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Texas : Features : Columns : All Things Historical :

WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN
TEMPERANCE UNION

by Archie P. McDonald

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was misnamed: “temperance” means “moderation...avoiding extremes.” What the WCTU really wanted was total abstinence from all alcohol beverages. They wanted everyone connected with brewing, distilling, fermenting, and selling alcohol out of business and right now.

Abstinence societies have existed in America just about as long as Americans have consumed alcohol, and prohibition provided Texans with their most pervasive and divisive political issue between 1875 and 1915. The advocacy of the WCTU did not arrive in Texas until 1881 when its national president, Frances Willard, delivered a series of lectures to women’s organizations.

The first chapter of the WCTU, and then a state organization, were established in Paris in 1882. Soon WCTU chapters for black members sprang up as well—evidently racial separation remaining more important to the white women than prohibition.

WCTU activities appealed to women in the lower socio-economic levels because the consequences of drinking likely affected them more. Wealthy folk drank, too, of course, but had more money left over to support their families.

The organization worked to educate the population about the negative consequences of alcohol consumption and served as a support group for victims, and their membership rose to approximately 10,000 women in Texas, plus juvenile auxiliary organizations, this time separated by gender as well as race.

Then WCTU leaders began advocating women’s suffrage, ostensibly so they could vote to “dry” up Texas. Suffrage, of course, would not be limited to prohibition issues, so the WCTU really was advocating women’s rights. This caused membership to decline seriously.

By 1930, the WCTU claimed only 3,349 active members in Texas, and by the 1960s their activities were limited to distribution of literature in local schools, though “wet-dry” elections could still generate political activism in specific areas. The organization ceased to exist before its centennial year, but its legacy lives on in the more militant and politically successful Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

© Archie P. McDonald
All Things Historical >
November 6, 2006 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
This column is provided as a public service by the East Texas Historical Association. Archie P. McDonald is director of the Association and author of more than 20 books on Texas

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WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION

Best of East Texas Publishers - Order Here

WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN
TEMPERANCE UNION