Willard, Frances (1839–1898), temperance leader, reformer.Born in Churchville, New York, and reared on a Wisconsin farm, “Frank” (her preferred name as a child) graduated from North Western Female College in Evanston, Illinois, in 1859, taught school, toured Europe (1868–1870) with a wealthy female friend, and in 1871 became president of the Evanston College for Ladies. When it merged with Northwestern University in 1873 she became dean of women.
Willard resigned in 1874 to become corresponding secretary of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She was elected president of the Illinois WCTU in 1878, and of the national organization in 1879. Under Willard, the WCTU advocated not only prohibition, but also woman suffrage,
public health, penal reform, labor unions, kindergardens, higher standards of sexual morality, and other reforms. However, her 1892 effort to weld the WCTU, the
Populist party, and the
Knights of Labor into a reform party proved unsuccessful. Living mostly in England in 1892–1896, on the estate of Lady Somerset, a temperance leader, she embraced Christian
socialism. She died in
New York City of chronic anemia at the age of fifty‐eight. Her funerals, in New York and
Chicago, were notable public events. In 1905, Illinois placed her statue in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall, making Willard the only woman so honored.
As leader of America's first mass organization of women, Willard mobilized conservative support for reform causes. A powerful speaker, she lectured tirelessly, drawing women into political life by using social conventions about the purity and sanctity of the Victorian home as justifications for action on many fronts.
See also
Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse;
Gilded Age;
Prostitution and Antiprostitution;
Sexual Morality and Sex Reform;
Temperance and Prohibition;
Woman Suffrage Movement.
Bibliography
Mary Earhart , Frances Willard, 1944.
Ruth Bordin , Frances Willard: A Biography, 1986.
Peter C. Holloran
