When I read about remarkable teachers, I often come across terms that describe varieties of schools I have never heard of before. One such example is the term “suffrage schools.” These schools were first developed by suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt, a trained teacher, in 1917, for the purpose of training women volunteers to become politically effective in their efforts to win the vote for women.

 

The curriculum of a suffrage school included such topics as public speaking, the organization of the U.S. government, the history of the suffrage movement, how to develop a good relationship with the press, and how to use the press for influencing the electorate. Eventually the lessons taught in these schools paid off, for women won the right to vote with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.

 

You can read more about suffrage schools in my upcoming book, tentatively titled Chalkboard Heroes.