François (Franz) Fleischbein (artist), Portrait of Betsy, 1837. The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. no. 1985.212.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Settler Colonialism
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • The American Revolution
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1776-1831 Building a New Nation
          • Jarena Lee, 1849. Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee: giving an account of her call to preach the gospel, frontispiece. Engraving. New-York Historical Society Library.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Navigating the New Government
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • American Woman
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Early Expansion
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1820-1869 Expansions and Inequalities
          • Unknown photographer, A Typical Boomer Family, ca. 1890. New-York Historical Society.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Westward Expansion
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Industry and Immigration
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Politics and Society
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1832-1877 A Nation Divided
          • Unidentified African American woman in uniform, 1861. New-York Historical Society Library.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Antebellum
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Civil War
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Reconstruction
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1866-1904 Industry and Empire
          • Cihak and Zima (photographer), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, ca. 1893-1894. University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Labor and Industry
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Fighting for Equality
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Expansion and Empire
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1889–1920 Modernizing America
          • Gertrude Kasebier (photographer), Zitkala Sa, Sioux Indian and activist, c. 1898. Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Modern Womanhood
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Fighting For Social Reform
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Woman Suffrage
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Xenophobia and Racism
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1920–1948 Confidence and Crises
          • Chien-shiung Wu (1912-1997), professor of physics at Columbia University, 1963. Smithsonian Institute Archives Image # SIA 2010-1509.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Jazz Age
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Great Depression
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • World War II
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Post-War
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1948–1977 Growth and Turmoil
          • “Oportunidades Iguales Para Las Mujeres En El Trabajo y La Educaccion”, Women’s Strike for Equality, New York, Fifth Avenue, 1970, Eugene Gordon photograph collection, 1970-1990. New-York Historical Society Library.

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • Cold War Beginnings
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
            • Life Stories
            • Growing Tensions
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Feminism and the Backlash
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
      • 1977-2001 End of the Twentieth Century
          • Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, mission specialist, carries her son Wilson Miles-Ochoa following the STS-96 crew return at Ellington Field. June 7, 1999. NASA on The Commons, via flickr

            • Overview
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Unit Essential Questions
              • Explore By Section
              • Explore By Theme
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            • A Conservative Turn
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • The Information Age
              • Key Ideas
              • Introduction
              • Section Essential Questions
              • Resources
              • Life Stories
            • Supplemental Materials
              • Art Activities
              • Source Notes
              • Suggested Reading
  • Discover More
    • Art Activities
    • Lesson Plans
    • Open Educator Resource
    • Video Library
    • WAMSbassadors
    • Columbia University MOOC Lectures

Activism and Social Change

  • Life Story: Victoria Woodhull
    Gallery

    Life Story: Victoria Woodhull

Life Story: Victoria Woodhull

The story of an activist and businesswoman who was the first woman to run for president of the United States.

Lee Boomer2022-11-29T15:50:53-05:00
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  • Life Story: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
    Gallery

    Life Story: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Life Story: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

The story of the founder of the first newspaper for Black women and a leader in the Black women’s club movement.

Lee Boomer2022-07-08T16:53:21-04:00
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  • Life Story: Florence Merriam Bailey
    Gallery

    Life Story: Florence Merriam Bailey

Life Story: Florence Merriam Bailey

A scientist and writer who studied birds and fought to protect wildlife.

Lee Boomer2022-07-08T16:59:10-04:00
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  • Life Story: Abigail Scott Duniway
    Gallery

    Life Story: Abigail Scott Duniway

Life Story: Abigail Scott Duniway

The story of a writer and newspaper editor who fought for women’s suffrage in the Pacific Northwest.

Lee Boomer2022-07-08T16:52:36-04:00
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  • Life Story: Katharine Coman
    Gallery

    Life Story: Katharine Coman

Life Story: Katharine Coman

The story of a history and economics professor at a women’s college who dedicated her career to social activism and research.

Lee Boomer2022-07-08T16:58:21-04:00
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  • Life Story: Billie Jean King
    Gallery

    Life Story: Billie Jean King

Life Story: Billie Jean King

The story of a tennis champion and advocate for gender equality.

Lee Boomer2022-07-09T14:50:47-04:00
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  • Life Story: Antonia Pantoja
    Gallery

    Life Story: Antonia Pantoja

Life Story: Antonia Pantoja

The story of a grassroots organizer and activist for Puerto Rican rights.

Lee Boomer2022-08-03T14:08:33-04:00
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  • Fighting in the Courts
    Gallery

    Fighting in the Courts

Fighting in the Courts

Oral arguments by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld.

Lee Boomer2022-07-07T19:30:23-04:00
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  • Privacy and Pregnancy
    Gallery

    Privacy and Pregnancy

Privacy and Pregnancy

The Opinion of the Court in the case of Roe v. Wade.

Lee Boomer2022-07-07T19:29:59-04:00
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