This module uses literature and informational texts to introduce students to gender and racial inequality issues in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, and to recognize how the process of ratifying the 19th Amendment can teach us about how people were responding to gender and racial inequality at that time. 

In Unit 1, students begin reading The Hope Chest by Karen Schwabach. As they read about events in The Hope Chest, they also read informational firsthand and secondhand accounts of real-life responses to inequality and compare and contrast the information in both. 

In Unit 2, students continue to read The Hope Chest, identifying themes in each chapter and summarizing events that show evidence of a theme. They also analyze the meaning of similes, metaphors, idioms, adages, and proverbs. 

In Unit 3, students connect their learning about the process of ratifying the 19th Amendment to their own lives as they focus on how students can make a difference and contribute to a better world. They research how students around the world have made a difference, before taking action as a class on an issue in their community. At the end of the unit, students write PSAs encouraging other students to make a difference, and they write a press release sharing with the local media what the class did to take action and the impact of their work. This performance task centers on CCSS ELA W.4.2 and W.4.4.