Women in the Civil War: Station Rotations (Primary Sources & Informational Text)

Diversify your syllabus. Get your secondary students up and moving using these Women in the Civil War Station Rotations. This adaption of a DBQ gets students into exploring authentic female sources and perspectives. Students will take an inquiry stance-- all stations help students answer the essential question, "How did the Civil War Challenge and Change the Role of Women & Notion of 'Womanhood' in American Society?”

(Looking for "Women in the Civil War" for grades 4-7? Click here)

One woman is profiled at each station. Each woman has an "Informational Text" station as well as a "Primary Source" station. Women featured span multiple races, social classes, and religions to represent a true picture of womanhood in the 1860's.

BACKGROUND:

In many ways, the coming of the Civil War challenged the culture for women of all races and classes. For upper class white women, the war challenged the notion of Victorian domesticity. Previously, an upper class white woman wanted to be regarded as pure, clean, proper, and refined. They took pride in their housekeeping and home making, child rearing, and charity work. In the North and in the South, the war forced these women into public life, serving in jobs they could scarcely have imagined a generation before.

Poor women of both races were used to manual labor and hardship, but most likely didn’t have a job outside of doing sewing or laundry for others. Women held in slavery before the Civil War were mostly illiterate. They were forced into various labor-intensive roles, but did not receive payment. All of these various notions of womanhood were challenged and changed in 1861 when the war began.

Women of various races and backgrounds became soldiers, nurses, drivers, spies, and battle leaders during the Civil War. They spent time in jail as well as saloons, hospitals and battlefields. They read newspapers. They got blood in their hair, and dirt under their nails. Some of them learned to read and write. Others were paid for their labor for the first time. They became interested and involved in matters outside their home and churches- matters of national importance.

Because of this, the roles of women, and identities of women, would shift forever. Let’s take a look at just how much the Civil War challenged and changed the role of women, and the notion of womanhood, in American society.

List of Women:

Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Union Recruiter

Elizabeth Van Lew: Union Spy

Harriet Tubman: Union Spy

Susie King Taylor: Union Nurse

Ann Bradford Stokes: Union Nurse

Frances Clayton: Union Soldier

Fanny Gordon: Confederate Wife/supporter

Phoebe Pember: Confederate Nurse

Amy Clarke: Confederate Soldier

Rose O’Neal Greenhow: Confederate Spy

File includes:

- Ten informational text stations

- Ten Primary Source stations (excerpts from a woman's diary, letter, or interview for newspaper. With the exception of Fanny Gordon and Harriet Tubman, which include sources ABOUT the her, not her own words).

- "Capture Sheet" Graphic Organizer for student use as they rotate through stations

- Brainstorming Organizer to help students answer the Essential Question. Two versions of this organizer-- one with topics filled in, other blank so students think of their own topics.

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