THE REAL DEAL How do authors of books on history know what happened The best information about events from the past comes from primary sources These are documents and other things that come from the time period a historian is researching They also come from the people involved in the event Primary sources can be newspaper articles photographs diaries paintings and more Primary sources are often more accurate than accounts that were written later As time passes people forget exactly how and when events Newspapers are excellent primary sources for learning about events from the past A historian is a person who studies people places and events from the past Vocabulary 4
occurred Primary sources also tell how individual people felt about an event when it happened One of the many topics in history that we can learn about from primary sources is the long fight for women’s suffrage or the right to vote In 1920 the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution finally granted American women suffrage Amendments are changes or additions to the Constitution Women had to fight for years before gaining the right to vote 5
WOMEN’S WORK In many countries today women have the same rights as men They have the right to own property They have the right to get an education They have the right to work at any job they choose They have the right to vote But it has not always been this way In the past a woman’s work was her home life She did all of the cooking cleaning and childcare Her husband was responsible for working to support the family In the past a woman was expected to care only about her home and family 6
Some women became powerful leaders such as Cleopatra in ancient Egypt and Queen Elizabeth I in England However most women had few rights of their own Many laws were written with the word men instead of people so they didn’t apply to women Women knew that if they were going to change society they must win suffrage or the right to vote In this way they could take part in government Then they could influence policies and laws What roles do women have today How is it different now from how it was in the past Compare and Contrast For many years wives did not have equal rights with their husbands 7
