Alabama's Colored Women's Club

An Alabama's Colored Women's Club refers to any member of the Alabama Federation of Colored Women's Club, including the "Ten Times One is Ten Club", the Tuskegee Women's Club, and the Anna M. Duncan Club of Montgomery. These earliest clubs united and created the Alabama Federation of Colored Women's Club in 1899. By 1904, there were more than 26 clubs throughout Alabama. The most active ones were in Birmingham, Selma, Mobile, Tuskegee, Tuscaloosa, Eufaula, Greensboro, and Mt. Megis.

The first African American women's club in Alabama, the "Ten Times One is Ten Club" was established in 1888. It was followed by the Anna M. Duncan Club of Montgomery, established in 1892, and the Tuskegee Women's Club, established in 1895.

Under the leadership of Margaret Murray Washington the Tuskegee Women's Club was formed by female faculty and the wives of male faculty members of the Tuskegee Institute. Thirteen women took part at the first meeting of the club in 1895, which was designed to enlighten the members morally, spiritually and intellectually. Meetings were held twice a month and new teachers were encouraged to join. Since the members were part of the academic arena, the services were related to learning and education. The Tuskegee Women's Club also helped to form new communities and construct social services. One of its pioneer actions was to provide educational and social services to the poor inhabitants of a plantation settlement.

One of the most successful projects of the Tuskegee Woman's Club was the sponsoring of the mothers' meeting or mothers' club. The idea of this project came up when Margaret Washington was attending the first Tuskegee Negro Conference in 1892. At the conference, her husband Booker T. Washington discussed the problems that the black male faced and gave possible solutions. This reminded Margaret Washington of the neglect of women at the time. She believed the women themselves did not realize how unimportant they were considered by their husbands and sons, and so decided to work with the women in Tuskegee and the surrounding areas by forming the Mothers' Club. There, the club worked to improve the education and grooming of local mothers. Many of them did not know their age, and they were helped to recall some incident which took place around the time of their birth in order to figure out their age. Many mothers also lacked childcare options and brought their children along. Thus the children were provided with educational support and were taught simple lessons, and they received lessons demonstrating good behavior. According to Margaret Washington the black women had the proper training to look after their homes, but they were occupied working for white families and looking after white children and their families. As a result, their own children were deprived of proper care and were very much neglected.

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