In her newest book, Natural Allies: Women's Associations in American History (University of Illinois Press, 1992), Duke University professor Anne Firor Scott carefully investigates and discusses one of our society's most overlooked and underrated assets, the female voluntary group.
Most of the groups Scott mentions (including benevolent societies established in coastal towns in the 1790s, mid-1800s temperance unions, and community improvement groups of the early 20th century) had some common features: Often the wives and daughters of the communities' most powerful middle- and upper-middle-class men banded together out of a sense of "Christian duty" (though a few non-religiously oriented groups existed) to change their society as they saw fit.
By the mid-1800s the emphasis on benevolence toward individuals had shifted to a more community-focused vision. Many women volunteers, having begun to educate themselves through their organizations, started to work for an end to slavery and for women's suffrage. (The debate over which issue was of greater importance was sometimes heated and ugly.) Later women added concern for labor laws and policies regarding housing and education to their agenda.
The groups did have some problems. They tended to be classist, and integration with groups of activist black women was largely unsuccessful. Also, most of the religious-oriented groups were Protestant; Jewish and Catholic women had their own small organizations, with interaction infrequent.
It is a testimony to the hard work of these early volunteer groups' members that their achievements, which are so vitally important to the development of the United States, are almost taken for granted. But these groups changed more than political circumstances. The groups provided the opportunity for members to gain self-confidence and an understanding of their abilities. Early volunteer organizations taught women how to deal with finances, speak in public, and work together effectively for a common goal.
Scott spent years researching this important, ignored topic. The names of activists and organizations fill the book; keeping track of who spoke when to whom on what subject can be difficult. Still, students of U.S. history (and obviously women's history in particular), both formal and informal, should find this work unique and informative.
Judy Coode was a former Sojourners intern who worked with Women Strike for Peace, a national women's peace organization founded in 1961, when this review appeared .
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