Colored Women's League
The Colored Women's League (CWL), also known as the National League of Colored Women, was established in June 1892 in Washington, DC, by a group of African American women dedicated to improving conditions for their community. Key figures among its founders included Helen A. Cook, who served as president, and Charlotte Forten Grimké, a prominent educator. The formation of the league was a response to the exclusion of black women from participating in national events, particularly during the planning of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. The CWL sought to unify women’s clubs across the country and successfully incorporated in 1894.
By 1896, the CWL merged with another organization to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), marking a significant step in the organized efforts of African American women to advocate for social justice, self-advancement, and community welfare. Mary Church Terrell became the first president of the NACW, further solidifying the role of African American women in the broader women's rights movement. The legacy of the Colored Women's League is tied to its contributions to both racial and gender equality during a pivotal time in American history.
Colored Women's League
The Colored Women’s League (CWL), also known as National League of Colored Women and Washington Colored Woman’s League, emerged in Washington, DC, when black women active in education, benevolent, and literary societies joined together in June 1892 in an effort to improve conditions for African Americans. Helen A. Cook, wife of the Honorable John T. Cook, served as president, and the recording secretary was Charlotte Forten Grimké, a teacher from Port Royal, South Carolina. Other founders included Coralie Franklin Cook, wife of a Howard University administrator; teachers Anna J. Cooper, Mary Jane Patterson, Mary Church Terrell, and Anna E. Murray from M Street School; and Josephine B. Bruce, the first black teacher in the Cleveland schools, who later married Senator Blanche K. Bruce.
As Chicago prepared to host the World Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Board of Lady Managers rejected the petitions of these Washington women to participate in the planning process because they did not represent a national organization. In response, the Washington Colored Woman’s League issued an invitation to black women throughout the country to affiliate as a national league. Women’s clubs responded from the state of South Carolina and from the cities of Philadelphia, Kansas City, Denver, and Norfolk, Virginia. In January 1894 they incorporated, becoming the Colored Women’s League. In October, the CWL received an invitation for membership in the National Council of Women (NCW). Its members accepted and sought to expand representation for the NCW convention in the spring of 1895. Instead, the competition between women’s clubs in New York and in Boston resulted in the creation of a second national organization, the National Federation of Afro-American Women. The two national organizations merged in July 1896 to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) to promote for self-protection, self-advancement, and social interaction. In 1896 Terrell became the first president of the NACW.
Bibliography
Butler, Cheryl Nelson. "Blackness as Delinquency." Washington University Law Review 90.5 (2013): 1335–97. Print.
Carle, Susan D. Defining the Struggle: National Organizing for Racial Justice, 1880–1915. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.
Knupfer, Anne Meis, and Christine A. Woyshner, eds. The Educational Work of Women's Organizations, 1890–1960. New York: Palgrave, 2008. Print.
Ness, Immanuel, ed. Encyclopedia of American Social Movements. 4 vols. Armonk: Sharpe, 2004. Print.
"Who We Are." National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. NACWC, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.