COMPREHENSION TOOLS Name:
Identify Central Idea
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TEXT A
Read the text, and
underline details that
support the central idea.
Then, complete the
activity on page 3.
DIRECTIONS The First Women’s Rights
Convention
1 In 1848, a convention of historic importance took place in Seneca
Falls, New York. The small town was the site of the first women’s
rights convention. At the convention, people voted on a series of
proposals. One of them was that women should have the right to
vote. Many people at that time were opposed to this idea. But the
convention helped build support for women’s voting rights, which
eventually became the law of the land.
2 The idea for the convention began eight years earlier. In 1840,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were among a group of
women who went to London to attend the World Anti-Slavery
Convention. Once there, they were kept out of the conference
because they were women. So, the group decided to meet on their
own. Stanton and Mott agreed that another convention should be
held. That convention would address women’s rights. Eight years
passed before the two women achieved this goal. In 1848, Mott
was visiting her sister near Seneca Falls. Stanton was living there
at the time. Mott and Stanton met again. With three other
women, they agreed to plan a convention. Its purpose would be
“to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights
of women.”
3 Stanton agreed to write a Declaration of Sentiments. It would be
the basis for discussion at the meeting. She modeled her document
on the Declaration of Independence. That document said that “all
men are created equal.” Stanton wrote that “all men and women
are created equal.” She then listed eighteen injustices against
women. The Declaration of Independence aimed the same
number of charges at England’s king. Stanton also wrote eleven
resolutions. They pointed to areas where action should be taken
to correct injustices against women. The ninth resolution
proposed that women should have the right to vote.
proposals: plans to be
considered
resolutions: formal
statements voted on by
a group
COMPREHENSION TOOLS Name:
Identify Central Idea
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TEXT A
4 Three hundred people came to the convention in July of 1848.
Forty of them were men. Everyone present voted yes to all of
Stanton’s resolutions except the ninth one. Then Frederick
Douglass, who was formerly enslaved, spoke in favor of women
having the right to vote. He convinced the convention to pass the
resolution. One hundred women and men signed the declaration.
Many people criticized and made fun of the document and those
who signed it. But harsh words did not stop the cause for women’s
voting rights. The small convention had begun a big revolution.
5 The Seneca Falls Convention started women on a long pursuit for
the right to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and
many others devoted their lives to the cause. Women finally won
the right to vote 72 years after the convention in 1920. Of all the
women who signed the convention’s Declaration of Sentiments,
only one lived long enough to exercise her right to vote.
But the Seneca Falls Convention made it possible for future
generations of women to vote and to pursue equality in other
areas as well.
devoted: dedicated yourself
to something
COMPREHENSION TOOLS Name:
Identify Central Idea
GRADE 6 Identify Central Idea ©Curriculum Associates, LLC Copying permitted for classroom use. 3 of 6
Find Key Details
Record key details about how the Seneca Falls Convention helped women
gain voting rights.
ACTIVITY A
Central Idea
Detail
Detail
Detail
Detail Detail
COMPREHENSION TOOLS Name:
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Gandhi: A Life of Peaceful
Protest
1 When Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in 1869, India was ruled
by Great Britain. When Gandhi died in 1948, India was an
independent nation. Gandhi devoted his life to Indian
independence. His commitment to peaceful protest was the
moral backbone of the movement to free India.
2 When Gandhi was a young man, he made a decision that would
change his life. He took a job in South Africa. The British ruled
parts of South Africa. Indians living there did not have the same
freedoms that white people had, simply because of their skin color.
This injustice moved Gandhi to action.
3 Shortly after moving to South Africa, Gandhi took a business trip.
He bought a first-class railroad ticket. At one stop, a white man
boarded the train. He insisted that Gandhi could not sit in the
first-class car because he was a “non-white.” Gandhi protested. He
showed his first-class ticket and refused to move. He was thrown
off the train. This prejudice that Gandhi faced inspired him to
win rights for Indians in South Africa.
4 During his twenty years in South Africa, Gandhi developed the
idea of peaceful protest. Some called it nonviolent resistance. This
principle guided Gandhi’s life. Gandhi believed that if people
disobeyed unjust laws without using violence, the lawmakers
would see the injustice of their laws. Truth and fairness would
sway the rulers and force them to change the laws.
5 In 1915, Gandhi returned to India to impart his program of
peaceful protest. For a year, he traveled throughout India. Gandhi
thought the people of India should make three improvements to
their society. First, Gandhi wanted Hindus and Muslims to find
ways to live together peacefully. Differences between the two
religious groups sometimes caused conflict. Second, he wanted
better treatment for people who society unjustly considered to be
inferior. Third, Gandhi thought people should live simpler lives.
He urged them to learn to weave and to wear homespun cotton
prejudice: preferring one
group over another
impart: to tell
inferior: not as good as
something else
Read the text, and
underline repeated
words and ideas. Then,
complete the activity
on p. 6.
DIRECTIONS
TEXT B
COMPREHENSION TOOLS Name:
Identify Central Idea
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TEXT B
clothing. He spun cotton for his own clothing. In fact, the
spinning wheel became a symbol of his movement.
6 As part of their fight for freedom, Gandhi said that Indians
should not cooperate with their British rulers. He wanted Indians
to boycott, or reject, all things British. He did not want Indians to
use the British law courts. Gandhi also said Indians should not
send their children to British schools or take jobs in British
businesses. They should reject the type of clothing worn in
Britain, and even reject British cloth. Gandhi believed he could
unite Indians by encouraging them to be self-sufficient and proud
of their culture.
7 In 1930, Gandhi’s party called for complete independence from
Britain. Gandhi chose an unusual protest to support this demand.
He planned a march to the coast of the Arabian Sea. There, he
would pick up some salty sand. Why would Gandhi do this? At
that time, a law stated that only the British could make or sell salt.
The British taxed the salt heavily, which made it very expensive.
Because all humans need salt to live, even the poorest Indians had
to buy it. Breaking the salt law was one way to protest an unfair
law that kept India dependent on Britain.
8 In March 1930, Gandhi set out with 78 followers to walk 240 miles
to Dandi on the sea. Each day more people joined them. By the
end, there were 50,000 marchers. At Dandi, Gandhi picked up
some wet, salty sand. In the days that followed, people all over
India broke the law by drying seawater to make salt. Thousands,
including Gandhi, were put in jail. Yet, the peaceful protest
continued.
9 Britain saw little hope of holding on to India with force. Peaceful
protests had proved more powerful than violence. Finally, after
World War II, Britain agreed to grant India independence.
10 Even after India gained independence, Gandhi continued to work
toward making peace among the different groups of people in India.
But on January 30, 1948, Gandhi was killed by a man who disagreed
with his policies. Millions of people around the world mourned the
death of the man many called Mahatma, or the Great Soul. Gandhi’s
commitment to peaceful protest had earned him this name.
COMPREHENSION TOOLS Name:
Identify Central Idea
GRADE 6 Identify Central Idea ©Curriculum Associates, LLC Copying permitted for classroom use. 6 of 6
Recognize Key Concepts
Identify and record details to describe key concepts in Gandhi: A Life of
Peaceful Protest.
ACTIVITY B
Key Concept Key Concept
Key Concept
Central Idea
peaceful/nonviolent protest
