Truth-Telling: Frances Willard and Ida B. Wells

The WCTU and Lynching, 1895

The Annual Convention, 1895

In November of 1895, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union met in Baltimore for its annual convention. A year and a half after Frances Willard's conflict with Ida B. Wells had begun, it was still on her mind. In July, Willard had sent a letter to the presidents of the state WCTUs proposing text for a resolution that she hoped would “silence the absurd outcry against us.” She asked that it be passed in Baltimore and for each state’s conventions to adopt it as well.

The assembly did pass Willard’s resolution at the Baltimore convention. Found below, it reflects her frustration at “the false position in which we have been placed.”









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