Celia Parker Woolley (June 14, 1848 – March 9, 1918) was an American novelist, Unitarian minister and social reformer. She also served as a president of the

Chicago Woman's Club The Chicago Woman's Club was formed in 1876 by women in Chicago who were interested in "self and social improvement." The club was notable for creating educational opportunities in the Chicago region and helped create the first juvenile court in th ...

and the founder of the

Frederick Douglass Woman's Club The Frederick Douglass Woman's Club was formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1906. It was one of the first women's clubs in Chicago to promote suffrage. It was notable because it was one of the few interracial women's clubs in Chicago. History The cl ...

Biography

She was born Celia Parker on June 14, 1848, in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. She moved to

Coldwater, Michigan Coldwater is a city in Branch County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,945. It is the county seat of Branch County, located in the center of the southern border of Michigan. The city is surrounded by Co ...

when she was young. She later graduated from Coldwater Female Seminary and, in 1868, she was married to dentist J. H. Woolley, and in 1876 moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The couple had one child who died in adolescence. Woolley began studies for the ministry, and became pastor of the Unitarian Church of

Geneva, Illinois Geneva is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the western side of the Chicago suburbs. Per the 2020 census, the population was 21,393. Geneva is part of a tri-city area, located between S ...

, 1893–1896, being ordained in 1894. She was then pastor of the Independent Liberal Church, Chicago, 1896–98. In 1904 she moved with her husband to

Chicago's South Side The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...

to do social work, because she was concerned with issues of racism and human rights. In 1904 she established the Frederick Douglass Center in order to promote opportunities for blacks as well as work on promoting better interracial relationships and cooperation. In 1906, she founded the Frederick Douglass Woman's Club, one of the few interracial

women's clubs The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

in Chicago.

Louis G. Gregory Louis George Gregory (born June 6, 1874, in Charleston, South Carolina; died July 30, 1951, in Eliot, Maine) was a prominent American member of the Baháʼí Faith who was devoted to its expansion in the United States and elsewhere. He traveled ...

spoke there in April and August of 1911, and was one of the keynote speakers of the 1912 NAACP conference in Chicago, and hosted 'Abdu'l-Bahá, then leader of the Bahá'í Faith, at the Center in September during his journeys in the West. She was active as a lecturer and in the work of women's clubs. Some of this work emphasized literature and related biography. George Eliot and

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

were two interests. She died in Chicago's South Side on March 9, 1918.

Selected works

* ''Love and Theology'', novel (1887; republished as ''Rachel Armstrong, or, Love and Theology'') * ''A Girl Graduate'', novel (1889) * ''Roger Hunt'', novel (1893) * ''The Western Slope'', autobiographical and historical (1903)

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolley, Celia Parker 1848 births 1918 deaths 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American Unitarian clergy American women novelists American suffragists American community activists Clubwomen