Alice Cary McKinney ( Sadler; 1865–1928) was an American temperance and social reformer. She served as President of the

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

(WCTU).

Early life and education

Alice Cary Sadler was born in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

at Fort Deposit or Pollard, March 20, 1865. Her parents were Francis Wilson Sadler, Jr (b. 1827) and Loretta Cary Crary Sadler (1831-1910). Alice's siblings were: Everett, Olive, John, Ella, Harriet, and Ida. She was educated in the public schools of

and at

Whitworth Female College Whitworth Female College was a Methodist women's college in Brookhaven, Mississippi, founded in 1858 by Milton Whitworth. It is a Mississippi Landmark. History The college was founded in 1858 by Milton J. Whitworth, opened in 1859, and disestabl ...

Brookhaven, Mississippi Brookhaven is a city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States, south of the state capital of Jackson. The population was 11,674 people at the 2020 U.S. Census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. It was named after the town of Brook ...

Career

She left college during her junior year (1884) to teach school in

St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana St. Tammany Parish (; ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana named after Tamanend, the legendary Lenape Chief of Chiefs and the "Patron Saint of America." At the 2020 census, the population was 264,570, making it the fourth-mo ...

, where she remained until 1886. Early in life, McKinney had become interested in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

, and after becoming affiliated with the WCTU, served in almost every capacity in the local county and State bodies, including the editorship of the State WCTU organ, ''White Ribbon'', and the preparation of temperance columns for other publications. Removing to

Ruston, Louisiana Ruston is a small city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2020 population was 22,166. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Ruston is the prin ...

, McKinney affiliated with the Louisiana WCTU in which organization she has held successively the offices of district secretary (1903–04), recording secretary (1904–05), corresponding secretary (1906–08), and president (1909, till her death in 1928). McKinney was also quite active in the promotion of other social and religious uplift movements. For a time, she was parish superintendent (St. Tammany's Parish) of the Temperance Department of the International Sunday School Association. She was a firm advocate of woman suffrage, and made many speeches favoring both that doctrine and

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

Personal life

In 1887, at

Pearl River, Louisiana Pearl River is a town in St. Tammany Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 2,506 at the 2010 U.S. census, and 2,618 at the 2020 population estimates program. It is part of the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner metrop ...

, she married J. C. H. McKinney (John Columbus Haley McKinney; 1858-1957), of

Anguilla, Mississippi Anguilla is a town in Sharkey County, Mississippi, Sharkey County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 496 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 726 at the 2010 census. History The town was heavily damaged by an EF2 ...

. The couple had six children: Conrad, Ethel, Leonox, Gordon, D.L., and Griffin. The young couple lived near

for a number of years following their marriage, later moving to Louisiana. The couple settled in Ruston around 1903 where Mr. McKinney engaged in the dairy industry. McKinney was a member of the Ruston Methodist Church. She died in a local sanitarium in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

, October 8, 1928, where she had been for ten days undergoing her second blood transfusion in little more than a month.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinney, Alice Cary 1865 births 1928 deaths Temperance activists from Louisiana Temperance activists from Alabama People from Ruston, Louisiana Presidents of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union