“Braving the Political Fires of Washington, DC,” Liahona, December 2021
Early Women of the Restoration
Braving the Political Fires of Washington, DC
Emmeline B. Wells and Zina Young Williams were blessed with confidence as they addressed an unpopular issue with government leaders.
Illustration by Toni Oka
The two women disembarking from the train in the United States capital of Washington, DC, were tired but determined. After five days traveling from Salt Lake City, Emmeline B. Wells and Zina Young Williams hoped to advance the cause of Church members but knew they faced resistance.
In January 1879 they attended national meetings about women’s right to vote and presented petitions to the US Congress, asking lawmakers to undo harsh legislation against the Church.
“I desire to do all in my power to help elevate the condition of my own people especially wom[e]n,” Emmeline recorded in her diary.1 From 1877 to 1914, she was editor of a publication for women of the Church called the Woman’s Exponent, in which she championed good works in homes and communities.
National voting rights leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony “cordially welcomed” the two women from Utah.2 They helpfully assigned them to a committee carrying messages to the nation’s president, Rutherford B. Hayes.3
Emmeline confidently spoke with him, reporting, “After we had given him a few facts in relation to the condition of this people, and what was likely to be the consequences of severe and harsh measures, he remarked that he had never before considered the subject in the light we had presented it.” President Hayes invited his wife, Lucy, to listen to their appeal. “Her womanly sympathies were very perceptibly aroused.”4
For two more weeks, Emmeline and Zina carried messages on behalf of the Church to influential legislators. Emmeline recalled that they “frequently met with people who manifested the greatest interest in” their message.5
Although they were not successful in changing public opinion that year, for 17 more years, Emmeline and her Relief Society sisters spoke out for the rights of women and Church members. Happily, in 1896, Utah became a state, and many religious and civil rights were restored.