In November of 1894, Barrier Williams’ name was introduced for
membership in the Chicago Women’s Club (CWC) by her friend Celia Parker Woolley, who had recently stepped down as president, Ellen Herotin, president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, and Grace Bagley. Although this club, established in 1876, comprised only white women at the time, it “had no formal statement or constitutional rule that limited its membership to white women” (Hendricks 86). Woolley, Herotin, and Bagley introduced a resolution that would ensure that the club did not restrict membership based on race. Unfortunately, the CWC denied the resolution and rejected Barrier Williams’ nomination on November 14. This became national news, boosted by the local press as a way to push back on the CWC’s decision to reject Williams’s nomination. Simultaneously, Southern white women threatened to leave the club if Barrier Williams was accepted. The CWC remained adamant on keeping the club only open to white women for the rest of the year. The same year, Barrier Williams obtained a position as a state and regional reporter for Chicago for The Women’s Era, a monthly newspaper for Black club women. The paper called the situation between Barrier Williams and the CWC blatant racism. The press coverage of Barrier Williams’ treatment by the CWC brought her national attention and more speaker positions. On The Women’s Era, Hendricks writes, “Catering to the ‘women of the refined and educated classes,’ the publication united a broad social network of women by highlighting many common concerns” (97). While the paper was centered around an anti-racist, anti-sexist politic, there was still a class divide which placed elite women above working- and lower-class women.
Transcription “FOUNDER AND PRESIDENTS, CHICAGO WOMAN’S
CLUB–FIRST GROUP Mrs. H.H. Frank, Mrs. Helen M Shedd, Miss Leila G. Bedell, M.D., Mrs. Julia Holmer Smith, M.D., Mrs. Caroline M. Brown, Founder, Mrs. Celie Parker Woolley, Mrs. C.W. Heywood