Curriculum unit
Black Women Who Led
From Sojourner Truth to Shirley Chisholm, the Black women who organized, agitated, and led the freedom struggle, often without credit.
Students assess the central, frequently uncredited leadership of Black women across the long freedom struggle.
- Lesson 1 · 1 class period
Freedom fighters
ObjectivesExamine Black women who fought slavery and lynching.
MaterialsTimeline entries below; Harriet Tubman; Sojourner Truth; Ida B. Wells.
Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Ida B. Wells as leaders of abolition, self-emancipation, and the anti-lynching crusade.
Teach from these moments- December 1850Harriet Tubman escapes and returns
After escaping slavery, Tubman makes repeated trips back via the Underground Railroad, freeing dozens.
- May 29, 1851· debatedSojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?"
The formerly enslaved abolitionist delivers her famous address on race and gender in Akron, Ohio.
- October 1892Ida B. Wells' anti-lynching crusade
Wells documents and exposes lynching with "Southern Horrors," launching a global campaign.
Discussion questionsWhy are these women central to the story? How were they doubly marginalized?
- Lesson 2 · 1–2 class periods
The backbone of the movement
ObjectivesAnalyze the organizing leadership of Black women in the Civil Rights Movement.
MaterialsTimeline entries below; Ella Baker; Fannie Lou Hamer; Rosa Parks.
Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Rosa Parks as the organizing core of the freedom struggle.
Teach from these momentsDiscussion questionsWhy did men often get the credit? What did "group-centered leadership" mean?
- Lesson 3 · 1 class period
Power and office
ObjectivesTrace Black women into political power.
MaterialsTimeline entries below; Shirley Chisholm.
From Shirley Chisholm's 1968 election and 1972 presidential run to the Black women who followed.
Teach from these moments- November 5, 1968Shirley Chisholm Elected to Congress, First Black Woman in House
Brooklyn Democrat Shirley Chisholm defeated Republican James Farmer to become the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district. Her campaign slogan was 'Unbought and Unbossed.'
- January 25, 1972Shirley Chisholm runs for President
On January 25, 1972, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black American and the first woman to seek the presidential nomination of a major political party, competing in twelve state primaries and winning 152 delegate votes. Her campaign shattered two barriers simultaneously and proved that Black women could contest the highest office in the land, inspiring Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's later campaigns.
Discussion questionsHow did Black women move from organizing to office? What barriers remained?