Suffragette Actions

Lesson starter:

• What were the major differences between suffragettes and suffragists?

Today we will…

• Examine the more extreme actions of the suffragettes.

• Discuss the government’s response to these actions.

Success criteria

• I will decide whether or not Emily Davison intended to kill himself.

• I will explain how the government responded to the suffragettes.

Task

Watch the clip from Mary Poppins called “Sister Suffragette”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUhwA-C-ACg&feature=related

Remember: Many people call all women who campaigned for women’s votes suffragettes. So make sure you listen carefully to the lyrics.

Is the woman a Suffragette or Suffragist? How do you know?

Paired Task

• With a partner, arrange the actions into whether they would have been carried out by suffragettes or suffragists.

• You have 1 min.

• Some suffragettes went further than others. Some even gave their life for the cause of women’s votes.

• Emily Davison was one of these women.

• Emily Davison threw herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby in June 1913.

• Davison had intended to disrupt the race by grabbing the horse.

• However, as the horse hit her, her skull was fractured and she died days later.

Group Task

• Each group will be given a set of sources.

• You should read through them and highlight in two separate colours any evidence that suggests: – She did intend to kill herself– She did not intend to kill herself

• You must now decide as a group whether or not Emily Davison did intend to kill herself.

In your jotter…

• Evidence that suggests Emily Davison did intend to kill herself is…

• Evidence that suggests she did not intend to kill herself is…

• My group has decided that she did/did not intend to kill herself because…

• Many women went to prison for their actions.

• Even Mrs Pankhurst, the head of the suffragettes was sent to jail.

• However, women continued to protest in prison.

• Emily Davison, for example, threw herself off of a balcony in prison.

• Others stopped eating during hunger strikes.

• A woman dying in jail would be shocking to the British people.

Copy:• The government did

two things in response to the suffragettes actions in prison:– Cat and Mouse Act,

1913 (women who became ill were released temporarily)

– Force feeding

HOTS Task

• What was the Cat and Mouse Act?

• Why would hunger strikes have an impact on the government?

• If you were a member of the government, how would you deal with suffragette actions? Explain your answer.

Today we will…

• Examine the more extreme actions of the suffragettes.

• Discuss the government’s response to these actions.

Success criteria

• I will decide whether or not Emily Davison intended to kill himself.

• I will explain how the government responded to the suffragettes.