Frederick Douglass Woman's Club facts for kids
The Frederick Douglass Woman's Club was a special group formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1906. It was one of the first women's clubs in Chicago to work for suffrage, which means the right for women to vote. What made it extra special was that it was one of the few clubs in Chicago where women of different races worked together.
History of the Club
The Frederick Douglass Woman's Club was started in 1906 by Celia Parker Woolley. She was a white writer and religious leader. Most of the women who joined the club were from the middle class. The club was important because it brought together women of different races.
The club met every week. They invited speakers to talk about important topics of the day. A big topic was votes for women. Some of the speakers included Elia W. Peattie and Elmira Springer. A very famous activist, Ida B. Wells, was also a vice president of the club.
The club was part of a bigger place called the Frederick Douglass Center. This center was also started by Celia Parker Woolley and Ida B. Wells. Its main goal was to help Black and white people work together. The club was one way the center helped middle-class Black and white women connect.
Fannie Barrier Williams, another important Black activist, supported the center and the club. She believed that when women of different races worked together, it could help women get the right to vote. She also thought it would improve the lives of Black women and girls in Chicago.
Because of the work of the Frederick Douglass Woman's Club, another local women's group, the Chicago Political League, started letting African-American women join. This showed how important the club's efforts were in bringing people together.
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