Here at Flocabulary, we use hip-hop music to make learning exciting and accessible to students. We recently created a song all about the history of women’s rights, and we couldn’t wait to share it with the NWHP community. Using our Women’s Rights Song as a jumping off point, this lesson plan allows students to focus in on key moments in the history of women’s rights and create a kinetic timeline of famous women in history. At the end of the lesson, students will use historical examples to support a plan for the future of women’s rights.

The Lesson Plan

1. Listen to Flocabulary’s Women’s Rights song. As students are listening, ask them to note down the different rights that women fought for throughout history, as well as current issues that women face. These issues are:

• Equal rights in the home
• Inability to own land
• Prohibition from voting
• Women being sent back to the home after WWII
• Educated women being bored at home
• Unequal pay
• Women currently owning 1% of land worldwide
• Women not being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia
• No American head of state.

Explain to students that they will be learning more about the fight for these rights relate to periods of history through a research project and a creative presentation.

2. Break your class into 6 groups. Assign each group one of the time periods in history:

1. The French Revolutionary Era
2. The Civil War Era
3. Early 1900s
4. Post World War II
5. 1960s-1980s
6. The Modern Era

3. Each group should research and answer the following questions for its time period. They can begin research by clicking on the lyrics of our Women’s Rights song, and then using other online research techniques to find more:

• What major historical events happened in that period? How did these events affect women?
• What major rights issues were women facing during that period?
• Who were famous women during your time period who led the fight for specific rights?
• What were major women’s rights accomplishments during your time period? What important limitations still remained?
• From the beginning of your time period until the end, what changed for women?

4. After students have been given time to research, each group should create a skit that explains the answers to the questions. Give the groups time to write and practice their skits.

5. Started with the French Revolution group, have each group perform for the class while other students take notes. At the end this kinetic timeline, ask students:

Based on the successes and failures of historical women in their fight for rights, how do think current women’s rights issues should be addressed?

You can use this question as a basis for class discussion or as an essay prompt.

Like this song and lesson? Visit Flocabulary.com to access hundreds of songs, videos and lessons like these.