To Drink & To Vote: The Campaigns for Prohibition and Women's Suffrage

In the 20th Century Interactive project, lesson 1 is titled "To Drink and To Vote: The Campaigns for Prohibition and Women's Suffrage." Today, adults being able to purchase alcohol and women being able to vote are normal parts of their lives. But in the late 1800s a group of influential people became outraged at the consumption of alcohol. They were first able to get local governments to act, and then got national legislation passed that restricted the production, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages. Ohio was one of the states in which people were leading the effort toward passage of the 18th amendment on prohibition.

The Suffrage Movement began in 1848 at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., and shortly thereafter came to Ohio. For 72 years, women across the country campaign and marched until the right to vote became theirs in with the passage of the 19th amendment to the Constitution in 1920.

In the lessons in this unit, students will explore the roots of current debates surrounding feminism, and those that include the issues of alcoholism and drug abuse.

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