Call Her a Citizen: Progressive-Era Activist and Educator Anna Pennybacker (Volume 114) (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University)

Acknowled gments many people and organiz ations contributed to the completion of this work. I thank especially O. L. Davis Jr. for introducing me to Anna Pennybacker and suggesting her life and work were worthy of in-depth study. His careful comments and editing have shaped every part of this work. Don Carleton, director of the Center for American History at the University of Texas, provided invaluable insight into the wealth of resources available there. Dr. Carleton, Sherry Field, Mary Lee Webeck, and Chara Bohan provided unfailing encouragement and insightful feedback, and David Alexander provided wise guidance in diffi cult times. Th e librarians, archivists, and other staff at the Center for American History, "This author has finally given Anna Pennybacker the scholarly attention that she deserves. I agree with the author that one reason Pennybacker has not received more extensive scholarly attention is because of her perceived conservatism. While we continue to need to study the women who were on the cutting edge of changing women's lives and roles, more time and attention can and should be devoted to other influential women who used more traditional means to accomplish goals."--Angela Boswell, Author of Her Act and Deed: Women's Lives in a Rural Southern County, 1837-1873 "I have been aware of Anna Pennybacker and her èducator-activist' role for many years. I have always believed that she was worthy of a scholarly biography, since earlier studies of her life were uncritical and one-dimensional."--Mary L. Kelley, Author of The Foundations of Texan Philanthropy Anna J. Hardwicke Pennybacker was a Texas educator, clubwoman, writer, lecturer, and social and political activist whose influence in the early twentieth century extended nationwide. As a young teacher, Pennybacker wrote A New History of Texas, which from 1898 through 1913 became the state-adopted textbook for Texas history and remained in classroom use until the 1940s. She was active in the burgeoning women's club movement and served as president of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs and the General Federation of Women's Clubs (1912-14). The latter position was considered by some to be the most powerful position for a woman in America at that time. At the time of her death in Austin, on February 4, 1938, Pennybacker was highly regarded as influential in promoting progressive causes including public education, women's suffrage, social reform, and the League of Nations. In an era when the dominant ideology divided the world into separate public and private spheres and relegated women to the private, Pennybacker ardently promoted women's entry into civic life. However, although a committed reformer, Penny-backer accepted and endorsed many of the dominant values of her time. The General Federation of Women's Clubs, for example, did not allow representatives from African American women's clubs to participate, and women's suffrage, in Texas and the South, was linked to issues of race and ethnicity. This book examines how Pennybacker negotiated these conflicts of ideology and politics to become a powerful influence in many areas of American life. --Book Jacket

In an era when the dominant ideology divided the world into separate public and private spheres and relegated women to the private, Anna J. Hardwicke Pennybacker ardently promoted progressive causes including public education, women's suffrage, social reform, and the League of Nations.
A Texas educator, clubwoman, writer, lecturer, and social and political activist whose influence in the early twentieth century extended nationwide, Pennybacker wrote A New History of Texas, which was the state-adopted textbook for Texas history from 1898–1913 and remained in classroom use until the 1940s. She was also active in the burgeoning women’s club movement and served as president of both the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (1912–14). The latter position was considered by some to be the most powerful position for a woman in America at that time.

Kelley King has mined the fifty-two linear feet of Pennybacker archives at the University of Texas Center for American History to reconstruct the "hidden history" of a feminist's life and work. There, she uncovered an impressive record of advocacy, interlaced with a moderate style and some old-fashioned biases.

King's work offers insight into the personal and political choices Pennybacker made and the effects these choices had in her life and on the American culture at large.

"I have been aware of Anna Pennybacker and her `educator-activist' role for many years. I have always believed that she was worthy of a scholarly biography, since earlier studies of her life were uncritical and one-dimensional."--Mary L. Kelley, Author of The Foundations of Texan Philanthropy 1861-1880: early life and career 1880-1900: called to teach Pennybacker's history of Texas The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs The most powerful position a woman could hold 1916-1920: World War and women's suffrage Promoting ideals of citizenship A citizen of the nation and the world.