Woman's Christian Temperance Union

"WCTU" redirects here. For the rail line in White City, Oregon, see WCTU Railway.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
FoundedNovember 18–20, 1874
TypeNon-governmental organization, Non-profit organization
FocusTemperance movement
Area served
Worldwide
Websitewctu.org

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity."[1] It plays an influential role in the temperance movement. Originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement, the organization supported the 18th Amendment and was also influential in social reform issues that came to prominence in the progressive era.

The WCTU was originally organized on December 23, 1873, in Hillsboro, Ohio, and starting on December 26 Matilda Gilruth Carpenter led a successful campaign to close saloons in Washington Court House, Ohio.[2] WCTU was officially declared at a national convention in Cleveland, Ohio, November 18–20, 1874.[3][4]

It operated at an international level and in the context of religion and reform, including missionary work and women's suffrage. Two years after its founding, the American WCTU sponsored an international conference at which the International Women's Christian Temperance Union was formed.[5] The World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union was founded in 1883 and became the international arm of the organization, which has now affiliates in Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Finland, India, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States, among others.

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union conducts a White Ribbon Recruit (WRR) ceremony, in which babies are dedicated to the cause of temperance through a white ribbon being tied to their wrists, with their adult sponsors pledging to help the child live a life free from alcohol and other drugs.[6]

  1. ^ Tyrrell, Ian (1991). Woman's World/Woman's Empire: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union in International Perspective 1880-1930. Chapel Hill and London: The University of Carolina Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-8078-1950-0.
  2. ^ Stecker, Michelle J. (2003). "Women's Temperance Crusade". Alcohol and temperance in modern history : an international encyclopedia. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO. pp. 684–685. ISBN 978-1-57607-833-4.
  3. ^ "WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION CONVENTION | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University". case.edu. Case Western Reserve University. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  4. ^ Gordon, Elizabeth Putnam (1924). Woman Torch Bearers. Woman Christian Temperance Union. p. 15.
  5. ^ Tyrrell, Ian (1991). Woman's World/Woman's Empire: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union in International Perspective 1880-1930. University of North Carolina Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8078-1950-0.
  6. ^ Rollins, Christin Eleanor (2005). Have You Heard The Tramping of the New Crusade?: Organizational Survival and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. University of Georgia. p. 52.