Jennie B. Powers, local Progressive Era reformer

Grades: 9-12. Mini unit outline with links to a short film, documents and photographs.

This unit asks students to define a progressive, in terms of the early 20th century definition.  They will analyze the life of Jennie B. Powers, agent for the Keene Humane Society, in order to decide if she fits that definition.  Students will tour the city of Keene to learn more about Powers and other contemporary progressive reformers of the turn of the 20th century.  They will think critically about whether or not the Progressive Era ended in the 1920s and they will make connections between progressives of the early 20th century and progressives of today.

Learn more about the Jennie B. Powers mini unit.  

Essential Questions & Understandings

Essential Questions

  1. What is a progressive? Was Jennie Powers a progressive reformer?
  2. Was there just one Progressive Era? Can we find evidence of progressive reforms today?

 

Essential Understandings

  1. Jennie B. Powers was one of many women during the Progressive Era who fought for reforms in their local communities.
  2. Jennie B. Powers’ own writings and photography are primary sources. 
  3. Jennie Powers’ life and career illustrate a modern American woman at the turn of the 20th century.  
  4. SPCAs and Humane Societies were some of the first organizations to tackle animal abuse and child abuse cases in the country.
  5. Each generation of American citizens leads movements to reform societal ills.

 

 

 

Transferrable Skills & Understandings

Transferable Skills and Understandings

Students will be able to independently use their learning to:

  1. Understand that individuals play a role making change on a larger scale.
  2. Understand that significant events happening locally are often also reflected nationally.
  3. Use primary sources as a means of interpreting history.

Historical Thinking Skills Acquisition

  1. Students will use local history to develop questions about national history events.
  2. Students will analyze historical sources.
  3. Students will make inferences about the past using evidence.
  4. Students will gain chronological awareness.
NH Social Studies Standards

Civics: The Nature and Purpose of Government.

The Keene Humane Society and Jennie B. Powers worked with the county sheriff’s office to enforce local, state and federal laws. Teachers could address the varied partnerships between county government and private organizations in the past as well as today. 

  1. SS:CV:1.  Identify structures and function of local/county government.
  2. SS:CV:12:1.2: Examine how institutions and individuals make, apply, and enforce rules and laws.  
  3. SS:CV:12:2.4: Evaluate how individual rights have been extended in the United States.

Civics: Rights & Responsibilities.

Jennie B. Powers was an engaged citizen, who used her position as a woman in the humane society to protect the rights of animals and humans.  

  1. SS:CV:12:4.1: Demonstrate responsible practices within the political process.
  2. SS:CV:12:4.2: Investigate how knowledgeable and engaged citizens have acted to preserve and extend their liberties. 
  3. SS:CV:12:4.3: Explain why the preservation of liberty requires the participation of knowledgeable and engaged citizens. 

History: World Views and Value Systems

Jennie B. Powers used photography as a means of calling attention to societal ills. Similar to Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine, she exhibited her photographs during lectures as a way of exposing a truth in the community.

  1. SS:HI:12:3.2: Analyze how the arts and science often reflect and/or influence major ideas, values and conflicts of particular time periods. 
C3 Framework

Civics: The Nature and Purpose of Government.

The Keene Humane Society and Jennie B. Powers worked with the county sheriff’s office to enforce local, state and federal laws. Teachers could address the varied partnerships between county government and private organizations in the past as well as today. 

  1. SS:CV:1.  Identify structures and function of local/county government.
  2. SS:CV:12:1.2: Examine how institutions and individuals make, apply, and enforce rules and laws.  
  3. SS:CV:12:2.4: Evaluate how individual rights have been extended in the United States.

Civics: Rights & Responsibilities.

Jennie B. Powers was an engaged citizen, who used her position as a woman in the humane society to protect the rights of animals and humans.  

  1. SS:CV:12:4.1: Demonstrate responsible practices within the political process.
  2. SS:CV:12:4.2: Investigate how knowledgeable and engaged citizens have acted to preserve and extend their liberties. 
  3. SS:CV:12:4.3: Explain why the preservation of liberty requires the participation of knowledgeable and engaged citizens. 

History: World Views and Value Systems

Jennie B. Powers used photography as a means of calling attention to societal ills. Similar to Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine, she exhibited her photographs during lectures as a way of exposing a truth in the community.

  1. SS:HI:12:3.2: Analyze how the arts and science often reflect and/or influence major ideas, values and conflicts of particular time periods.