Women's Activism and Reform

Women's Activism and Reform

• The Reform era opened new avenues for women's activism in American public life, boosting the suffrage movement.
• Women’s clubs became prominent social organizations, focusing on intellectual growth and community philanthropy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• National women’s club federations emerged in the 1890s, with significant ones being the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (1890) and the National Association of Colored Women (1896).
• These federations were predominantly composed of upper-middle-class, educated white women, leading to racial tensions and limited biracial participation.
• Black women established their own organizations focused on civil rights and the upliftment of their communities, such as those led by Mary Jane Richardson Jones and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin.
• The National Association of Colored Women, formed by activists including Mary Church Terrell, sought to secure suffrage and challenge discrimination.

Contributions through Moral Reform

• Many women engaged in moral reform through churches and organizations aimed at improving American society.
• Carrie A. Nation became a notable figure for her aggressive stance against alcohol, famously destroying saloons with a hatchet, which gained national attention.
• Nation’s actions, while headline-grabbing, were not broadly followed by other women activists, who preferred more organized approaches.
• The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874, initially aimed at temperance but transformed into a prominent political body under Frances Willard’s leadership from 1879 to 1898.
• The WCTU advocated for various reforms including urban poverty alleviation, prison reform, child labor laws, and women’s rights, with a strong emphasis on temperance.
• Alcohol was linked to social issues like domestic abuse and poverty, with the WCTU branding it a "home wrecker" and associating it with urban and immigrant communities.
• Reformers believed abolition of alcohol would lead to societal improvement, lower crime rates, and better living conditions for women and children.

Notable Reformers

• Jane Addams emerged as a leading figure in the reform movement, celebrated for her innovative approach and significant contributions to social welfare.
• Addams's background included personal tragedy, with the loss of her mother at a young age, influencing her future endeavors in community service and activism.