User:Ashleyhirte/sandbox

Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Final Article 12/5

Spread and influence

By 1896 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union started lobbying against issues that didn't pertain to temperance. These efforts consisted of education reforms, anti- prostitution, public health, sanitation, international peace and suffrage. Out of the 39 departments developed by the WCTU 25 of them were dealing with issues that didn't relate to temperance at this time. During this time the organizations president Frances Willard, pushed women to step out of their comfort zones and become more involved in politics which lead to the "Home Protection" ballot that stated because women are the superior sex needed to vote because they were "citizen mothers".

Other Perspectives

Many of these early WCTU leaders were also part of an organization know as the WKKK or the "Woman's Klu, Klucks, Klan", which was a white supremacy group for women created in the mid-1860s. The WTCU during this time did not allow members to be catholic, jewish, and or African-American which stood as a guideline of the union for many years. These members also believed and stood for eugenics and selective breeding. Because of these limitation within the organization, the WWCTU (World Woman's Christian Temperance Union) was created in 1883 and throughout the 1900's gained the following of hundreds of thousands of women from 52 other countries around the world. Through the creation of the WWCTU, women from other religions and origins were allowed to be apart of the organization and share their same views of temperance.

Contributions: For my wiki article I fortunately didn't have a group but with that it gave me a lot of freedom to research anything and everything I wanted to about the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Some contributions I had to the article was adding a new heading called "Other Perspectives". This new heading discusses that some of the unions founding women didn't always stand for peace, unity, and equality which I found very interesting. Another contribution I made to the "Spread and Influence" paragraph that already was featured in the wiki article, was some more information about other reforms the union supported which including the support to allow women to vote with men. Overall I really enjoyed this project because it allowed me to learn what the WCTU stood for and it lead me to discovering some new information about the union.

First Draft 10/21

History and purpose

At its founding in 1874, the stated purpose of the WCTU was to create a "sober and pure world" by abstinence, purity, and evangelical Christianity. Shortly after the formation of the union, members were able to remove alcohol in 250 communities and for the first time were able to create a movement as women on their own. Annie Wittenmyer was its first president. The constitution of the WCTU called for "the entire prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage."

Frances Willard, a noted feminist, was elected the WCTU's second president in 1879 and Willard grew the organization to be the largest organization of women in the world by 1890. She remained president until her death in 1898. Willard allowed the WCTU to grow and become a movement that stood for woman's rights as a whole and meant "that all reform was inter-connected and that social problems could not be separated"(WCTU, n/a, pg 1).

Add new header in article relating to other "perspectives, information, background"

Many early leaders were also apart of an organization know has the WKKK or the "Woman's Klu, Klucks, Klan". The WTCU also did not allow member to be catholic, jewish, and or African-American for many years. These members also believed and stood for eugenics and selective breeding. Because of these limitation within the organization the WWCTU (World Woman's Christian Temperance Union) was created in 1883 and throughout the 1900's gained the following of hundreds of thousands of women from 52 other countries around the world. Through the creation of the WWCTU, women from other religions and origins were allowed to be apart of the organization and share their same views of temperance.