Frances Willard and the "Race Problem"
Race and Temperance
In 1890, Frances Willard traveled to Atlanta for the WCTU's annual convention. The city had been chosen as part of the organization's strategy to recruit more Southern women and make the WCTU nationally powerful. In Atlanta, Willard gave the interview featured on this page, in which she commented on the South's "race problem." Though she did not know it at the time, this interview would come back to haunt Willard. Wells read it when it was published and did not forget it. The tone she chose and the opinions she expressed were at the heart of Ida B. Wells's criticism of her in the following years.The interview is long, but we invite you to take the time to read it in full. Willard's statements in 1890, Wells's criticism of them, and Willard's defense of what she said here are at the heart of the conflict between the two women.
