The new woman in Alabama: social reforms, and suffrage, 1890-1920

524 Pages·1992·2.26 MB·English

by  Mary Martha Thomas

The New Woman in Alabama : Social
title:
Reforms, and Suffrage, 1890-1920
author: Thomas, Mary Martha.
publisher: University of Alabama Press
isbn10 | asin: 0817305645
print isbn13: 9780817305642
ebook isbn13: 9780585201139
language: English
Women in politics--Alabama--History,
Women--Suffrage--Alabama--History,
subject
Women--Alabama--Societies and clubs--
History.
publication date: 1992
lcc: HQ1236.5.U6T49 1992eb
ddc: 324/.082
Women in politics--Alabama--History,
Women--Suffrage--Alabama--History,
subject:
Women--Alabama--Societies and clubs--
History.
Page i
The New Woman in Alabama
Page ii
Page iii
The New Woman in Alabama
Social Reforms and Suffrage, 1890-1920
Mary Martha Thomas
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Tuscaloosa and London
Page iv
Copyright © 1992 by The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Paula C. Dennis
¥
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information Science-
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-
1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thomas, Mary Martha, 1927-
The new woman in Alabama: social reforms, and suffrage, 1890-
1920
/ Mary Martha Thomas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8173-0564-5
1. Women in politicsAlabama-History. 2. WomenSuffrage
AlabamaHistory. 3. WomenAlabamaSocieties and clubsHistory.
I. Title.
HQ1236.5.U6T49 1992
324´.082-dc20 91-13069
CIP
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available
Page v
Contents
Preface vii
1. Introduction 1
2. Temperance Unions, 1882-1915 10
3. White Women's Clubs, 1890-1915 41
4. Black Women's Clubs, 1890-1920 69
5. Club Women and Child Labor, 1903-1919 92
6. The Suffrage Associations of the 1890s 118
7. Re-creation of the Suffrage Associations, 1910-1914 135
8. Campaign for a State Amendment, 1914-1915 152
9. Final Years of the Suffrage Drive, 1916-1919 174
10. Alabama Women in the 1920s 204
Notes 221
Bibliography 249
Index 263
Page vii
Preface
Originally my interest in Alabama women of the Progressive period
centered on the suffrage drive. Scholars have investigated and written
extensively on the national movement, but little has been written on
the South and even less on the Alabama movement. As a result the
existing knowledge is skewed toward national figures and
northeastern activism. I felt that new information from Alabama and
the South would complement our understanding of the overall
movement.
As my research progressed, I became aware that virtually all suffrage
histories treat the drive as an institutional reform entirely within the
context of political history. My aim became to write a comprehensive
history of the suffrage drive in Alabama that would reflect women's
lives and the larger society in which they lived. I wanted, in short, to
write the history of the suffrage movement within a feminist
framework.
Moreover, as I investigated the activities of Alabama women, I
became increasingly aware that suffrage was only one among many
issues that interested the women of the state. They were also
concerned with the abolition of child labor, the problems of poverty in
an industrial community, the creation of reform schools for juvenile
offenders, the
Page viii
improvement of the public schools, and a host of other reforms
tackled by both black and white women.
Hence, as the work evolved, I found myself investigating the activities
of the Alabama Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Alabama
Federation of Women's Clubs, and the Alabama Federation of Colored
Women's Clubs as well as the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association. In
the end I wrote the story of middle-class women, both black and
white, as they moved from their private world of the home to the
public world of politics and reform. These women did not fit the role
of the mythical Southern Lady who was confined to the private world
of the home and the hearth. They were active, articulate, gutsy women
who defied convention and played an important role in the history of
the state. They are also a group of women for whom I have the
greatest admiration.
In the course of my research and writing, I have become indebted to
librarians, archivists, colleagues, friends, and family. The original
research was funded in part by generous grants from Jacksonville
State University's newly established Faculty Research Program. The
unsung heroes and heroines of most research projects are the
librarians and archivists who assist scholars in their research. I wish
especially to commend the staffs of the Alabama Department of
Archives and History, the Birmingham Public Library, Tuskegee
University, Jacksonville State University, The University of Alabama,
Auburn University, the University of North Carolina, the Library of
Congress, and the Schlesinger Library of Radcliffe College. I am
especially indebted to Anne Johnson of Jacksonville State University,
Wayne Flynt of Auburn University, and Betty Brandon of the
University of South Alabama, who reviewed the manuscript and
offered positive suggestions. No author could have asked for a better
publisher than Malcolm M. MacDonald and the staff at The
University of Alabama Press.