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Colonists and Native AmericansVirginiaWWII planesCivil Rights Movement
A Guide to Primary Resources for U.S. History
The Contemporary United States Back to History Unit

(a) analyzing the effects of increased participation of women in the work force;

An Economist Goes to Washington
University of California, Berkeley: Institute for International Studies ("Conversations with History")

Women's Movement in Historical Perspective
University of California, Berkeley: Institute for International Studies ("Conversations with History")

Description: The first resource presents an in-depth interview with economist Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who served on the National Economic Council during the first Clinton administration. It deals very cogently and in balanced fashion with women's issues, differences between older and younger femininists, workplace issues, women's rights in foreign policy issues, and how the war on terror has altered many things. This resource is probably most appropriate for advanced students. (Primary source (oral history) and current event material). The second resource presents an in-depth interview with historian-journalist Ruth Rosen, who taught at the University of California, Davis before becoming an editorial writer and columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. It deals very cogently and in balanced fashion with the history of women's rights and women activists. This resource is probably most appropriate for advanced students. (Primary source (oral history) and current event material).



Teaching Tips:

"Do Now" Suggestion
  • In the interview with Ruth Rosen, there are sections entitles "The Modern Women's Movement: The Younger Generation" and "The Modern Women's Movement: The Older Generation." Students can skim the sections and fill in a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the older feminists to the younger feminists.
Suggestion for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson
  • Students can use the two interviews as resources for an essay on the evolution of the Women's Movement. In the essay, students can compare the Women's Movement today with the Women's Movement historically.

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