State Bar of Wisconsin

Wisconsin's Legal History: Part XIV

Theodora Winton Youmans

Theodora Winton Youmans was born in Ashippun in 1863. She graduated from Carroll College and became a writer for the Waukesha Freeman in the early 1880s. She was given a regular women's column in the paper, which she used to educate the public about suffrage and women's rights. In 1889 she married the Freeman's editor, Henry Youmans.

In 1896 Youmans was one of the founding members of the Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs (WFWC). She became one of the WFWC's most prominent leaders and served as its president in 1900. Like Olympia Brown, Youmans and other WFWC leaders wanted to reform mainstream society; but unlike Brown, they considered themselves very much a part of that society. WFWC leaders chose to pursue a broad program of social reform, such as educational reform and improved public health services for children, in addition to women's rights. This agenda fit well with the goals that Robert LaFollette and his supporters were pursuing at the same time, and that in turn helped gain the WFWC public support which had not been available to WWSA. On the other hand, women's clubs also were accused of embodying many of the prejudices of mainstream society, most notably nativist and racial prejudices. A particularly embarrassing case of prejudice arose when black club leaders were excluded over WFWC's protest from a national meeting of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in Milwaukee in 1900.

Throughout the years from 1895 to 1925, Youmans tirelessly used her column in the Freeman and her and her husband's connections to promote WFWC's program. She was one of the leaders of the 1911-12 campaign for a women's suffrage amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution. In 1913 WFWC and WWSA merged under WWSA's name and Youmans was elected the first president of the new WWSA. As a national suffrage amendment moved toward passage by Congress in 1918-19, Youmans and the new WWSA took an active part in educating the public about the amendment and helping ensure its swift ratification by the Wisconsin Legislature. In 1920 Youmans was rewarded for her work by being named the first woman presidential elector from Wisconsin. She continued to be active in politics and civic improvement projects until her death in 1932.

Photo: State Historical Society of Wisconsin

Back to the Article

History Index