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Women and the Temperance Movement
A letter from temperance leader Frances Willard to civil rights activist Albion Tourgée, responding to allegations of racism, 1894.

A letter from temperance leader Frances Willard to civil rights activist Albion Tourgée, responding to allegations of racism, 1894.

Willard responds to criticism about her annual address as president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in this letter to civil rights activist Albion Tourgée on December 21, 1894. Willard identifies herself as a supporter of racial justice and the work of anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. In 1892 Wells asked Tourgée, an attorney, to represent her in a libel case. Having retired from law, Tourgée recommended his friend and colleague Ferdinand Barnett. Although they later decided not to pursue the case, Barnett and Wells married in 1895, which suggests that Wells and Tourgée may have been close.

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Citation Information
Willard, Frances E., “Letter, Frances Willard to Albion Winegar Tourgée, 1894-12-21,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/becefde175a4b3ee85927b46f7bda225.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Chautauqua County Historical Society via Western New York Library Resources Council and Empire State Network.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 11 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Women and the Temperance Movement

Previous ItemNext Item
An excerpt from an 1827 temperance sermon by Lyman Beecher.
A 1910 illustration depicting the destruction of intemperance from a book by Matilda Erickson used in churches, schools, and youth groups.
An excerpt from an 1891 biography of Dr. Dio Lewis, who inspired the formation of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
An excerpt from an 1852 story by Lucius M. Sargent, who used popular fiction to promote temperance.
An illustration of the heroine of the temperance novel Sweet Cicely (1885), who begs a bartender to stop serving her husband.
An 1877 illustration of a Sunday afternoon temperance meeting at Holy Trinity Church.
An 1832 article from the Temperance Recorder connecting drunkenness to cholera infection.
An 1856 cartoon depicting German Americans as drunkards and suggesting that a bar is the German idea of school.
An 1885 pamphlet published for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that takes a “by the numbers” look at liquor consumption and costs.
An 1893 address to the World’s Woman’s Temperance Union by Frances Willard, president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
A letter from temperance leader Frances Willard to civil rights activist Albion Tourgée, responding to allegations of racism, 1894.
A 1901 photograph of Carrie (Carry) Nation with a hatchet and a Bible.
A 1901 photograph of damage to a Kansas saloon following a visit from Carrie Nation.
A 1906 article from the Los Angeles Voice supporting temperance.
A 1921 advertisement for the Keeley Institute, a for-profit treatment center for alcohol addiction.

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To give feedback, contact us at info@dp.la. You can also view resources for National History Day.

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