Elizabeth Bergman

I always use the Zinn Education Project’s Seneca Falls, 1848: Women Organize for Equality lesson, and no other activity does so well to teach students to question “unmarked” categories assumed to be normative. In this instance, the lesson teaches students to see that the “women’s” movement was really about white, privileged women. They then understand, too, how “men” means just white men in the United States.

The role play activity captures their attention, keeps them engaged, and cultivates a deeply critical perspective not only on Seneca Falls but also on the workings of race, class, and gender.