Nellie McClung

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Nellie Letitia McClung (1873-1951) was a Canadian suffragist, social reformer, legislator, and author. She is probably the most frequently quoted feminist writer in Canada.

Nellie Letitia (Mooney) McClung was born on October 20, 1873, near Chatsworth, Ontario. In 1880 the Mooneys, lured by reports of fertile soil and free land, left their marginally profitable farm to homestead in southern Manitoba. Nellie was ten before this pioneer district had a school, but at 16 she received a teaching certificate. She was an innovative teacher in Hazel, Manitou, and Treherne before marrying Robert Wesley McClung in 1896. In Manitou, where Wesley was a druggist, Nellie became active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union, a progressive organization which in western Canada supported votes for women as well as prohibition. In 1908 Doubleday published the first of her five novels, Sowing Seeds in Danny, a witty portrayal of a small western town also serialized in the Woman's Home Companion. In Canada it quickly became a best seller. McClung was soon well known as an author of short stories and articles in Canadian and American magazines and was a popular speaker in demand throughout the West.

In 1911 the McClungs moved to Winnipeg, the booming provincial capital. Here a vigorous women's rights and reform movement appreciated Nellie's capacity to win audiences with humorous arguments and to debate effectively with hecklers. The Conservative government of Manitoba under Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin repeatedly refused to consider women's suffrage or prohibition; therefore, McClung took a leading role in the 1914 political campaign in which the Liberal Party advocated these and many other reforms. In a hilarious stage presentation of a women's parliament approached by a delegation of men seeking the vote, McClung's devastating mimicry of the pompous Roblin was credited with opening the eyes of many to the absurdity of the arguments against women's suffrage. During the campaign her much-quoted speeches made her the target of bitter attack in the Conservative press.

With their five children the McClungs moved, in 1914, to Edmonton, Alberta, where Nellie also fought for prohibition and suffrage - achieved in western Canada during World War I. Subsequently she continued to fight for factory safety legislation, better rural health care, minimum wage laws, dower rights, equality under the Divorce Act, and equal opportunities for women in education and the work force. McClung was one of five Alberta women who, under the leadership of Judge Emily Murphy, won "The Persons' Case": the judicial decision that women as "persons" had the right to be appointed to the non-elected Canadian Senate.

By this time McClung's speaking tours had covered most of Canada, and in 1917 and 1918 she had also toured extensively in the United States for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Her popular appeal was as strong in the United States as it was at home. In 1921 she was a delegate and challenging speaker to the Methodist Ecumenical Conference in London, England, and made a speaking tour through England and Scotland. The same year McClung won election as a Liberal member of the Provincial Legislature of Alberta. Although sitting as an opposition (minority party) member, she staunchly supported any reform legislation introduced by the government. Defeated in 1926, she did not run again for political office.

In 1933 the McClungs moved to Lantern Lane, a country home near Victoria, British Columbia. Here Nellie completed a two-volume autobiography: Clearing in the West (1935), a graphic portrayal of Manitoba pioneer life, and The Stream Runs Fast (1945), a less effective account of her political activities and writing career. She continued to write short stories and a popular syndicated column. Many of her shorter works were published as collections. In all she published 16 books. In addition to her writing she continued an active life in the Canadian Authors' Association, as the only woman on the first board of governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as a delegate to the League of Nations in 1938, and as a public lecturer. During the last ten years of her life poor health severely limited her activities, but she still welcomed many visitors and kept in close touch with world affairs through radio, books, and magazines. She died on September 1, 1951.

Forgotten for a decade, McClung was re-discovered by feminists of the 1960s. Some criticized her support of the traditional family structure, but most credited her advancement of the feminist cause in her day and her recognition of the need for further progress: particularly economic independence of women. She is still a frequently quoted feminist writer because her pithy and witty comments on the role of women are as timely today as when they were written. Women still share her hope that "we may yet live to see the day when women will no longer be news…. I want to be a peaceful, happy, normal, human being, pursuing my unimpeded way through life, never having to explain, defend, or apologize for my sex."

Further Reading

McClung's In Times Like These (1915, reprinted 1972) is a book of essays on her feminist ideas, and Painted Fires (1925) is a novel about a Finnish immigrant girl. Candace Savage, Our Nell: A Scrapbook Biography (1979) combines quotations by and about McClung with connecting narrative-analysis.

Additional Sources

Benham, Mary Lile, Nellie McClung, Don Mills, Ont.: Fitzhenry& Whiteside, 1975.

Hancock, Carol L. (Carol Lula), No small legacy: a study guide, Winfield, BC: Wood Lake Books, 1986.

McClung, Mark, Text of talk entitled "Portrait of my mother," Canada: M. McClung, 1975.

McClung, Nellie, Tea with the Queen, Vancouver: Intermedia Press, 1980.

Warne, R. R. (Randi Ruth), Literature as pulpit: the Christian social activism of Nellie L. McClung, Waterloo, Ont.: Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, 1993.

Wright, Helen K., Nellie McClung and women's rights, Agincourt, Ont.: Book Society of Canada, 1980.

Quotes:

"Women who set a low value on themselves make life hard for all women."

"Never retract, never explain, never apologize; get things done and let them howl."

Nellie McClung from The National Archives of Canada

Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney (October 20, 1873 - September 1, 1951) was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s. She was also the grandmother of outspoken Alberta judge John McClung.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Literature 2.1 Fiction 2.2 Non-Fiction 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links

Biography

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Born in Chatsworth, Ontario in 1873, and later moved with her family to a homestead in the Souris Valley of Manitoba.^[1] Between 1904 and 1911, Nellie McClung, and her husband Wesley; who was a druggist and their family of five children ^[2] resided in Manitou, Manitoba. The women’s rights movement in Winnipeg embraced her. An effective speaker with a sense of humour, she played a leading role in the successful Liberal campaign in 1914.^[1]. She lived in the West for the rest of her life in Manitou, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Victoria. The Manitou house in which McClung and her family lived in has been re-located to the Archibald Historical Museum in La Riviere, Manitoba where it has been restored, the house is open to the public.

McClung once said "Why are pencils equipped with erasers if not to correct mistakes?", this quote argued for the support of equitable divorce laws, in which Nellie was a long time supporter.^[3]

Her great causes were women's suffrage and temperance. She understood that the first World War was important in broadning the appeal of woman suffrage because the man power shortages highlighted the extent of female employment, making the image of the sheltered female more obviously inapplicable to Canadian circumstances.^[4] It was largely through her efforts that in 1916 Manitoba became the first province to give women the right to vote and to run for public office.^[5] The Government of Canada followed suit that same year. After moving to Edmonton, Alberta, she continued the campaign for suffrage. She championed dental and medical care for school children, married women’s property rights, mothers' allowances, factory safety legislation and many other reforms. McClung was a supporter of the then popular social philosophy of eugenics and campaigned for the sterilization of those considered "simple-minded." Her promotion of the benefits of sterilization contributed to the passage of eugenics legislation in Alberta.^[6]

She published her first novel Sowing Seeds in Danny in 1908. A national best seller, it was followed by short stories and articles in several Canadian and American magazines. She served as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1921 to 1926. As an opposition member, her opportunity to press for women's rights was limited, because women were not taken seriously ^[7] She was one of The Famous Five (also called The Valiant Five), with Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy and Louise McKinney. The five put forward a petition, in 1927, to clarify the term "Persons in Section 24 of the British North America Act 1867. This section had served to exclude women from political office. The petition was successful, clearing the way for women to enter politics in Canada.^[5].

Among other honours, in October 2009, the Senate voted to name McClung and the rest of the Five Canada's first "honorary senators."^[8]

Literature

Historical plaque honouring McClung, located just south of Chatsworth, ON

Fiction

• Sowing Seeds in Danny (1908)
• The Second Chance (1910)
• The Black Creek Stopping House and Other Stories (1912)
• Purple Springs (1921)
• When Christmas Crossed 'The Peace' (1953)
• Painted Fires (1925)
• All We Like Sheep (1976)
• Be Good to Yourself (1980)
• Flowers for the Living (1991)

Non-Fiction

• In Times Like These (1915)
• The Next of Kin (1917)
• Three Times and Out (1918)
• Clearing in the West (1935)
• Leaves from Lantern Lane (1936)
• More Leaves from Lantern Lane (1937)
• The Stream Runs Fast (1945)
• The Morning After Dawn (1950)

See also

• History of feminism
• List of suffragists and suffragettes
• Suffragette
• Women's Social and Political Union
• Women's suffrage
• Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
• Nellie McClung Famous Five: Hereos for Today

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Hallett, M. McClung, Nellie Letitia. The Canadian Encyclopedia.
2. ^ Conrad, Margaret and Alvin Finkel.History of the Canadian Peoples: 1867 to the present. Volume 2. Fifth Edition. Toronto: Pearson, Longman, 2006. p. 134
3. ^ Strong-Boag,Veronica. Ever a crusader: Nellie McClung, First Wave Feminist. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997),279
4. ^ Strong-Boag, Veronica . Ever a crusader: Nellie McClung, First Wave Feminist. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997),278
5. ^ ^{a b} Library and Archives Canada. Nellie Letitia (Mooney) McClung. Celebrating Women's Achievements.
6. ^ Marsh, James. Eugenics: Keeping Canada Sane. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved on: April 25, 2008.
7. ^ Veronica Strong-Boag. Ever a crusader: Nellie McClung, First Wave Feminist. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997),279
8. ^ "Alberta's Famous Five named honorary senators." The Globe and Mail, October 11, 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nellie McClung

• Histori.ca Re-enactment of Nellie McClung!
• Celebrating Women's Achievements--Nellie Letitia (Mooney) McClung
• Works by Nellie L. McClung at Project Gutenberg
• Nellie McClung Girls' Junior High Program
• McClung's, a Ryerson University-based feminist publication
• Archibald Historical Museum, honouring the work and life of Nellie McClung

Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Preceded by Charles Wilson Cross Albert Ewing	MLA Edmonton 1921 - 1926	Succeeded by John Lymburn Charles Weaver Charles Gibbs Walter Prevey David Milwyn Duggan

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