Jeannette Rankin: Nothing Left but My Integrity
45 min
Walk-In-The-Shoes Questions
As you read, imagine you are the protagonist.
- What challenges are you facing?
- What fears or concerns might you have?
- What may prevent you from acting in the way you ought?
Observation Questions
- In what ways did Jeannette Rankin demonstrate integrity to enhance life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
- Jeannette Rankin had many different interests and skills, and had a hard time settling on a career as a young woman. What did she understand her identity to be and to what extent did her identity change over time?
- What did Jeanette Rankin understand her purpose to be? How did she want to be remembered?
Discussion Questions
Discuss the following questions with your students.
- What is the historical context of the narrative?
- What historical circumstances presented a challenge to the protagonist?
- How and why did the individual exhibit a moral and/or civic virtue in facing and overcoming the challenge?
- How did the exercise of the virtue benefit civil society?
- How might exercise of the virtue benefit the protagonist?
- What might the exercise of the virtue cost the protagonist?
- Would you react the same under similar circumstances? Why or why not?
- How can you act similarly in your own life? What obstacles must you overcome in order to do so?
- Students will analyze Jeannette Rankin’s character as a citizen.
- Students will examine Rankin’s demonstration of integrity and commitment to truth.
- Students will understand why integrity is an essential virtue in their own lives.
- Students will act with integrity to protect freedom even when their beliefs are unpopular.