In honor of women's history, Teaching for Change has updated and posted online the popular Women's Work lesson from Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching. Educators in middle and high school classrooms and teacher workshops have found the lesson to be a great tool for improving the visibility of women in social justice movements. In a fun role-playing activity, participants are introduced to 36 women and the strategies they used as activists.

Educators are using the Women's Work lesson to challenge traditional narratives that often exclude the critical role of women in movements for change. Women don't just sit at home, but sit at counters during sit-ins, organize boycotts and protests, fight for reform, and courageously risk their lives for what they deem is right.

Stephanie Minor-Harper, co-chair of the Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy program, invited Jenice View, co-editor of Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching, to present Women's Work to the youth enrolled in the program.

"The young ladies were like so many other young people today," Minor-Harper said. "They could recite the names of a few famous persons who were a part of the civil rights movement—like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Jesse Jackson—but they had little sense of the greater context in which they carried out their work."

Minor-Harper was thankful that View used the activity to move the participants beyond those few icons. "I was amazed by the breadth and depth of the women's stories," she continued. "The youth will definitely remember a few, and that's an excellent start."

The updated version of Women's Work is available under "Lessons & Handouts" in the "Resources" section of civilrightsteaching.org.