CH. 16-2 WOMEN AND PUBLIC LIFEAMERICAN HISTORY

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

Late 1800s—women were finding more opportunities for education and employment

Women wanted more involvement in the community

They sought to use the talents and skills to make life better for others

Women were becoming a greater political force

HIGHER EDUCATION 1833—Oberlin College in Ohio begins

admitting women in addition to men 1870—about 20% of all college students

were women 1900—about 1/3 of all college students

were women Most women in college were members of

the middle or upper classes

Many professional opportunities were still not available for women

The American Medical Association did not start admitting women until 1915

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Late 1800s—women worked as teachers

and nurses, bookkeepers, typists, secretaries, and shop clerks

Newspapers began hiring more women as artists and journalists

According to census figures: --artists: 1870—412 1900---11,207 --journalists: 1870—35 1900—

2,193 Working class women and those

without a high school education found jobs in industry

They tended to be paid less the men were

GAINING POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

Women became the backbone of many reform movements

Women learned how to organize, persuade people, and publicize their causes

CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND WELFARE Progressive reformers worked to end child

labor, improve children’s health, and promote education

Lillian Wald, founder of the Henry Street Settlement in NYC, believed that government had a responsibility to tend to the well-being of children

She wanted an agency at the federal level 1912—Federal Children’s Bureau opens

PROHIBITION Called for a ban on making, selling, and

distributing alcoholic beverages

Reformers believed alcohol was often responsible for crime, poverty, and violence against women and children

Two major national organizations led the organized crusade against alcohol:

1) Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Frances Ward led the WCTU 1879-1898 2) Anti-Saloon League

Reformers also spread the word through Protestant churches

Billy Sunday, former baseball player turned Presbyterian evangelist, preached that saloons were “the parent of crimes and the mother of sins.”

1900—Evangelist Carry Nation carried a bible in one hand and a hatchet in another

She smashed up saloons in Kansas and urged others to do the same

1917—Congress proposes the XVIIIth Amendment

Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

States ratified the amendment in 1919 So unpopular that it was repealed in

1933

CIVIL RIGHTS African American women fought for the

same rights as white women Ending poverty, promoting child welfare,

better wages, safer working conditions, fighting alcohol abuse

Most African American women found they were not welcome in white organizations so they formed their own

1896—National Association of Colored Women (NACW)

Members included the most prominent colored women of the time period

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Margaret Murray Washington (Tuskegee Institute), Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad)

1916—NACW had 100,000+ members Campaigned against poverty, segregation,

and lynching.

RISE OF THE WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT

1848—Seneca Falls, NY Convention promoting women’s rights

72 years of organizing, campaigning, and persuading before getting the right to vote

THE XVth AMENDMENT Women thought they should be given

the right to vote along with African Americans

Abolitionist Horace Greeley urged them to “remember that this is the Negro hour and your first duty is to go through the state and plead his claims.”

Suffragists waited but not patiently

WOMEN ORGANIZE 1869—Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.

Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)

NWSA campaigned for a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote

Other issues included labor organizing 1872—Some NWSA members

supported Victoria Woodhull, the first female presidential candidate

1869—American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)—Henry Ward Beecher was president

AWSA focused exclusively on winning the right to vote on a state-by-state basis

AWSA aligned itself with the Republican Party

1869—Wyoming Territory became first in granting the vote to women

Utah followed a year later 10 other states followed suite

SUSAN B. ANTHONY TESTS THE LAW Anthony worked tirelessly for suffrage

with speeches and pamphlets She testified before every Congress

1869-1906 1872—She and 3 of her sisters staged

a dramatic protest They registered to vote, and on

Election Day they voted in Rochester, NY

Two weeks later, they were arrested for “knowingly, wrongfully and unlawfully” voting for a representative to the Congress of the United States

Before her trial she delivered an address in which she spelled out many reasons that justice required that women be given the right to vote (p. 533)

At her trial the judge did not let her testify on her own behalf, ruled her guilty, and fined her $100

Anthony refused to pay the fine hoping the judge would arrest her to create a case that could be appealed through the courts

The judge refused to imprison Anthony so no appeal

1875—US Supreme Court ruled that even though women were citizens, citizenship did not give them the right to vote. It was up to the states to grant or withhold voting

ANTI-SUFFRAGE ARGUMENTS People opposed to suffrage used

several arguments

1) interfered with duties at home 2) would destroy families 3) women did not have the education

or experience 4) some said most women did not want

to vote Business interests also disapproved Liquor businesses thought women

would vote for prohibition

Others thought women would vote for more government regulation that would drive up business costs

TWO ORGANIZATIONS MERGE 1890—NWSA & AWSA merged Now called the National American Woman

Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Leader was Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1890-

1892

Susan B. Anthony served as President 1892-1900

Anthony died in 1906 Her final public comment: “Failure is

impossible” Most early suffragists did not live to cast a vote Only 1 signer of the Seneca Falls declaration

(1848) was still alive in 1920, Charlotte Woodward, age 92

THE END