American history

Women and World War II

While many students are familiar with the great battles of WWII (usually through movies), few of them are aware of what a large part women played in the war.  When I teach WWII in the American history survey, I divide it into two classes.  During the first class we discuss the overall picture of the war: how the war began, the major battles, and the conclusion.  Once the students understand the broader picture of what happened in the war, we spend the second class discussing how the war affected the American people at home and how women contributed to the war effort.

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It is my hope with this blog to share my successes and failures on incorporating women’s history into my American history courses.  I will also share the sources that I use to communicate the information to my students and encourage their interest.  Each blog will look at a topic in women’s history and how I incorporated it into a survey course.    

 “Who knows what the word suffrage means?”  The forty blank faces that stared at me like the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off prompted me to reassess the topics I covered in the survey history courses I teach.  All professors who have