Process
Please use the following links to go directly to each part of the process for building museum exhibits.
Part One: Identifying a Subject for Research
Part Two: Finding Resources and Evaluating Their Reliability
Part Three: Writing the Research Essay
Part Four: Creating the Digital Artifact
Part One: Identifying a Subject for Research
Part Two: Finding Resources and Evaluating Their Reliability
Part Three: Writing the Research Essay
Part Four: Creating the Digital Artifact
Part One: Identifying a Subject for Research
- To begin, consider which of the following fields interests you the most: Public Speaking, Philanthropy, Education, Poetry, Writing, Drama, Art, Business, Civil Rights, Activism, Music, Politics, History, Space Flight/Aviation, Medicine, Law, Ministry, Modeling, or Media (this includes Design, Film, Television, and Journalism).
- Open up a new Word document and create a table with three columns: one for "Field," one for "Name," and one for "Notable Achievements."
- Write down the field and name for every woman in the table below who fits the field(s) you have chosen. If you have fewer than five names, choose another field until you have at least five.
- Click on the Starting Website for each woman you have added to your table. Read through the linked page and write down notable achievements for her.
- The class will divide into groups (3--6 students) based on the fields you and your classmates have chosen.
- Once you are in a group, discuss the women you have chosen as a whole.
- Everyone will choose one woman to research, but there cannot be any duplicate choices.
- Congratulations! Your group now has a unique focus on a field for the museum exhibit!
Field |
Name |
Starting Website |
Preview Notes |
Television |
Shonda Rhimes |
Shonda Rhimes has written and produced many hit shows on ABC, starting with Grey’s Anatomy in 2005. |
|
Television |
Mara Brock Akil |
Mara started writing in 1998 on the show, Moesha. She began to write and produce her own show in 2001 with the show Girlfriends. |
|
Public Speaking |
Patricia Russel-McCloud |
Patricia began public speaking on a large scale more than 20 years ago and she still travels the circuit. |
|
Philanthropy, Education, Design |
Jasmine Lawrence |
Jasmine started her company because of her own needs for a natural haircare solution formulated for black women and the texture of their hair. |
|
Poetry |
Gwendolyn Brooks |
Gwendolyn was praised for being the first African-American to win a Pulitzer prize for her book Annie Allen in 1949. |
|
Business |
A’leia Walker |
A’leia was the only child of Madame C.J. Walker. She is also credited as being the first self-made woman millionaire. |
|
Civil Rights, Activism |
Angela Davis |
Angela not only was a civil rights activist. She was also a writer, scholar, and women’s rights activist. |
|
Art |
Augusta Savage |
Augusta was a leading artist in the Harlem Renaissance. |
|
Writing |
Zora Neale Hurston |
Zora was a well- known writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance. |
|
Media |
Jessie Redmond Fauset |
Jessie was the editor for The Crisis magazine founded by W.E.B. Dubois during the Harlem Renaissance. |
|
Music |
Billie Holiday |
Billie was a very influential jazz singer in the early and mid 1900’s. |
|
Poetry |
Georgia Douglas Johnson |
Georgia was a well-known poet from the Harlem Renaissance. She wrote four poetry collections titled: The Heart of A Woman, Bronze, An Autumn Love Cycle, and Share my World. |
|
Media |
Oprah Winfrey |
Oprah was able to keep a women’s talk show on network television consistently from 1986 to 2011. |
|
Activism |
Marian Wright Edelman |
Marian is a well-known civil rights activist that fought for not only racial, but gender equality. |
|
Activism |
Myrlie Evers |
Myrlie and Medgar Evers were two of the most influential civil rights activists out of the whole movement. |
|
Music |
Lena Horne |
Lena was most known for her music in The Wiz and her song, "Stormy Weather." |
|
Film |
Dorothy Dandridge |
Dorothy was the first African-American woman nominated for best actress at the academy awards. |
|
Business |
Madame C.J. Walker |
Madam Walker created specially designed hair products for black women. |
|
Politics |
Shirley Franklin |
After serving eight years as Atlanta’s mayor, Shirley was elected CEO of Purpose Built Communities. |
|
Writing, Historical Figure |
Christine de Pisan |
A well-known writer, known for her work in medieval times. |
|
Activism, Historical Figure |
Susan B. Anthony |
Susan led the suffragette movement for women’s voting rights. |
|
Activism, Historical Figure |
Elizabeth Cady Stanton |
Elizabeth worked closely with Susan B. Anthony as a suffragette. |
|
Philosophy |
Qasim Amin |
An Egyptian born philosopher, Qasim pursued women’s rights in Egypt. |
|
Poetry, Historical Figure |
Phillis Wheatley |
Wheatley wrote her first published poem at around age 13. The work, a story about two men who nearly drown at sea, was printed in the Newport Mercury. |
|
Space Flight, Medicine |
Dr. Mae Jemison |
Dr. Jemison joined CIGNA Health Plans of California in October 1985 and was working as a General Practitioner and attending graduate engineering classes in Los Angeles when selected to the astronaut program. |
|
Drama/Poetry |
Ntozake Shange |
She took the name “Ntozake” (“she who comes into her own things”) “Shange” (“she who walks like a lion”) from the Zulu dialect Xhosa. |
|
Athletics |
Jackie Joyner-Kersee |
During her career at the USA Indoor Championships, she won the 60m hurdles title in 1992, and the long jump national crown in 1992, '94, and '95. |
|
Poetry, Writing, Education, Activism |
Nikki Giovanni |
Nikki Giovanni has written more than two dozen books, including volumes of poetry, illustrated children's books, and three collections of essays. |
|
Civil Rights |
Rosa Parks |
She married Raymond Parks, a self-educated man 10 years her senior, who worked as a barber and was a long-time member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). |
|
Music |
Leontyne Price |
Only when she graduated from the College of Education and Industrial Arts (now Central State College) in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1948 did she decide to seek a career as a singer. |
|
Politics |
Condoleezza Rice |
Rice served as Stanford University’s Provost from 1993-1999, during which she was the institution's chief budget and academic officer. |
|
Law, Politics |
Michelle Obama |
Michelle decided to leave corporate law and pursue a career in public service, working as an assistant to Mayor Richard Daley and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago. |
|
Politics, Writing |
Laura Bush |
She began as an elementary school teacher, working in inner-city schools, then trained to be a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush. |
|
Politics |
Millicent Fawcett |
Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847 – 1929) was a leading Suffragist and campaigner for equal rights for women. |
|
Politics |
Barbara Bush |
She dropped out of Smith College in 1944 following her freshman year. After a long-distance relationship and George’s brush with death after his plane was hit during a bombing run in the Pacific, the couple married in January 1945. |
|
Historical Figure |
Sally Hemings |
Sally Hemings had at least six children, who are now believed to have been fathered by Thomas Jefferson many years after the death of his wife. |
|
Writing, Activism |
Audre Lorde |
She served as a librarian in New York public schools from 1961 through 1968. In 1962, Lorde married Edward Rollins. |
|
Writing, Education |
Toni Morrison |
At Howard University, Morrison continued to pursue her interest in literature. She majored in English and chose the classics for her minor. After graduating from Howard in 1953, Morrison continued her education at Cornell University. |
|
Ministry |
Bernice King |
Bernice was privileged to serve as a law clerk in the Fulton County Juvenile Court system, under Judge Glenda Hatchett, who was host of the nationally syndicated Judge Hatchett show. |
|
Civil Rights, Activism |
Coretta Scott King |
Coretta Scott took an active interest in the nascent Civil Rights Movemement; she joined the Antioch chapter of the NAACP, and the college's Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. |
|
Activism |
Yolanda King |
Yolanda King was the founder and head of Higher Ground Productions, billed as a "gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation." |
|
Poetry, Civil Rights, Activism |
Maya Angelou |
Maya Angelou is a poet and award-winning author known for her acclaimed memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her numerous poetry and essay collections. |
|
Writing, Activism |
Alice Walker |
Alice Walker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, African-American novelist and poet most famous for authoring The Color Purple. |
|
Poetry, Historical Figure |
Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is perhaps best known for her 'Sonnets From the Portuguese' and 'Aurora Leigh' as well as the love story between her and fellow poet Robert Browning. |
|
Politics |
Eleanor Holmes Norton |
Congresswoman Norton has three main offices in the District of Columbia. Her office on Capitol Hill handles legislative issues, and her two District Offices handle casework matters for D.C. residents. |
|
Drama, Writing |
Lorraine Hansberry |
Playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun and was the first black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics’ Circle award. |
|
Business, Television |
Tracy Edmonds |
She established herself as an award-winning producer, savvy business mogul, and accomplished studio executive who oversees the development and production of diverse and mainstream audiences. |
|
Historical Figure |
Sarah Baartman |
In 1814 she was taken to France, and became the object of scientific and medical research that formed the bedrock of European ideas about black female sexuality. |
|
Activism |
Wangari Maathai |
In 1971, Wangari Maathai received a Ph.D., effectively becoming the first woman in either East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate. |
|
Activism |
Emmeline Pankhurst |
Pankhurst was a leading British women's rights activist, who led the movement to win the right for women to vote. |
|
Aviation |
Amelia Earhart |
Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, mysteriously disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. |
|
Athletics |
Billie Jean King |
American tennis great Billie Jean King broke down barriers in her push for equal prize money for women, and as one of the first well-known openly gay athletes. |
|
Activism |
Malala Yousafzai |
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. |
|
Writing, Historical FIgure |
Jane Austen |
Jane Austen was a Georgian era author, best known for her social commentary in novels including Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. |
|
Journalism, Historical Figure |
Margaret Fuller |
Margaret Fuller is best known for feminist writing and literary criticism in 19th century America. |
|
Writing, Historical Figure |
Harriet Beecher Stowe |
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. She came from a famous religious family and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. |
|
Writing, Activism |
Helen Keller |
American educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the ACLU. |
|
Politics |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American politician, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from March 1933 to April 1945 |
|
Activism |
Annie Besant |
Annie Besant was a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator, and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule. |
|
Film |
Katherine Hepburn |
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress. Known for her fierce independence and spirited personality, Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years |
|
Politics |
Indira Gandhi |
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was a key 20th century stateswoman, a central figure of the Indian National Congress party, and to date the only female Prime Minister of India. |
|
Politics, Activism |
Eva Peron |
María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of Argentine President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. |
|
Film |
Lupita Nyong'o |
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress and film director. She was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents and raised in Kenya. |
|
Modeling |
Iman |
Iman Mohamed Abdul Majid, professionally known as Iman, is a Somali born American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A pioneer in the field of ethnic cosmetics, she is also noted for her philanthropic work. |
|
Politics |
Sila Maria Calderon Serra |
Sila María Calderón Serra is a Puerto Rican politician, businesswoman, and philanthropist who served as the eighth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2005. She is the first and, to date, only woman elected to that office. |
|
Music |
Celia Cruz |
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American singer, best known as one of the most popular salsa performers of all time, recording 23 gold albums. |
|
Civil Rights, Activism |
Sylvia Mendez |
Sylvia Mendez is an American civil rights activist of Mexican-Puerto Rican heritage. At age eight, she played an instrumental role in the Mendez v. Westminster case, the landmark desegregation case of 1946 |
|
Civil Rights, Activism |
Dolores Huerta |
Dolores Huerta is an activist and labor leader who co-founded what would become the United Farm Workers. |
|
Law, Politics |
Sonia Sotomayor |
Nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. |
|
Medicine, Public Service |
Antonia Novello |
Antonia Coello Novello, M.D., is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as fourteenth Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. |
|
Film |
Elizabeth Taylor |
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British-American actress, businesswoman, and humanitarian. She began as a child actress in the early 1940s, and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s |
Part Two: Finding resources and evaluating their reliability
1. Study the guide linked below to learn more about commonly used websites that are actually unreliable for academic research. Consider: What is the difference between crowd-sourced content and professional content?
Education World: Valid Internet Sources for Student Research
2. In addition to the resource you studied in Part One, you need at least four more research sources for your subject. Complete the resource handout linked below for each resource you find. Exchange findings with a partner from your group, and discuss with each other if your sources are reliable enough for a quality museum exhibit.
Internet Sources: Reliable or Sketchy?
1. Study the guide linked below to learn more about commonly used websites that are actually unreliable for academic research. Consider: What is the difference between crowd-sourced content and professional content?
Education World: Valid Internet Sources for Student Research
2. In addition to the resource you studied in Part One, you need at least four more research sources for your subject. Complete the resource handout linked below for each resource you find. Exchange findings with a partner from your group, and discuss with each other if your sources are reliable enough for a quality museum exhibit.
Internet Sources: Reliable or Sketchy?
Part Three: Writing the Research Essay
1. The following websites will be referenced during the days in class in which we focus on various parts of the research essay (from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab):
2. Peer Review: Via OneDrive, share essays between yourself and a classmate who is NOT in your group (to encourage interdisciplinary discussion). You and your classmate will peer-review each others' essay. The procedure for peer-review is as follows:
1. The following websites will be referenced during the days in class in which we focus on various parts of the research essay (from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab):
- General Overview of MLA Format.
- Works Cited Page (Basic Format, Books, Periodicals, Websites). Ask the museum director if you need help formatting a different type of resource.
- Internal Citations.
- Working with Quotations.
2. Peer Review: Via OneDrive, share essays between yourself and a classmate who is NOT in your group (to encourage interdisciplinary discussion). You and your classmate will peer-review each others' essay. The procedure for peer-review is as follows:
- Complete this proofreader's guide for your classmate. Email it to him/her when you finish.
- Include comments on your classmate's essay according to the directions in the proofreader's guide. As long as you shared essays correctly in OneDrive, you should see each others' comments on your own essays as they are written.
- Study your classmate's comments carefully and assign yourself a grade for your essay based on his/her comments and the rubric on the Evaluation page.
- Revise your essay into a final draft and turn it in to the museum director by the deadline (TBA).
- Please review the following video tutorial on how to share files in OneDrive. Click here to download the video if you are having trouble viewing it below.
Part Four: Creating the Digital Artifact
Here are a few helpful websites for getting started with your digital artifact.
Here are a few helpful websites for getting started with your digital artifact.
- Tips for Podcasting.
- Tips for Screencasting.
- Tips for PowerPoint.
- PowerPoint Office Mix. Scroll to the bottom for an example Mix. This is an optional add-on for your PowerPoint presentation.