Lesson Two: Peter Norbeck and Mary Shields Pyle
Focus Questions:
• Why was a cheap way to drill wells so important for South Dakota?
• How do scenic roads and state parks benefit South Dakotans?
• Why did South Dakota women want the right to vote?
• What contributions did Pyle make to the history of woman suffrage?
Imbedded Information In The Student Lesson:
; Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road; State Woman Suffrage Association; Nineteenth Amendment
Worksheet:
Classroom Activities:
Develop a class itinerary for an imaginary Black Hills journey. Gather information from brochures, books, maps, magazines, and photographs about sites in the Black Hills (examples: Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave, Needles Highway, Custer State Park, Iron Mountain Road, State Game Lodge). Using a South Dakota highway map as a guide, draw a large map of the Black Hills area on tagboard or butcher paper. Have students attach pictures and descriptions of the sites they will visit to the map to create a map collage. Have students write a brief account of an imaginary trip. (If they have recently visited some of the sites, they can make it a real account.) Keep the written accounts in a 3-ring binder next to the map collage to share with class visitors.
Divide the class in half but not by gender. Choose an issue to dramatize and debate. For example, direct one half of the class to wear blue jeans to school one day (mark them with blue tags or ribbons), and forbid the other half to do so (mark with red). Give those with blue tags more privilege and more control (examples: for a half hour, the blue tags can do things without asking; or during recess, red tags have to ask blue tags for permission to go outdoors, use the bathroom, etc.) Have the students determine how they feel about the situation. Then have them break into groups to campaign for or against the granting of blue-tag status to everyone. They can pick either side regardless of their present tag status. After the debate, hold a mock election, allowing only the blue tags to vote. What were the results? Apply the situation to the suffrage movement. The blue tags represent men, and the red, women. Observe that because the men held control, the women’s movement needed to influence male voters in order to get equal privileges.
If there are elected women in your area, invite them to speak to your class about their involvement in politics, getting elected, and serving in public office.
