In October of , the third annual state convention took place in McKenzie, Tennessee. Here Lide Meriwether, an avid supporter of both temperance and suffrage, was elected president of the organization. During her time of leadership she traveled constantly throughout the state and other locations in America, where she would speak to the public, drumming up support for the movement. After stepping down as W. Her leadership and the hard work of others in the organization was evidenced by the Sixth Annual State Convention in which reported the attendance of unions, 10 youth branches, 21 juvenile societies, and 14 African American chapters.
Support was spreading throughout the state and by September 29, , there was a vote in Tennessee to create a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited the traffic of liquor. Though there was strong support, the measure failed to pass. This caused a blow to W. Lobbying by liquor forces was cited as the cause of the loss. The setback, however, did not dissuade the women of the union from their goal, and they continued on working on reform. African American women of the time were already participating in the national movement of the W.
They saw it as a way to be involved on a political stage that excluded them for both their sex and race. These women supported prohibition and moral reform as a way to uplift their communities and take on leadership roles in social reform. While they did participate in the union, that did not make it a group that was supportive of racial equality, especially in the southern chapters. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist and anti-lynching activist, and Francis Willard, president of the National W.
Facing such divisions, the government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier did not act. Although the federal government controlled the making and trading of alcohol, provinces could regulate the sale of liquor.
These regulations were a high point for the WCTU. The WCTU provided a platform for women to be publically active participants in their communities, and the organization insisted that its members had a right to participate in public life. Women had asked to be able to vote in the national plebiscite on prohibition and had been refused. Members of the WCTU became increasingly frustrated by having to rely on men to create the kind of society they wanted to live in.
See also Mock Parliament, There was a range of activities across the country, but many focused on providing assistance to unwed mothers, sex education, anti- smoking , social purity and prison reform. It should be noted, however, that these philanthropic works were generally confined to women who shared the same religion and ethnicity as the WCTU members, who were both Christian and White.
When prohibition ended in the s, the WCTU found that it had grown out of touch with society. In the s, many members, notably in Saskatchewan , became polarized over the single-minded attachment to prohibition, which led moderates to leave and those remaining to become increasingly conservative and moralistic. The WCTU continued to perform its community work and remained active in the temperance movement , although they had few successes.
By the s, despite its focus on drug use, the organization seemed oriented towards an older kind of moral reform that did not resonate with the wider society.
Additionally, the professionalization of social work meant that the role of untrained middle-class women in community work was diminished. Unafraid to take controversial positions on several Jane Addams was a peace activist and a leader of the settlement house movement in America.
As one of the most distinguished of the first generation of college-educated women, she rejected marriage and motherhood in favor of a lifetime commitment to the poor and With her book The Feminine Mystique , Betty Friedan broke new ground by exploring the idea of women finding personal fulfillment outside of their traditional roles. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you.
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Ness, I. Encyclopedia of American Social Movements.
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