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Today, August 18, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” In this episode, I reflect on this important milestone in American public life and on 3 lessons from the life of Frances Willard, a pivotal figure in the women’s temperance and suffrage movements and an example Christian citizen.
If you prefer to read about her life, here is a brief biographical sketch:
Consider Frances Willard, an early advocate for temperance, educational reforms for women and women’s suffrage. Willard was born in upstate New York to a Methodist family, and her family eventually settled near Chicago, Illinois. In 1858, she enrolled at North Western Female College and trained to be a teacher. After graduating in 1859, she taught in one-room schoolhouses in Illinois and then in larger schools in Pennsylvania and New York. In 1871, she returned to Illinois and took a role as president of Evanston College for Ladies and then as the first Dean of Women at Northwestern University.
During this period, she became involved in Dwight L. Moody’s evangelistic campaigns and in the growing women’s temperance movement. This movement to end the sale and consumption of alcohol was sparked primarily by women who protested the pervasive abuse of hard alcohol and resulting domestic violence against women and children. The Temperance Movement and the eventual 18th Amendment (Prohibition) to the U.S. Constitution sounds like an unnecessary and problematic bit of moralism to many modern Christians; but, the consumption of hard alcohol during this period was destructive to many families, and Prohibition did create a hard reset on America’s relationship with alcohol.[i] Further, the temperance movement was the first major political movement among American women and ran parallel to the women’s suffrage movement.
Willard worked to broaden the temperance movement into a more comprehensive social reform movement that advocated for causes such as women’s suffrage and against numerous social ills or inequalities. Her efforts proved successful, and she was elected as president of the national Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1879. During this time, she became known for her oratorical skills, oversaw the construction of a modern office building in downtown Chicago (to be used as the WCTU’s offices) and developed a national and even international reputation. By 1890, the WCTU had become the largest women’s political reform movement of the 19th century, claiming more than 100,000 members.[ii]
Willard instituted a “do everything” policy at the WCTU and developed departments to advocate for causes such as women’s suffrage, workforce safety, an eight-hour work day, fair treatment of women in the workforce, kindergartens for the poor, prison reforms, and an end to public lynchings. This comprehensive approach expanded the reach of WCTU and created significant change, but this policy also stretched the organization’s resources and reputation thin. In later years, the strong-willed Willard controversially advocated for a form of Christian socialism and failed to fully embrace racial equality, but she remained the president of the WCTU and a strong advocate for women’s rights until her death in 1898 at the age of 58.[iii]
Willard’s life stands for a simple but profound principle: women should be full and equal partners in American public life. And, the social reform movement that she strengthened and multiplied eventually won the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, which states simply, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Her home state of Illinois honored Willard by contributing a statue of her to Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol Building (each state selects just two), and her statue was the first statue of a woman to be selected for the collection.[iv]
[i] Jack S. Blocker, Jr., “Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation.” American Journal of Public Health, February 2006, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470475/.
[ii] “Biography,” Frances Willard House Museum and Archives, https://franceswillardhouse.org/frances-willard/biography/
[iii] Let Something Good Be Said: Speeches and Writings of Frances E. Willard, edited by Carolyn DeSwarte Gifford and Amy R. Slagell (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007).
[iv] Frances Willard, Architect of the Capitol, https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/frances-e-willard.