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Originally Posted by bejazd
I hope a nice Alpha Phi will chime in here on the contributions of Frances Willard and how she influenced Alpha Phi.
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I hope this is what you are looking for: (taken from alphaphi.org)
Frances Willard's acceptance of membership in the Fraternity was not only a triumph for Alpha Phi, but a stroke of good fortune. She had graduated from Genesee College, a forerunner of Syracuse University, in 1860, and as Kate Hogoboom Gilbert recalls,
"In the autumn of 1875, a Woman's Congress was held in this city (Syracuse) in the old Wieting Opera House, and a famous gathering it was. I well remember the awe with which we few despised coeds of that long-ago time looked upon those wonderful women who dared to come before the public in the capacity of a congress, for consultation upon and discussion of the great topics relating to the advancement and uplifting of their sex.
"There was Julia Ward Howe, a constantly flitting, fluttering vision of silvery hair, dainty lace cap, and yards of purple ribbon; Ednah Dean Cheney, a most ideal presiding officer, with her ample, gracious presence, venerable white hair, and dignified demeanor; there were also many other remarkable women who had already made names for themselves in that day when 'making a name' for any woman meant fighting for it. Mary A. Livermore was there and made a grand speech; also 'Jennie June' Croly, Susan B. Anthony, and the ever-gracious and motherly Elizabeth Cady Stanton. (Parenthetically, we pause here to say that Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton were members of that original Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848; were signers of the Women's Declaration of Independence, and presented a bill of grievances, as the colonists had against King George III, charging that men had monopolized the lucrative professions and employments, had closed the colleges to women, had taxed her to support a government in which she had no voice, had deprived her of property earned by her own labor, had assigned her a lowly place in the church . . . in short, had made of her a serf.)
"But the one whom we girls were looking and listening for did not take her place upon the stage to be gazed at and commented upon, although in her office of secretary of the congress she might very properly have done so. The reason for our eagerness to behold this elusive personage was that our good genius, Professor Coddington, had recalled to our minds that a prominent member of that congress was an alumna of our University, and would it not be a fine thing for both this wonderful woman and ourselves, if she could be made a member of our society? No wonder we were all agog with excitement over her appearance and were surprised that she did not seize her opportunity like the others, and appear before us with colors flying, filling the very atmosphere with a sense of something stupendous and of supreme moment.
"Instead, when the time came in the fulfillment of the program for Frances Willard to appear, from behind the scene stepped quickly and quietly a modest little person, with no fluttering ribbons, attired in a simple but neat traveling-gown, and with a manner absolutely devoid of arrogance, and at the same time restful and inspiring, on account of a sense of self-reliance and simple dignity which it imparted. From the beginning of her speech until its close, we hugged ourselves in infinite content that we had secured such a treasure for our sisterhood. For she had very readily consented to become one of us when approached on the subject by sisters Grace Hubbell, Martha Foote, and Alice Lee, the necessary introductions, explanations, and recommendations having been made by our ever-ready and loyal friend, Dr. Coddington. Just to think of having that wonderful woman with her brain power, her magnetic presence and winning personality, interested in and for Alpha Phi!"
In 1839, this diminutive auburn-haired woman urged and prophesied a living wage; an eight-hour day; courts of conciliation and arbitration; and justice as opposed to greed of gain. We are told that her blue eyes gleamed behind her beribboned nose glasses as she spoke on behalf of women's suffrage and social purity.
The spirit of the organization of women vaulted from America across the oceans to create the first international alliance of women in the thousands of years of history. The shape that this world-wide movement took was temperance, But, "Frances Willard's intellect was too strong and too sagacious not to perceive that temperance was not, after all, the main question. The main question was that of the home. This involved the lifting of women to the plane of political equality with men. It involved also the lifting of the masculine standard of morality."
One of her closest friends, Lady Henry Somerset, called the temperance cause only the "open door through which Frances Willard entered into the service of the world." In her defense of women - her main task - she belongs to no special cause. From her point of view, the blending of the temperance movement with that of women's suffrage and social reform was logical and inevitable. Quoting her own words, she worked for "a world republic of women without distinction of race or color; with no sectarianism in religion and no sex in citizenship. Whatever touches humanity touches us."
She was a brilliant student and distinguished teacher in the Northwestern Female College, which was succeeded by the Evanston College for Ladies, of which she was made president. The first woman president ever to give degrees to women! When this college merged with Northwestern University, she was the first dean of women. Syracuse University conferred upon her the degree of Master of Arts, and Ohio Wesleyan made her a Doctor of Laws.
The Congress of the United States broke all precedent and suspended its regular proceedings to receive from the State of Illinois and to dedicate the statue of a woman, Frances Willard. A woman honored equally with men by the men of the nation's Government. The only woman in Statuary Hall!
She was publicly honored many times during her life by persons of prominence in government and society in many lands. Carrie Chapman Catt, Pi Beta Phi, said of her, "There has never been a woman leader in this country greater than nor perhaps so great as Frances Willard."
She was called the "best loved woman in America," and her close friend, John Greenleaf Whittier, wrote of her:
She knew the power of banded ill,
But felt that LOVE was stronger still
And organized for doing good
The World's united womanhood.
Sorry, T La Rock, LL killed it. 
Hybrid Mode
