Women's groups and organisations Flashcards
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Founded in 1874 by Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Partly to promote the cause of women’s suffrage but also to combat the evils of excessive drinking. 7,000 branches by 1900.
They were successful at closing saloons and liquor outlets. They were shown what campaigning can do and how to successfully protest.
Womanpower Unlimited
Created in 1963 to provide aid for freedom riders who were unjustly arrested and tortured in Mississippi jails. Expanded to include voter registration drives, youth education, and participation in Women Strike for Peace.
They proved to not only be a significant organisation for Civil Rights but also revitalising black women’s social and political activism.
Association of southern women for the prevention of lynching
Founded in 1930 by Jessie Daniel Ames to end the view that white women needed to be protected from AA men. Rallied support from thousands of women and hundreds of public officials.
More publicity drawn to the taboo subject. Lynchings decreased and in 1940 none were recorded. Showed that women could successfully campaign to bring social change.
American Women’s Suffrage Association (AWSA)
Worked from 1869 to 1890 to gain women the right to vote. One of the founders was Lucy Stone. Focused on state level campaign. Merged with NWSA in 1890 to form the NAWSA.
Played a significant role in the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage - later National Women’s Party
Significant role in advocating women’s rights, focused on securing a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage. Prioritised state by state controls. Organised large parades, lobbying congress and their persistence pressuring political leaders like Wilson into supporting women’s rights.
Culminated in the 19th Amendment in 1920. After this they shifted to wider gender inequality and ERA.
Margaret Sanger and the American Birth Control League (ABCL)
Sanger founded the ABCL in 1921 which later evolved into Planned Parenthood. It aimed to promote legalisation of contraception and establish clinics. It worked to challenge Comstock Laws and raise awareness about family planning to maintain women’s health and wellbeing.
Their first clinic opened in 1923 called the Clinical Research Bureau. They ultimately culminated in the repeal of Comstock Laws in 1965 and contraception being available to women.
Frances Willard and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Frances WIllard was the second president of the WCTU. She organised the Chicago WCTU and devoted herself completely to the temperance crusade. In 1880 she began a crusade to win the right for women to vote so that liquor could be banned.
Women did get the right to vote in 1920 but temperance and prohibition came quicker, learning campaign methods.
Anti-Saloon League (ASL)
Established in 1893 and became the main organisation lobbying for the prohibition. It gained most of its support in southern states and the rural north.
Significant because in 1919 the prohibition amendment was ratified but was overwhelmingly defeated in the early 1930s.
Women’s Organisation for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR)
Founded in 1929 by Pauline Sabin to advocate for the repeal of prohibition. Argued that it caused widespread crime and corruption.
Efforts culminated in the 1933 ratification of the 21st Amendment ending prohibition.
Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA)
Formed in 1918 to oppose the passage of prohibition amendment, arguing that it increased illegal activity. Membership was largely made up of wealthy businessmen and bankers with ties to breweries. Led them to be viewed with suspicion by others in the anti-prohibition movement. Husbands of WONPR.
Women were not always united in their views, they could form potent organisations that opposed each other and be successful at influencing laws.
Women’s Political Council
Founded in Montgomery in 1946, a key force in the Civil Rights movement. It focussed on on voter registration, education programs and lobbying city officials to combat segregation and discrimination. Best known for initiating the Montgomery Bus Boycott by spreading leaflets calling for it.
Ultimately led to Browder vs Gayle. Laid the groundwork for broader civil rights initiatives.
National Consumers League (NCL)
Set up on 1899 by a group of women associated with Hull House. Included pressure to improve wages of female sales clerks, pressure to secure protective legislation for women and children in the workplace and improve working conditions, pressure on state govs to provide aid for mothers and better facilities for children and young people.
Women had fair amounts of leverage coming to home and family, consumers were encouraged to boycott goods that didn’t display the white symbol they gave companies that met their standards.
National Association of Coloured Women (NACW)
Established in Washington DC and led by educated black women. It was focussed on the achievement of the vote for women but also campaigned to stop lynching and discrimination and to improve educational opportunities, especially in south. By 1918 its membership was 300,000.
Helped push for civil rights and women’s rights, helped to show how unfair society was to black women.
