The Art of Communication:
Women's Plight to Be Heard
An Internet WebQuest on 19th Century Women Artists and Writers

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Introduction | The Task | The Process & Resources| Evaluation | Conclusion
Teacher's Page | Student Dictionary

Introduction

Imagine that you have a great talent and you are not able to share it. For example, you are a writer in the nineteenth century and in order for you to be published you have to write under a man's name. Or, suppose you are an artist who's sex determines subject matter rather than ability. As of this moment, you have entered this society. You have been stripped of the right to an equal education. You no longer have the freedom to choose a career because of society's presumption of a woman's place. And you no longer have a political voice.

The Quest

You and three other women have joined together to produce a women's journal encompassing art, literature, and politics. The problem is you don't have sufficient funding for this project. The challenge your group faces is to persuade a panel of businessmen to fund your project. In order to accomplish this task, you must convince this panel of the overwhelming need for this sort of journal.

The Process and Resources

On this journey, your group will band together as a unified front. Before convincing the panel, you must submerge yourself in 19th century women's culture. We have provided you with appropriate links to access this information. As a member of this group you will be asked to explore some webpages that were not designed for schools, therefore, some of the information may be difficult to understand. If you are experiencing difficulty extracting information from these sites, there are selected resources in the classroom or you could utilize the hypertext dictionary link below. After your group researches the events of the time, you will need to determine who will assume which role.

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

We have provided you with several general sources of information pertaining to women's history in the 19th century. You should be seeking out information about women's rights, with special emphasis on education and employment. You are searching for the reason women need to communicate with one another. You are also looking to fit your reasons into the time period. Look for points of agreement between both men and women. Remember, you want to get this journal funded.

• 19th Century Science and the Woman Question - This is a comprehensive site that speaks about the role of women in the nineteenth century and why the opinion was such. This site is very extensive, so use it as reference rather than in it's entirety.
• Browse through Godey's Lady's Book Online to learn about middle class women in19th-century America.

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Each one of you will assume one of the following roles.

2. Read through the files linked to your group.

3. Write a one page synopsis detailing your findings with emphasis on your role's respective questions.

4. Be prepared to focus what you've learned into one main argument that answers the Big Quest(ion). You will want to develop your argument so that it is clear enough to be incorperated into your group's persuasive plea.

Writer

As a woman writer in the 19th century struggling to get your work funded, you must aquaint yourself with your female colleagues who have attempted the same thing. Some questions to consider while visiting these sites:
1. Who has helped these women to publish their work?
2. What are the subjects of texts which have been published? What subjects were more difficult to publish?
3. How can their experiences help you to persuade the board to fund your journal?

• Louisa May Alcott - Pay particular attention to Alcott's writing career.
• Edith Wharton
• Kate Chopin - Pay particular attention to Kate's writing career

Painter

Use the Internet information linked below to help compose a brief synopsis which analizes the impact these women had in their field. The questions posed below will help you with this aspect of your quest:

1. Many of these women had common subject matters. What were their common themes?
2. As a result of these thematic commonalities, how detrimental would it be for women to share this information?
3. You have reviewed several works of art, as far as the aesthetic qualities of the pieces you have viewed are concerned, do you feel that these works warrant exposure to other aspiring women artists?

• Marie Bracquemond - Married to an impressionist painter, she exhibited a talent for expression that exceeded his and was rarely exhibited by him as a result.
• Artist profile: Jennie Augusta Brownscombe - A successful female artist who painted the domestic aspects of a woman's daily life.
• Mary Cassatt - This biography accounts the life of a renowned female painter. Her work often portrayed examples of domestic life.
• Berthe Morisot - She went firmly against convention and pursued painting seriously as her life's work.
• Evelyn De Morgan - This artist studied her passion in secret until she was permitted to attend the Slade School of Art.
• Artist profile: Lilla Cabot Perry - She had an unusual career which led her to begin professionally at 36 years old. At this time she was married with three daughters. Her career proved so successful that her family began to rely on her commissions for their income.
• Elizabeth Elanor Siddal - Her reputation as an artist was obscured by that as a model, tagic muse, mistress and shrew.

Activist

As an activist, you are associated with a circle of women interested in gaining the vote for American women. Look at the following sites to familiarize yourself with the women behind the suffragist movement and the most important issues at hand. Consider the following questions:
1. What were some strategies these women used in dealing with anti-suffragist men?
2. What did these women demand?
3. How can you utilize the experiences of these women to convince the board that women deserve a journal dedicated solely to their own art and literature?

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Declaration of Sentiments from the Seneca Falls Convention - Activist
• Sojourner Truth's speech to the Akron Convention 1851 - Activist
• Susan B. Anthony

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

You have all written a statement regarding the plight of other women who shared your role in the 19th century. The object for your group now is to come back together with the expertise you have gained by searching from one perspective. You must all band together to formulate a strategy which will convince your panel. Each of you will bring a certain viewpoint to the answer: some of you will agree and others disagree. Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc. from the Webpages you explored to convince your teammates that your viewpoint is important and should be considered. Your WebQuest team should work together to form a discussion that all of you can agree with.

Evaluation

Click here to view grading standards for your webquest.

Conclusion

After all that you have learned, we would like to welcome you back to the life that you have. Throughout this journey, we are sure that you encountered many things that may have disturbed you but above all, we hope that you have learned how important it is for you to uncover facts that are crucial to a topic before attempting to argue it's valididty or invalidity. We hope that you will keep with you the struggle that is behind your freedom. Never take for granted the fact that others fought for your survival. We encourage you to further uncover the plight of women throughout the years.