THE ROLE OF AMERICAN WOMEN IN WORLD WAR II:

An Internet WebQuest on American Women in World War II

Created by Becky Mather, Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency and Andrea Wilford
Muscatine High School

Introduction

'The history of all times and of today, especially, teaches that...women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves' -Louise Otto-
German feminist, 1849

'Every time a girl reads a womanless history she learns she is worth less.' Myra and David Sadker
'Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls'



A child is born, given a home and love by her parents, and grows to adulthood . When asked to recount the history of her life, should she merely mention the father's contributions and not the mother's? Can one retell the story of one's life fully, accurately or well, when leaving out the other half of the story?

Too often, what passes for history is just a retelling of one side of the past, one half of the story. To really understand who we are today and how we got here, it is necessary to view historical events from multiple perspectives, not just one. To do otherwise is to proceed through the rich field of history like a horse with blinders on, seeing only one path, one way, though it is many paths that converge to lead us to the present.

The purpose of this WebQuest is to allow you to use the vast resources of Internet to help loosen these 'ties' that 'blind' us, rather than enlighten us, to 'herstory', the history of women in America's past.

Begin the Quest

Update: August 21, 2007