Women's Christian Temperance Union

Founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874, the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is the oldest large-scale, continuing nondenominational evangelical [Page 899]women's organization in the United States and worldwide. Initially established to combat the sale and consumption of alcohol and warn the public about the dangers of drinking, the WCTU emerged directly from the Women's Crusade of 1873 to 1874, when women gathered in large numbers across the Midwest to pray, sing hymns, and publicly condemn saloons. Realizing that their quest for prohibition required more extensive coordination of like-minded women, the national organization was founded to mobilize their numbers and political strength. By 1900, the WCTU had attracted nearly 150,000 predominantly white, Protestant middle-class members, all with the same objective: to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages across America. Originally located in Chicago, the WCTU's national headquarters moved to Evanston, Illinois, in 1900.

The WCTU's principal mandate—to educate the public against the consumption of alcohol and to work for legislation to prohibit its sale—has remained static since the organization's inception. However, under the leadership of founding member and second president Frances Willard, that mission became synonymous with wider efforts to promote the rights of women and children and to improve the moral health of both the country and the world. In collaboration with a number of women's associations (some political, some benevolent, some feminist, and most Christian), the WCTU officially supported women's suffrage, and the organization was invaluable to that resolution's passing in 1920. Believing that women are “natural” caregivers and nurturers, it made sense for the WCTU to tackle other areas of social reform in tandem with abolishing alcohol, including attacking poverty and pushing for the establishment of kindergartens, state reform schools for juvenile offenders, prison reform, and the participation of women in political life. Many activities held an explicitly moral agenda, including the abolition of prostitution, raising the sexual age of consent, promoting the observance of the Sabbath, and social purity.

Today, the WCTU remains predominantly focused on promoting total abstinence from alcohol, but its membership also deems tobacco, illegal drugs, gambling, pornography, abortion, and same-sex marriage (all considered harmful to family, community, and society) as pressing issues of concern. The organization also produces a quarterly journal, The Union Signal, to publish and disseminate information in support of their mandate via its own publishing house, Signal Press. Joining the WCTU remains the same today as it was in 1877: members must sign a pledge of abstinence from alcohol and pay regular dues.