If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights

I had a request from a family member who was looking for titles on Suffragists that were written at an age appropriate level when I came across If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights while researching some other books.

I have been a big fan of this series and had not realized they had published a book on the history of the movement to give women the right to vote. This was actually published in 2006. Most of the titles in this series start with If You Lived, If You Traveled, If You Were, etc. The format for the books is question and answered based. They are a great introduction to just about any historical topic a child might be studying.

This book starts out by discussing the rights woman had in colonial times and during the Revolutionary War. Along with discussing the impact of their lack of rights, it also addresses the responsibilities women had, even though they lacked the rights to control the situations that impacted those responsibilities. The book addresses the issues of marriage laws, access to education, and the challenges of employment for women during the 1800's. From there the book moves to discuss how and why some women got involved in the abolition and prohibition movements during the 1800's. The author explains that from their challenges and restrictions of working in the abolitionist movement, women came together to form a women's movement to have more rights and freedoms.

The author then introduces the reader to the 1848 Seneca Women's Rights Convention. While the Convention did not succeed, immediately in getting women the right to vote, it planted seeds and the author does an age appropriate job of explaining the progress and the challenges women faced on the road to getting the right to vote in 1920.

I thought the author did a particularly good job of sticking to age appropriate explanations as she explained how the women's rights movement was stalled during the Civil War and why women were frustrated that they did not receive equal treatment when male slaves were freed and granted the right to vote. These can be sensitive subjects and I was impressed with how the author approached the topic for children. It got a little harsher as she described the treatment of the women during the 1900's, but I am not sure there is an age appropriate way to discuss the treatment the women received when they were marching and assembling.

As with all books, I always suggest screening before using. As I mentioned, I picked this up for a family member who is looking for age appropriate materials for her daughter on the topic. I think it is one of the better books I have found on the topic.