Disunity in Diversity: The Controversy Over the Admission of Black Women to the General Federation of Women's Clubs, 1900–1902

Abstract

From 1900 to 1902, the General Federation of Women's Clubs' official commitment to "unity in diversity" was tested to the limits when an explosive debate over the admission of African American women's clubs deeply, and in some cases irreparably, divided individual clubs and state federations and nearly resulted in the loss of half of the organization's burgeoning membership. The controversy reveals a captivating, complicated, and at times bizarre struggle between Northern and Southern white members of the General Federation to defend their particular views of race and, in many cases, to obfuscate their own deep-seated racial prejudices. Most members ultimately sacrificed principle for the sake of federation unity, albeit a unity without racial diversity, and thus squandered the opportunity to combine the talents and energies of all organized women in an effort toward social justice and humanitarian reform.