Lucy Thurman (October 22, 1849 – March 29, 1918) was a national temperance lecturer from Jackson,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Biography

Lucinda "Lucy" Smith was born on October 22, 1849, in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada to Nehemiah Henry Smith and Katherine Campbell. In 1866, she left home at 17 when she met

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he becam ...

and Dr. William Wells Brown in

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. With their help, she began teaching at a school in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

. She moved to Jackson, Michigan in 1869 and married Henry William Simpson. She remarried after Simpson's death to Frank Thurman in 1883. In 1873, she began advocating for the development temperance work for black people at the Women's Temperance Crusade in

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, Ohio. When the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international Temperance movement, temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social ref ...

(WCTU) was formed a year later, she became its only black founding member. In 1883, she successfully convinced the WCTU to establish a National Department of Colored Work. In 1893, Thurman became the national superintendent of "Colored Work" at the WCTU. In 1898, she cofounded the Michigan Association of Colored Women's Clubs with friend Mary Eleanora McCoy and served as its first president. The new organization was under the umbrella of the

National Association of Colored Women's Clubs The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of t ...

(NACWC) and was dedicated to welfare, rights, and education of black women and families. In 1906, she was elected as the third national president of the NACW. Under her leadership, she helped to establish a Temperance Department, passed resolutions and actively worked in support of anti-lynching campaigns, juvenile courts, and the National Association for the Protection of Colored Women and Girls.

Death and legacy

Thurman died in Jackson, Michigan on March 29, 1918. The Lucy Thurman

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Building in

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is named for her and opened in 1933. The building received a state historical designation in 1993. In 1992, she was inducted into the

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (MWHOF) honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. The hall of fame was founded in 1983 by Gladys Beckwith and is sponsored by the Mic ...

In popular culture

A portrait of Thurman, painted by Detroit artist Telitha Cumi Bowens, was included in the 1988/89 exhibit ''Ain't I A Woman'' at the Museum of African American History, Detroit. The exhibit featured a dozen prominent Black women from the state of Michigan, including the Honorable Cora M. Brown, Ethelene Jones Crockett, M.D., and musician Madame Emma Azalia Hackley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurman, Lucy 1849 births 1918 deaths People from Oshawa People from Jackson, Michigan American temperance activists Presidents of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs Woman's Christian Temperance Union people