Why is WCTU significant?
The WCTU was a religious organization whose primary purpose was to combat the influence of alcohol on families and society. It was influential in the temperance movement, and supported the 18th Amendment.
What does the WCTU stand for?
WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
The NATIONAL WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874. The initial purpose of the WCTU was to promote abstinence from alcohol, which they protested with pray-ins at local taverns.
What was the WCTU and why was it so important to improving women’s rights?
The WCTU succeeded in empowering women, raising sexual violence issues, training women in public speaking and writing, and providing the organization and experience which eventually led to a greater political voice, including suffrage, for women.
What did the WCTU advocate for?
The WCTU began working to reform labor laws, child welfare laws, and age of consent laws. It advocated for prison reform, temperance education in schools, and woman suffrage, while continuing to seek individual commitments to personal abstinence, and legislative mandates for local, state, and national prohibition.
What did the WCTU accomplish?
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio. After Frances Willard took over leadership in 1879, the WCTU became one of the largest and most influential women’s groups of the 19th century by expanding its platform to campaign for labor laws, prison reform and suffrage.
Who formed the WCTU?
Frances WillardAnnie Turner Wittenmyer
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union/Founders
What happened to the WCTU?
Though its membership steadily declined following the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) in 1919, the WCTU still operates. Opposed to the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs, it runs a publishing house and is active in schools.
Who started the WCTU?
Frances Willard
Five years later, in 1879, she became its president. Willard also started her own organization, called the World’s Women Christian Temperance Union, in 1883.
How did the WCTU bring about the prohibition of alcohol?
After 1907 the state WCTU worked to promote measures that created more stringent liquor laws and to promote ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Although Oklahomans repealed prohibition in 1959, by 2000 the WCTU still functioned with unions operating in Oklahoma and throughout the world.
Is the WCTU still active?
How big is WCTU?
From the time it was founded in 1885, it worked to promote temperance, Christian values, and social reform, and to abolish the trade in alcohol and drugs. The membership of the WCTU peaked in the late 1920s at around 7700. In 1993 it had about 600 members.
When was WCTU formed?
1874, Cleveland, OHWoman’s Christian Temperance Union / Founded