Oratorical Contests

Oratorical Contests

As part of their effort to promote women’s public speaking, the WCTU established a system of oratorical contests run by women, for women and children. Oratorical contests were a ubiquitous element of educational life for schoolchildren and college students, but they were traditionally dominated by boys and men. The WCTU adapted the contest format to provide a space where women and girls could develop their speaking skills and carry off the laurels of victory, while also drawing public attention to the temperance cause through the content of their speeches.

William Jennings Demorest, a New York magazine publisher, philanthropist, and supporter of temperance and woman’s suffrage, established the Demorest Medal Contest in 1886 in collaboration with the WCTU in order “to train children and young people to recite or declaim the Temperance orations of leading speakers.” By 1895, these contests had awarded over 40,000 medals. The managers of the Demorest Medal Contest claimed that 250,000 children had participated and that their events had reached a total audience of over fifteen million people. Frances Willard believed that temperance oratorical contests educated both the young participants and their adult listeners: “By means of these contests, which always draw large audiences, a strong influence is exercised on the public mind which results in better habits and better testimony at the ballot box.” WCTU oratorical contests persisted throughout the twentieth century and expanded to offer opportunities for women as well as children to compete.

WCTU speaking contests appear in fictional literature. L. M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, refers repeatedly to the WCTU in her novels, which are set in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Prince Edward Island, Canada. In Emily of New Moon (1923), child protagonist Emily Starr writes: “Ilse and I had a fight yesterday about which we’d rather be Joan of Arc or Frances Willard… I would rather be Frances Willard because she is alive.” Emily’s best friend and budding elocutionist Ilse Burnley goes on to win a medal in a recitation contest sponsored by the Charlottetown WCTU.