Truth-Telling: Frances Willard and Ida B. Wells

Bibliography and Further Reading

Primary Sources

Below are citations for the primary source documents that are featured on each page of the Timeline. The majority of the materials are held by the Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives in Evanston, Illinois. The collection is open for research; please contact the archives for research requests by filling out this form.

Frances Willard and the "Race Problem"
Frances Harper and Black Women in the WCTU
Ida B. Wells, Temperance, and "Race Progress"

Ida B. Wells and "Lynch-Law"

The WCTU and Lynching, 1893

Ida B. Wells Abroad

Willard and Somerset Respond

Other Responses

Lynching, the "Color Line," and the WCTU Convention, 1894

Pressure Mounts
The WCTU and Lynching, 1895
Postscript: Ida B. Wells
Postscript: Frances Harper and Black Women in the WCTU
Postscript: Frances Willard 

Secondary Sources

In addition to the unpublished primary sources, and the many published autobiographical and biographical sources on both Willard and Wells, here are some of the additional resources we have found most illuminating for this work:

Blight, David. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001).
Dudden, Faye. Fighting Chance: The Struggle over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction America (2011).
Feimster, Crystal. Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching (2009)
Giddings, Paula. Ida: A Sword Among Lions (2008).
Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America (1984).
Green, Elna. Southern Strategies: Southern Women and the Woman Suffrage Question (1997).
Materson, Lisa. For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877-1932 (2009).
Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn. African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920 (1998).
Ware, Vron. Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism, and History (1992).

Curriculum Guide

We have prepared a curriculum guide to help middle and high school teachers use this resource in their classrooms. The guide draws on the Illinois Learning Standards in History. You can view and download it here.

Copyright Statement

Frances Willard House Museum is dedicated to the fair and ethical preservation, digitization, curation, and use of its collections. This exhibit is made available to the public under Fair Use (Section 107 of the Copyright Act) for learning and teaching purposes, as well as to promote the mission and activities of Frances Willard House Museum (ARL Code of Best Practices in Fair Use). Frances Willard House Museum does not claim the copyright of any materials in this collection. If you are the copyright holder of any item(s) in this collection or have questions, comments or concerns about this exhibit, please contact us via email at director@franceswillardhouse.org.  

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