Women’s Christian Temperance Union

By: Laura and Leanna

What was this Union all about?

The WCTU was established in 1874,where a group of Cleveland women wanted to pressure the Ohio and federal governments to implement prohibition.

This would outlaw the production, sale and consumption of alcohol.

Earlier groups wanted to convince the people to reduce alcohol consumption but the WCTU wanted to terminate it completely because they believed it was a threat to women and family.

Attracted over 150,000 mostly Protestant, middle-class members by 1900.

Where? The women’s

temperance union started in Cleveland, Ohio and stretched to every state.

The President of WCTU Annie Wittenmyer was

the president of WCTU. She helped establish over 1,000 local branches, taught almost 5,000 children about temperance and enrolled over 100,000 men in reform clubs.

She also wrote a book on the temperance called, "History of the Women’s Temperance Crusade.”

What actions did the women take to prevent the temperance? From the mid 1870’s to

the early 1890’s, the women used extreme tactics to abstain the consumption of alcohol.

For example, women picketed bars and saloons, prayed for the souls of the bar patrons, and blocked the entryways of establishments that sold liquor.

They destroyed property, dumped liquor barrels, and enforced liquor sellers to close business. These actions were known as “Crusades

Pictures of Riots during the Women’s Temperance Union

Women Unite The WCTU was also the first large

national organization to unite Northern and Southern women after the Civil War, and it included black women, although local chapters in both the North and South were usually segregated.

Taking it a Step Further!

After fighting for a banned on alcohol, the WTCU fought for women’s right to vote.

Thanks to the WTCU, they made it possible for women's rights.

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union has allowed women to have a voice. The temperance has enabled women to have an influence in society.

Impact on Women Today

The WCTU Now In the early twenty-first century, the

WCTU was still headquartered in Evanston, Ill., as it had been since Willard headed the organization. The emblem of the WCTU is a white ribbon bow with the motto "For God and Home and Every land." In 1975 it had organizations in more than seventy nations and approximately 250,000 members in the United States.

American Cartoonist

Lou Rogers was “one of the country’s leading cartoonists with her pictures appearing in The Judge, Ladies’ Home Journal, New York Call, and the New York Tribune.”

American Art Lou Rogers’ picture

emphasizes the struggles that arise from being a women. For example, the right to vote and influence society. The WTCU fought to end these same sexist rights.

Work Cited http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1009 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/646863/Womans-Christi

an-Temperance-Union http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401804572.html http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Wittenmyer__

Annie.html http://

www.cayuga-cc.edu/people/web_pages/felter/Time%20Capsule%20at%20the%20Crossroads%20again.htm

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